Child Support

Child support is the court ordered financial assistance that is paid by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent for the care and welfare of a child

Each state’s agency can work across state lines to ensure that payments are collected and distributed.

But this was not always the case. Child laws and programs have evolved tremendously over the years. Here is a closer look at the development of child laws and programs as we know them today.

The History
In the early nineteenth century,the courts in America that were dealing with the cases of divorce and marital breakdowns, found that the current laws don't provide for a support action. America had inherited many English laws in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and these laws found that the father had only a non-enforceable moral duty to support his children. In fact, English precedents actually forbid any third party from recovering the costs of support unless these costs had been pre-authorized by a contract with the child’s father.

But England’s laws did allow for a limited recovery of support costs in certain circumstances. The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 authorized the local parishes to recover some of the funds that were spent in caring for a single mother and her children who were not provided for by the children’s father.

This statute could only be prevailed upon when the mother and children were completely impoverished. In addition, the Elizabethan Poor Law allowed the town to recoup their relief costs. Any third parties or single mothers could not directly ask for reimbursed of support expenses.

Despite the absence of a child provision within English laws, the courts in American slowly began to tackle the notion that a father had a legal obligation to support his offspring. One of the earliest American support cases was Stanton vs. Willson. The Supreme Court of Connecticut decided this case in 1808. In this case, the Supreme Court of Connecticut allowed Eunice Stanton to recover support from her first husband on behalf of her deceased second husband, Joshua.

It is interesting to note in this case that two of Eunice's children had been awarded to her by a custody decree, and the third had fled from her ex-husband because of fears of abuse. The court clearly stated in this case that the children’s father was legally bound “to protect, educate, and maintain their legitimate children.” Similar cases in New York and New Jersey began to assert that a father could be held financially responsible for the welfare of his children.

This financial dependency theme recurred almost in every children support case decided by the courts of America during the nineteenth century, primarily because newly divorced American mothers in nineteenth-century were almost always forced to live in poverty.

Even families that were well off financially before the divorce found that after the divorce, the father almost always profited and the mother almost always became impoverished. This occurred because the men were suddenly free from the expenses of the family, whereas the women were forced to take on the financial burden of raising the children.

In addition, if the mother did attempt to find a job for herself, she generally earned less than what a man would make in the same field.

Once the obligation to financially provide for children was legally established, there were many early children support claims brought about by third parties who had provided board, clothing, or food to impoverished single mothers and their children and who were willing to recover these costs from the non-supporting father.

As the support doctrine continued to develop after the 1850s, the courts began to use a two part “test” to determine the basis for reimbursement. First, the courts asked if the items provided by the plaintiff were necessities that provided for the bare subsistence of the children, such as clothing and food. Second, the courts tried to determine if the father had actually been negligent in providing those items himself.

Before long, the courts in America utilized this child support doctrine to allow newly divorced women to recover directly from their spouse for money they spent in supporting their offspring. As was previously the case, these mothers had to prove the ex-husbands had failed to support their own children.

In addition, divorced women had to show proof that their spouse was at fault for the divorce. Yet, even in these instances, the father was only obligated to pay support for the bare maintenance of the child. By the late nineteenth century, almost every state in the nation had on its books some legally enforceable duty for a father to support his children. click here for more information about children and divorce

But it is important to note that the system that was developing at this time only offered a means of support to caucasian families. Slavery, which was prevalent in both the North and the South, did not allow for the legal marriage of blacks, nor did it allow black men to be considered head of household. These men therefore did not have the rights and duties that made child support relevant.

Under slavery, black children did not have a legal father, therefore there was no way that a black mother could seek compensation from her children’s father. It was not until after the Civil War that black couples were legally allowed to marry. But in many instances, black couples dismissed the formal institute of marriage and instead chose to maintain informal and unofficial marriages.

Child Support Becomes the Law
The laws continued to develop into the twentieth century. In 1950, Congress passed the first Federal child support enforcement legislation requiring State welfare agencies to notify appropriate law enforcement officials when it became necessary to provide aid to dependent children who had been abandoned or deserted by a parent.

Amendments to the Social Security Act in 1965 allowed local and state welfare agencies to obtain information from the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare regarding the address and place of employment of a non-custodial parent who owed support under a court order for support.

The year 1975 saw big changes not only for the collection of child support, but also for the enforcement of child support collection. Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, was signed into law on January 4, 1975. This law allowed the Secretary of Health and Human Services (previously the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare,) to establish a separate division, which would be mandated to oversee the operation of a Enforcement program.

This program would establish a parent locator service; state operational guidelines, and a plan for periodic review of cases. The primary responsibility for operating the Enforcement program was placed on each state. These provisions were to come into effect by July 1, 1975.

The next big year for child support laws was 1984, when the Child Support Enforcement Amendments were established requiring major improvements in both state and local Enforcement programs. First, all States were required to develop mandatory income withholding procedures as well as expedited processes for establishing and enforcing support orders (such as income tax refund interceptions and property liens.) In addition, states were allowed to report delinquent parents to consumer credit agencies.

In 1988, The Family Support Act of 1988 was enacted. This act made several important changes to the child support programs. Most significantly, the act required the courts to use State guidelines when establishing support amounts. States were also required to review their guidelines every four years. Another important provision established with the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992, made it a Federal crime to willfully fail to pay past-due child support payments, with respect to a child who resides in another State.

Today
One of the most significant changes in support enforcement policy in recent years has been the shift towards addressing men's roles as fathers. Legislation enacted in 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, contains significant revisions in child support legislation that call for the development of a number of social services programs aimed towards working with fathers.

Under this Act, states can apply for grants in the range of $50,000 to develop programs that provide mediation and counseling services and encourage child visitation in families where the parents do not live together.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act also allowed for the creation of the New Hires database, which requires all employers to report information about newly hired employees. This allows child support enforcement officials to track down deadbeat parents, even across state lines and retrieve payments through income withholding. Trouble Collecting Your Child Support? Let Us Help!

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