NJSBA Family Law Section

I have a matter where my client is paying child support but always is in arrears.  He discovered that TANF benefits for the child's biological mother (for housing) are being deducted from his child support payments and his account.  Probation refuses to provided him any info about which government entity is taking his child support.

This is an FD matter and he has been ordered to pay only child support - nothing else.

Anyone know who is taking the money and how they can do so??

Any suggestions on how to fix this??

I personally have not seen this in prior cases - I do not do a lot of FD.

Thanks,

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Michael Nolan Esq.
Toms River NJ
(732)349-0023
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Michael:  When a person receives TANF, then the right to child support is stautorily assigned to the county welfare agency.  NJKiDS, the automated child support system, interfaces with the welfare system and the current child support obligation is forwarded to the county welfare agency.  (Actually, the system sends the first $100 monthly to the recipient of assistance, and then the county welfare agency gets its share capped at the amount it provides to the recipient.  Anything over that goes to the recipient.)  None of this should change the child support obligation; it would only redirect where the payment goes.  You may wish to check with the attorney for the county welfare agency in the county in which the recipient lives.  Hopefully, it's not me.
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Mitch Steinhart, Esq.
Bergen County Board of Social Services
Rochelle Park, NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-28-2015 16:22
From: Michael Nolan
Subject: FD Child Support - TANF taking money

I have a matter where my client is paying child support but always is in arrears.  He discovered that TANF benefits for the child's biological mother (for housing) are being deducted from his child support payments and his account.  Probation refuses to provided him any info about which government entity is taking his child support.

This is an FD matter and he has been ordered to pay only child support - nothing else.

Anyone know who is taking the money and how they can do so??

Any suggestions on how to fix this??

I personally have not seen this in prior cases - I do not do a lot of FD.

Thanks,

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Michael Nolan Esq.
Toms River NJ
(732)349-0023
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Michael -
<x-tab>        </x-tab>I agree 100% with Mitchell's explanation.
<x-tab>        </x-tab>Along with checking with county counsel, I would reach out to probation and see if they can conduct an audit.  Even if the right to support has been assigned to the Board of Social Services, he still gets credit for what he's paying.
<x-tab>        </x-tab>It sounds like it's also possibly a situation where there's two open cases?  I've seen it happen where the BSS gets a default CS order even though there was already an open FD case.  Not supposed to happen, but it has, and "arrears" will develop under one case.  A motion will be required to resolve it if that's what's going on.

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David Perry Davis, Esq.
112 West Franklin Avenue
Pennington, NJ 08534
Voice: 609-737-2222
Fax: 609-737-3222
http://www.FamilyLawNJ.pro
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