Millions of deserving and needy children are not being adequately served by the legal system, states a recent Los Angeles Times article.
The paper’s focus is on child support, with the article centrally noting this: More than one-third of all money owed in support obligations annually across the country is not being duly received.
In other words, it is being left unpaid, with the amount that is not being applied as it should be — on behalf of children’s needs — being staggeringly high.
In fact, and according to a recent announcement from the United States Census Bureau, in excess of $14 billion is not applied as intended in a single year.
Why would that be the case?
Of course, stories across the country, including accounts from Florida, indicate that many parents tasked with support duties simply have difficulties in making full payments. The economy has admittedly been — and continues to be — tough for millions of Americans.
Another factor that also adversely influences collection of child support is being noted too, though, and it has more to do with the legal system than it does a sheer inability to collect from non-payers.
Namely, that is the overwhelming feeling many people have in trying to understand and gain benefit through the legal process.
Reportedly, increasingly fewer parents are invoking the government’s assistance in their efforts to collect support that has been mandated.
“Increasingly, for the poorest single women, it’s harder to access the system,” says one commentator, who adds that many custodial parents simply “don’ know how this complex system works.”
Barriers to knowledge and lawful collection of mandated payments strongly indicate the need of many parents to secure assistance from an empathetic family law attorney with proven experience in child support matters.
Source: Los Angeles Times, “Billions of dollars in child support go unpaid yearly,” Emily Alpert Reyes, Nov. 20, 2013