Over the past few months, various States and jurisdictions have made changes to their child support laws. Many states follow the same general trends, and this could provide clues as to where the rest of the nation is heading. Generally speaking, the goal of these changes is to put more funds in the hands of recipients. However, this does not necessarily mean higher obligations for payors.
Various States Vow to Keep Child Support Out of Government Coffers
In 2021, the non-profit journalism group ProPublica discovered that many child support payments were being seized by the government before reaching their intended recipients. The investigation found that $1.7 billion in child support was being funneled into the government coffers each year. To make matters worse, the government was specifically targeting low-income families. Although this might seem unthinkable, various states justified it by claiming that these seizures were necessary. Specifically, they claimed that mothers needed to pay back the government assistance they had previously received.
In April of 2024, Nebraska passed a new bill that put more child support funds in the hands of recipients. Specifically, this bill tackled a common issue for Nebraska’s poorest citizens – the intersection of welfare and child support. Nebraska Public Media examined one case where a woman had to relinquish the right to receive child support in exchange for keeping her welfare checks. The state then accepted her child support funds instead – something that should no longer be possible under this new bill.
Illinois made an almost identical change in July of 2024, creating a new “child support pass-through” rule. Like Nebraska, Illinois will keep collecting child support on behalf of low-income families – but these payments will be passed along to the families. Previously, the State was “retaining” these payments and using them to fund various government programs. Illinois has vowed to make sure that families receive 100% of their child support payments.
In May of 2024, California announced plans to “improve equity” in its child support system.
These plans began in 2022 with Assembly Bill 207, and they are now going into effect two years later. Although the Golden State might use different terms to describe this change, it is virtually identical to steps taken by many other states. Seized child support funds will be passed through to their intended recipients.
Many other states have made similar changes, and others may soon follow. The practice of seizing child support is difficult to defend from a government perspective, and most residents would agree that the practice is highly controversial.
While government agencies might try to justify these seizures in order to pay off past welfare payments, there is one notable flaw in this logic. When the government seizes child support, the mother is not the only affected party. The government also robs an innocent child of their support funds – something that most voters see as unconscionable. In fact, it is surprising that this practice has continued for so long without generating more controversy.
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