Enforcement
Regulations and laws on the enforcement of child support orders vary by
country and state. In some jurisdictions, such as Australia, enforcement
is overseen by a national office. In others, such as Canada, the
responsibility to enforce child support orders rests with individual
provinces, with financial and logistical assistance from the federal
government. In the United States child support enforcement is also handled
largely at the state level, but non compliant parents who meet certain
criteria, such as traveling across state lines to circumvent orders or
owing more than two years of support payments, may be subjected to federal
prosecution under the Federal Deadbeat Punishment Act.
One focus of Article 27 of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child
is the establishment and strengthening of international treaties to
further aid in child support order enforcement across national and
international boundaries. Under these agreements, orders established in
one country are considered valid and enforceable in another country, and
may be pursued through local court processes. The goal of such conventions
is to ensure that non-compliant parents will not be able to evade support
payments by crossing an international border.
To this end, various international conventions regarding
interjurisdictional enforcement of maintenance orders have been created,
including the Hague Conference's 1973 Convention on the Recognition and
Enforcement of Decisions relating to Maintenance Obligations and the 1956
United Nations Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance.
More than 100 nations currently have reciprocal arrangements for child
support orders. Examples of reciprocal agreements include the UK
Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) and those of Canada,
Australia and New Zealand, the United States and the European Union.
Consequences of non-payment vary by jurisdiction, the length of time
the parent has been non-compliant, and the amount owed. Typical penalties
include wage garnishment and denial or suspension of drivers, hunting and
professional licenses. In the United States, non-compliant parents who are
more than $2500 in arrears may be denied passports under the Passport
Denial Program. Noncompliance may also be treated as a criminal offense,
and may result in prison sentences, fines and property seizure.
