Those new passport requirements that have complicated travel for so many people this summer turned out to have a positive side.
One of the new rules lowered the threshold for issuing passports to parents who are delinquent in their child support payments from $5,000 to $2,500. The requirement has turned up huge numbers of child support scofflaws and forced them to pay millions of dollars. While we haven’t had much good to say about the passport delays, we applaud the rule that is forcing more delinquent parents to fork over money they owe their children.
A Chicago businessman has paid $311,491 in back support; a musician wanting to perform overseas came up with $46,000; a man planning a Dominican Republic vacation forked over $45,849; and a boxer who had paid $39,000 of back child support last year to replace a lost passport had to get an $8,900 loan from his promoter to pay off new child support debts in order to get a new passport to fight overseas.
Nationwide, states have collected $22.5 million through the program so far this year. Colorado has collected $207,843 for Colorado children since January through the Passport Denial Program, part of $181 million in total collections, said Colorado’s Human Services spokeswoman Liz McDonough. An estimated $100 billion is owed by deadbeat parents nationwide for child support.
In addition to denying a passport, Colorado law allows for the suspension or denial of a driver’s license, a professional license or a recreational license of parents who owe back child support. The state also has a slew of other ways to try to locate scofflaws and get them to pay up. A new law that took effect July 1 enables the state to withhold the winnings of deadbeat parents who frequent Colorado’s gambling casinos.
McDonough said that state officials believe the new regional passport law requiring passports to fly to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and South American will pay some really big dividends for Colorado’s children. The Associated Press quoted federal officials saying they expect collections nationwide to double due to the regional passport requirement.
Collecting child support from parents who don’t have custody of their children has historically been a difficult task, but the new requirement seems to be having the desired positive effect. Many divorced parents have been forced into welfare or have had to use up their savings after their former spouses flew the coop and/or refused to pay.
The Passport Denial Program is designed to help states enforce delinquent child support obligations. The way the program works, states submit the names of parents who don’t have custody of their children and who owe more than $2,500 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which in turn notifies the State Department. Until the balance is current or a payment plan is approved, a passport won’t be issued or renewed. McDonough said the lower $2,500 threshold has increased the number of Colorado cases referred to the State Department by 6 percent.
The revised passport denial program is showing that some people will do anything to get a passport. The usual legal remedies like liens and garnishments don’t always work, especially if you can’t find the person. Which makes us want to ponder what else scofflaws can’t live without that, if denied, might prod them to pay up: a credit card, perhaps? Or, better yet, maybe a cellphone.
