AR89

An Assembly Resolution urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to establish certain procedures in child support enforcement cases.

Whereas, The New Jersey Child Support Program processes child support payments through the centralized Family Support Payment Center; and

Whereas, According to an annual statistics report published by the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Family Development, the total collection for the Child Support Services Program was about $312 million for the quarter including October 2016 to December 2016; and

Whereas, Due to the large volume of child support payments processed annually through the centralized payment system, though an infrequent occurrence, credit from a variety of sources, such as from a downward modification of a support order, for a payment or installment of an order for child support, can, through no failure or delinquency on the part of the obligor, end up not being recorded as a timely payment; and

Whereas, The New Jersey Probation Services Division, the enforcement arm within the New Jersey Court system, monitors and enforces support orders, including those for child support; and

Whereas, The enforcement tools available to the Probation Division, include the use of income withholding which can take many forms including garnishment of wages, unemployment benefits, workers compensation, commissions, retirement benefits and any other earning and entitlement to money from any other source; and

Whereas, While the use of any, some or all of the enforcement tools facilitates the performance of the enforcement function, in instances where a court ordered obligor payment credit is not integrated into the child support system, enforcement may not be the appropriate immediate remedy after a new source of income is identified, and

Whereas, A preliminary manual search of court records for a payment credit by the Probation Division with certification that the manual process has been completed, as a matter of process, prior to systematically engaging automated enforcement tools from a possible new source of income could locate any existing obligor payment credit within the child support system and avoid the use of enforcement resources until the account is balanced; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The New Jersey Supreme Court is respectfully urged to establish a procedure which requires that prior to engaging any other enforcement tool from a possible new source of income, the Probation Division shall undertake a preliminary search of internal records, and certify completion of the search, to discover the existence and availability of an obligor credit to offset a misdirected or otherwise not credited payment.

2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, and the Administrative Director of the Courts.

STATEMENT

This resolution respectfully urges the New Jersey Supreme Court in child support enforcement matters to establish a procedure whereby internal records of the court are searched for an existing obligor credit prior to engaging any other enforcement tools from a possible new source of income. Credit from a variety of sources, such as from a downward modification of a support order, for a payment or installment of an order for child support, can, through no failure or delinquency on the part of the obligor, end up being not recorded as a timely payment in an automated, high volume child support payment system. If a possible new source of income is identified the credit may go unrecognized.

This resolution seeks to address these rare occurrences by requesting the Probation Division to take the preliminary step of examining internal records, and certify completion of the search as a matter of process, prior to engaging any enforcement tool, in search of an obligor credit that may satisfy a missed payment or installment.