There have been numerous stories in the news about so-called “deadbeat” parents who do not pay their child support payments.
Unfortunately, children across Southwest Florida aren’t receiving their child support payments for another reason entirely: The state of Florida itself.
There are almost 40,000 families in Florida that are reliant on child support, but for many of them, the state is holding part of, if not all, the payments. They are currently sitting on millions of dollars.
According to Joe Hargis, who has been paying his child support for 3 years, his son has not gotten a full payment for over 6 months. When he talked to the Department of Revenue to find out what was going on, he was told “it was a very small problem, it hardly happens.”
That might not be the case, however, as more and more parents across the state are reporting similar circumstances. Statewide, the number of families who have been affected is astronomically high, and they are owed almost $30 million in back payments.
According to statements from the Department of Revenue, most of the delays are perfectly normal, and are caused by information missing from the payments, such as the recipient’s correct address or phone number. In addition, however, they state that hardware issues in the system itself have caused for some delays.
Current regulations in Florida allow for the Department of Revenue to stop looking for recipeints fairly easily. After only 2 attempts, they can basically stop. That is not the only issue, though, as recipients who have not moved in years are still not receiving their full payments.
It is still being researched exactly what is going on with the payments, but rest assured that Florida will be facing nothing but increased scrutiny in the coming months.
If you or a loved one are having issues with child support payments, do not hesitate to contact an experienced family law attorney. You may be owed back payments.