Making sure payments are made

DAVID HULSE
Posted 8/29/18

HONESDALE, PA — The county has set aside August to honor some of the people who work amid the intense human friction often generated by domestic court actions. Six members of the Wayne County …

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Making sure payments are made

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HONESDALE, PA — The county has set aside August to honor some of the people who work amid the intense human friction often generated by domestic court actions.

Six members of the Wayne County Domestic Relations Office (DRO) were on hand on August 23 as the county commissioners proclaimed the month as Child Support Enforcement Awareness Month. The DRO is the child-support assessment and enforcement unit of the Court of Common Pleas. According to the county website, officers receive “initial child support complaints, conduct assessment hearings, investigate change in circumstances involving modification requests and enforce existing support orders.”

DRO Director Mary Ann Swingle said the office oversees collection of unpaid child-support and alimony payments and can pull drivers’ licenses, publicize the names of “most wanted” payment delinquents and call for contempt orders from the court to force compliance. Those who ignore the court are subject to arrest and six months in jail. “Most cases are settled before the contempt charge,” she said.

If not, “To get out [of jail], they have to purge the unpaid money [pay the amount determined appropriate by the court],” said Commissioner Wendell Kay, who during his days practicing law once represented the DRO. If debtors make the first payment prior to court action, they can avoid jail time. “A lot of people are not aware of it, but we do have alimony in PA,” he added.

Swingle said the office has been increasingly effective in making collections, this year amounting to some $3 million through the end of July. The proclamation further noted that PA is “the only state to meet or exceed all five federally-mandated performance measures established by the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act.”

Commissioner Joe Adams, a former educator, wanted to emphasize that those $3 million are for kids. “Next week school starts. Think about kids not being able to be fed or clothed; and then wonder about testing results.”

“We know you are dealing with dissatisfied people. Child support and divorce are never pleasant. The plaintiff or defense may feel the system is rigged against them… We compliment all of you on your professional actions and courtesy,” Kay said.

In other business, the commissioners ratified the August 17 disaster declaration for recent northern-Wayne flooding, re-appointed Robert Timozek to a new five-year term on the county redevelopment authority, re-appointed Margaret Murphy to a new five-year term on the housing authority, and heard Adams announce that the county’s retirement fund balance now exceeds a record $56 million and is fully funded. “We have no unfunded liability,” he reported.

honesdale, DRO, county commissioners, child support, domestic court

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