Nebraska–
Background: Critics of divorced fathers and so-called “deadbeat dads” are often unaware of the many problems with the way child support is set and enforced. One of these problems is the phenomenal amount of errors Child Support enforcement agencies make. I’ll be running stories about them as part of my series called “Child Support Enforcement’s Endless Errors.”
Former California Assemblyman Rod Wright, a leading advocate of child support reform, says, “When you die, you can go up or you can go down, but either way child support enforcement is still gonna get their money.” Below is an example. According to Dead Man Billed For Child Support:
“A widow says she’s still getting bills from the Nebraska Child Support Office addressed to her late husband, asking for money. The Nebraska Child Support Office is asking for payments, even though her husband passed away a year ago.
“‘He has two children that live in Texas and he had been paying child support on them,’ said Dawn Hunt.
“Hunt used to live in Lincoln, but after her husband died, she moved to Des Moines, IA, and got a new job.
“‘Mid-November, I received a bill in Chad’s name to my new address in Iowa. It was from the Nebraska Child Support Office. I opened it up and it said, ‘your child support is past due,’ and I was like ‘what is this?'” said Hunt.
“Hunt said she was told that the child support office knew he was deceased. Hunt said the office person she spoke with told her that an order needed to be made to stop payments and that the office would take care of it…
“Hunt has racked up around $4,000 in owed child support since his death. Due to the owed child support, Dawn Hunt’s federal tax refunds were withheld for about a month because she filed jointly with her husband.”
Perhaps the least trustworthy words ever are when an error is pointed out to child support enforcement and they promise to “take care of it.”
BTW, I was just joking about “‘Being Dead Is No Excuse for Not Paying,’ D.A. Says.” No district attorney would ever say such a thing. I think.