Child support is a contentious issue in Arizona and across the country. Once it is ordered by a court, the designated amount is owed without regard to changing circumstances. However, a parent who is required to pay can request to modify a child support order when a substantial change in circumstances has occurred. Economic conditions can change quickly through loss of job, medical issues or other circumstances that sometimes make it difficult to keep current with child support payments.

When child support payments are substantially late, the issue can end up in the court. Some can afford an attorney to represent them in those enforcement proceedings, but others cannot. In June 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that indigent parents are not entitled to a court-appointed attorney for a child support hearing if the state is not a party to the proceedings. That decision may have far-reaching effects throughout the country, including Arizona.

However, Arizona readers may be interested to know that a group of fathers in Georgia have sued to protest a state law that allows courts to imprison non-paying parents when child support payments fall behind. Many of those proceedings are handled without the person owing the child support having the benefit of an attorney, and some say the result is a quick trip to jail regardless of the actual circumstances. The plaintiffs also claim that jailing a non-paying parent not only does not solve the non-payment problem, but makes it worse because the jailed parent often loses their job and cannot regain employment.

One thing is clear: Delinquent child support has become a national issue as states try to grapple with enforcement problems. While jail may be an appropriate answer for some who are willfully evading obligations they can afford, some people are questioning if it is a good answer for those whose financial circumstances prevent them from staying current. In the end, however, the best interests of the children should be at the heart of the discussion. It will be interesting to see if and how the laws around child support change in the near future.

Source: The Washington Examiner, "Fathers challenge jail sentences for child support," Jan. 29, 2012