Getting Child Support After the Paying Parent Leaves Louisiana
In the decades since Hurricane Katrina, a strange phenomenon has happened—climate change migration. People migrated, first inland and then out of state, looking for work or a safer place to call home. The population of New Orleans is still more than 60,000 fewer citizens than pre-Katrina.
Every time a new storm washes over the Gulf Coast, hordes of Louisianians run further from the rising tides and higher to escape the floods.
In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) compiled data from a list of variables to report the best and worst states concerning climate change. Louisiana ranked the third worst. The analyzed data consisted of five factors:
- Climate change preparedness
- Drought
- Extreme heat
- Flooding
- Wildfires
Louisiana had the highest risk of flooding and the most extreme heat risks in the country. Families and individuals are migrating to less risky parishes and states where they can live without the constant fear of losing their home or a loved one because of the runaway conditions of the climate.
Living in a climate crisis can also put a strain on families. The one constant in marriage is divorce, with the 50% divorce rate holding for the last two decades. And even though Louisiana’s divorce rate is one of the lowest in the country, there are still more than 335,000 divorced people living in the state, and in 2022, more than 28,000 Americans were added to the divorce statistics.
The faces these numbers represent are Louisiana’s children. These kids are left choosing where they want to live or feeling left behind. According to 2019’s American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, divorced parents with child support agreements receive less than half of the full amount of child support owed.
Collecting this child support gets even harder when the non-custodial parent takes off and moves across state lines.
Defining the Interstate Obligation
Whether it is a separation or a divorce, there is no such thing as a parent migrating away from their responsibility of parenthood. Whether a non-custodial parent moves across the street or across the country, parents have an obligation to ensure their children have what they need to feel supported during this transition.
Often, when a non-custodial parent moves out of state, child support payments tend to get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes, the parents run into financial hardships. Sometimes, they do not think the child support agreement is fair. Other times, they just refuse to make the required payments.
But if the traffic of interstate child support payments come to a standstill, there is a recourse to get things moving again.
Remedying a Runaway Parent
A family court judge can enforce an existing child support order across state lines, but for a judge to enforce an agreement or hold a parent in contempt, a court order needs to be filed in the state where the child lives.
The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) was established to help custodial parents find delinquent parents in other states. Every state has a version of this law. All of them essentially serve the same purpose—enforcing child support obligations against a delinquent parent who lives in a different state than where the court order originated.
In other words, the UIFSA tracks down deadbeat parents. They communicate the consequences of non-payment and hold the negligent parties accountable. It also eliminates confusion by allowing custodial parents to use state services as an intermediary for recovering payments without creating multiple orders.
Under Louisiana law, the state will work in concert with the delinquent parent’s state of residency and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to collect payments.
It is also unlawful in Louisiana if a parent has not paid support for more than six months, or if they owe more than $2,500. If a parent leaves the state and withholds their location to hide from their debts, the first steps in holding these parents accountable include:
- Inquiring with friends and relatives to discover the non-paying parent’s address
- Enlisting a private investigator to locate them
- Utilizing the services of the local Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA)
The DCSS has multiple agencies at their disposal to find state-hopping parents. The DCSS can tell when they apply for a job or government assistance, secure a home, or run their credit card.
After non-custodial parents are found, the DCSS has several tools to recover child support orders, including:
- Deducting or garnishing wages
- Intercepting federal income tax refunds
- Suspending driver’s licenses
- Restricting or denying passport renewals
- Charging with contempt of court
Ramping Up the Stakes
The criminal laws of Louisiana addressing unpaid child support orders are often referred to as the “Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act.” If a financial hardship is to blame for nonpayment, criminal charges are rarely involved, and orders can be modified to compensate.
But if it becomes a case of nonsupport due to a parent’s refusal, criminal charges may be in order. A parent can be prosecuted and face the following penalties:
- The first offense for failure to pay a legal child support order is a fine of up to $500 or up to six months in jail, or both.
- The second offense is a fine of up to $2,500 or up to two years of imprisonment, with or without hard labor, or both.
- If failing to pay a child support obligation result in an outstanding amount that exceeds $15,000 and has existed for at least a year, the penalty is of up to $25,000 or up to two years of imprisonment, with or without hard labor, or both.
- Any conviction will result in court-ordered restitution for the total unpaid support at the time of sentencing. If restitution is paid before sentencing, the court can suspend some or all of the penalties.
If criminally charged for felony nonsupport, a negligent parent can be arrested and extradited back to the state where the child support order originated. These safeguards are in place to ensure a child gets the support they need. Usually, the process involves multiple agencies and may take time. Patience is the key.
