Child support is a touchy topic for many Massachusetts parents. Sometimes, after the divorce decree has been issued with the topic of child support determined, it can take a lot more than the divorce decree to get applicable parents to pay their share. Sometimes this is due to a parent’s change in circumstances or an emergency situation that is a temporary set-back in their child support payments. However, some parents are consistently late with their child support payments to the point where the receiving parent must take action.
Massachusetts family court takes the issue of child support very seriously. This is because the financial aspect of raising a child is very important to ensuring that children are well taken care of. Since life costs money, it is only right that the main custodial parent receives the correct percentage of costs for raising the child and paying for what they want and need. Therefore, when parents do not pay their court-issued child support payment there can be consequences.
Usually when a parent decides to seek unpaid child support payments, it is due to a prolonged pattern of unpaid child support payments. Oftentimes, the custodial parent has tried everything but court action to collect the child support the person’s child is owed. If after all this the parent still has not paid the unpaid child support, there can be consequences such as wage garnishment, freezing bank accounts, negative marks on credit score, suspension of license and even the possibility of jail time.
These potential consequences could be enough to scare the parent responsible for their debt to pay up. However, if it was that easy, the parent probably would have already paid. There are actions are punishable under Massachusetts law. People must fight for the money their child deserves.
Source: family.findlaw.com, “Enforcement and Collection of Back Child Support,” Accessed November 7, 2016
