How can the Bureau of
Child Support Enforcement help me?
How should I start?
What are some risks of enforcing
support?
How long will it take
support enforcement to help me?
Who makes decisions about my case once it is
in court?
For more information
IF... you are NOT getting state welfare,
AND... you have a Connecticut court order ordering the other parent of your child to pay child support,
BUT...the other parent is not paying...
help is available so you can find answers to these questions....
- How you can you enforce the court order?
- How can you get the other parent to pay?
The state's child support enforcement system is there to help you. It is called the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement of the Department of Social Services (we will refer to it as BCSE in this article). BCSE does not represent either parent--it only makes certain that the court orders child support for you (that is, establishes support). Another agency, called Support Enforcement Services, will enforce the order; that is to make sure you receive the child support. BCSE has offices around Connecticut. To find the address or phone number for BCSE near you, call the Child Support Hotline.
CHILD SUPPORT HOT-LINE: 1-800-228-KIDS (1-800-228-5437)
The Bureau of Child Support Enforcement (BCSE) has a duty to help you in establishing paternity and support and enforcing child support. BCSE must also help enforce alimony orders if there is a child support order.
To start any of these processes, the father needs to be found. If you do not know where the parent of your child is, the BCSE can help you try to locate that parent. The BCSE has access to records of state agencies such as Motor Vehicles or Unemployment Compensation as well as the post office, phone company, the military and the federal parent locator system. To locate a parent, the BCSE needs the person's name, date and place of birth, and either his/her social security number or mother's maiden name.
The BCSE also has many ways to enforce payment of child support. Some methods require going to court, while others do not. Here are some of the things the BCSE can do:
NOTE: The BCSE does not charge for their services.
1. Hopefully, you have been keeping a record of the child support payments and you can figure out exactly how much is owed to you. (If you haven't, START NOW). Even if you haven't kept written records or the records you have are not totally complete, if you remember how much is owed, you can still go forward.
2. Go to the BCSE office and pick up an application or call the BCSE office and ask them to send you an application.
3. File the completed application form as soon as possible.
4. Bring a copy of the most recent child support order and any older different orders on which payments are in arrears.
5. You will be asked to sign an Affidavit (a sworn statement) as to the amount of child support owed.
It is possible that when the caseworker contacts the non-paying parent, he or she will raise other issues, such as denial of visitation with the child. In Connecticut, visitation rights do not depend on the payment of child support, nor does the payment of child support guarantee visitation rights. Also, support magistrates (who enforce support when BCSE is involved) have only limited power concerning custody or visitation. They can approve custody or visitation agreements, and can enforce such agreements entered in magistrate court. They cannot, otherwise, enter or enforce custody or visitation orders.
If you don't want the other parent to know your whereabouts or other information about you, be sure to tell the caseworker.
A parent may react with violence when you try to collect back child support. You know best whether this is likely and you should be sure you are safe. (To get a restraining order, contact a women's shelter for help--the Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-888-774-2900). Or, see the Legal Aid booklet, How to Get a Restraining Order.
Another possible response to enforcing support is that an unmarried father decides to question whether he is really the father of the child he is being asked to support. This may happen even though he has previously signed a paper agreeing that he is the father. If the court allows a challenge, there is a simple way to help resolve paternity--and that is with DNA testing. The BCSE will help to arrange for this testing. The law limits how long a father has to challenge paternity.
Support enforcement should help you by taking specific steps within a certain time. Here are the time frames:
1. BCSE should provide you with an application on the day you come in person to request it or within five days of a phone request.
2. The BCSE should file your completed application on the day it is received.
NOTE: The BCSE will send your case to another agency sometime between steps 3, 4 and 5. The BCSE's job is to establish new orders, put cases on the computer system, and then refer your case to another agency, Support Enforcement Services (SES). SES takes over once an order is established. This means that at a certain point, you will need to call SES instead of BCSE to check on your case.
3. Within 20 days after the filing, they should gather all necessary information from you or refer it for the purpose of locating the other parent. Again, if you don't want the other parent to know information about you, be sure to tell the caseworker.
4. Once it is referred for the purpose of locating the other parent, all location efforts should be completed within 75 days. (If you know the location of the other parent, just skip this step.)
5. Support Enforcement Services (SES) should take enforcement action after determining that the other parent is one month in arrears (behind in payment). The time frames are:
- Within 60 days if the enforcement action involves going to court. For example a contempt of court case. The other parent needs to be served with court papers.
OR
- Within 30 days if enforcement action does not involve going to court. That is, other enforcement methods such as liens, etc.
The caseworker will generally contact the non-paying parent, inform him or her of the claimed arrearage and try to obtain payment voluntarily or threaten court action before bringing the court action.
6. They should distribute to you the full amount of current support collected within 2 business days after they receive it.
It will be some time before your case actually gets to court. Once your case is brought in, a support magistrate will decide how to enforce the order. The support magistrate is like a judge but only has authority to handle child support matters. The support magistrate can:
Sometimes the SES worker will recommend that you and the other parent agree about how the order should be enforced. Because the support magistrate and not the SES worker has the final say, you do not have to agree. If you do not agree, ask to present your case to the support magistrate.
Statewide Legal Services: (860) 344-0380 (Central Connecticut & Middletown area) 1-800-453-3320 (All other regions)
This document was produced by the Legal Assistance Resource Center of CT in cooperation with CT Legal Services, Greater Hartford Legal Aid, New Haven Legal Assistance Association, and Statewide Legal Services.
The information in this document is based on the laws in CT as of December 2004. We hope that the information is helpful. It is not intended as legal advice for an individual situation. If you need further help and have not done so already, please call Statewide Legal Services (see above) or contact an attorney.Copyright: December 2004