Child support collection--federal level

[socrmom of 5]

My divorce decree states that my ex is to pay me "the sum of $3800 per month of unallocated family support."

My ex currently owes me over $80,000. There is a warrant for his arrest in Illinois.

My lawyer and I would like to file for a warrant for his arrest at the federal level, but he is uncertain how to do this because of the words "family support". Obviously, child support is a component of this as is maintenance. He feels that since it is not simply "child support" owing, that the crime under the Deadbeat Parent's Act may not apply.

I have been reviewing the  Child Support Recovery Act as well.

Soc, do you know how we can get this warant issued? Will the fact that the amount is a combined amount of CS and maintenance disqualify us from using either of these laws?

My ex has been moving from state to state, he has quit his jobs, he has lied about his salaries and hidden his money in his GF's accounts.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Socrmom of 5

[socrateaser]

Well, this gets a little weird. Federal law states that a party who is in arrears for child support more than $10,000 across state lines is guilty of a felony.

The problem is that the U.S. Attorneys office will not prosecute these "crimes" because the Dept. of Justice doesn't want its offices converted into a child support collection agency (deadbeat dads are not yet considered terrorists under federal law -- but there's still time ;-)). In theory, a violator could be arrested by either the Federal Marshall oor by the FBI, but let's get real, no one at the FBI is gonna go after a deadbeat daddy.

The general expectation is that the various state prosecutors will use federal law as a means of having a deadbeat dad arrested and extradited back to the jurisdictional state. But, once again, this usually takes loads of public resources, so local DAs are reluctant to prosecute.

In your situation, however, there is a lot of money at stake, so the question is whether or not this deadbeat dad can pay if he is actually arrested. If he can, then that could twist the DA's hands because there are federal matching funds available for a successful writ of garnishment/execution against a judgment debtor for child support.

You may be able to file a petition in federal court under a "private attorney general" theory, and then have the federal court issue a bench warrant -- if you did this successfully, then the federal marshall would be ordered to make the arrest.

Frankly, I'm not sure if the private attorney general theory is available in federal court, or if there's a specific statute that permits an attorney to initiate a private criminal action. But, your attorney can certainly research the matter -- I just don't have time.

Just realize, that you can't get blood from a stone, and while you can certainly have your ex found in contempt and incarcerated, that will only make him even less able to earn an income in the future, which is counter to your goal.