The dollar amount is staggering. It is said that child support collections conducted through the Texas Attorney General’s Office collected $3.6 billion during the past year.
The child support collected involved approximately 900,000 Texas families. Since Attorney General Greg Abbott took office in December of 2002, Texas reportedly has collected more than $27 billion in unpaid child support.
With this large of an amount being collected, one has to wonder how much more unpaid child support still remains. There are always a number of complexities that arise when it comes to collecting child support. For one, parents may not always be forthcoming as to their actual income when being asked to pay child support.
Some parents are self-employed and have the ability to take advantage of write-offs as a business owner. Self-employed individuals also have the ability to hide income. Discovering this income may require a family law attorney subpoenaing bank, business and accounting records.
Determinations of child support need to be made with the best interests of the child in mind. Every child has different physical, emotional and educational needs that may require additional income. Also, the burden of raising the child is often unfairly placed upon the shoulders of one parent alone.
As the amount of money collected by the Attorney General’s Office indicates, child support will always be necessary since too many parents fail to comprehend that they have an obligation to help their child. Too often parents would rather engage in unnecessary disputes than provide support. Unfortunately, it is the child that often pays the highest price.
Source: San Antonio Business Journal, “Child-support collections in Texas top $3.6 billion in fiscal 2013,” Sep. 25, 2013
