Back in September of 2016, the Texas Attorney General took aim at parents who do not pay their child support in a timely manner. The new law restricts parents who are sufficiently behind on their child support payments form registering their vehicles. The law has its supporters and detractors, and the preliminary results are beginning to trickle in.
It is worth noting that Texas is essentially the heavy-hitter when it comes to child support collection. For almost a decade (nine years to be precise), Texas has enjoyed the highest amount of child support collected by any state. In 2016, the Lone Star state collected $3.9 billion in child support, which is a staggering number by just about any metric. Since the introduction of the new law, the state has collected an increase of $160,000. Some critics of the program have expressed that the uptick in collections does not entirely justify the law.
Under the new law, the state may deny vehicle registration to a parent who is at least six month behind on his or her child support payments. If this seems like a small matter, consider the difficulty that invalid registration can cause. Beyond the fines that may be incurred, parents may see their vehicles taken away from them if they continue to derive without registration. Ultimately, this can have devastating effects on a parent’s employability.
If you are struggling to get your child’s other parent to pay his or her share of child support, it is certainly worth enlisting the help of an experienced family law attorney. With proper help, you can compel your child’s other parent to live up to his or her responsibility. An experienced lawyer can help you get the resources you need to focus on caring for your child.
Source: Wide Open Country, “Texas’ Law to Ban Deadbeat Parents from Car Registration Seems to Be Working,” Sean McHugh, Jan. 04, 2017