While the holiday season is all about the children for some, supporting and caring for a child is a year-long endeavor for parents. Well after the presents have been opened and the New Year has been rung in, children still need the financial support of both parents. In Minnesota, for parents who are divorced or are no longer in a relationship with one another, this means one parent may be paying child support.
In Minnesota, the county and state child support offices provide services for over 360,000 parents and over 250,000 children. The child support program’s mission is to promote each child’s well-being and allow families to be self-sufficient. In fact, in 2015 the amount of ongoing child support in the state collected amounted to $454 million, which represented 73 percent of what was owed.
Of course, not every parent in Minnesota meets his or her child support obligations. As of September 30, 2015, the total amount of child support arrears in Minnesota was approximately $1.6 billion. The average amount of child support debt owed per parent was $8,726. In fact, approximately 81 percent of child support cases were in arrears, at least for some amount.
Over $449 million in child support is collected through wage withholding. Over 19,000 people received a driver’s license suspension for failing to pay child support. Similarly over $35 million in tax refunds were intercepted to pay for child support arrears.
As this shows, there is a lot of money going towards child support in Minnesota. It is for the good, though, as it is for the benefit of children across the state. Parents with questions about how child support is collected in Minnesota, what to do if the child’s other parent isn’t meeting their child support obligations or how to seek a child support modification may want to speak to an attorney.