New Jersey Plans “Child Support Amnesty Week”

State Officials Provide Thousands of Child Support Obligors with Opportunity to Settle Arrears

New Jersey child support payors take notice: the State of New Jersey is providing a one week reprieve to settle child support arrears.

For the week of April 28-May 3, 2014, the New Jersey Child Support Program will be sponsoring a Child Support Amnesty Week. This Amnesty program is a ONE TIME occurrence that will afford individuals who are past due in their child support payments the opportunity to speak with a Probation representative to:

• Make a payment
• Set up a reasonable payment plan and commit to it
• Discuss the potential discharge of an active child support warrant
• Discuss the potential of an order modification (change)

Do you owe past due child support? Do you have an active warrant? Let’s talk! Come Into your local probation office between April 28-May 3, 2014 to reach an agreement regarding your child support arrears and future payments. This is your ONE opportunity to do the right thing without the fear of penalty or warrant execution.

Remember: you always have options if you owe substantial support but you are having trouble making payments. Many of our DeMichele & DeMichele child support clients pay $100, $200 or even $500 per week in child support depending, of course, upon the circumstances of their individual cases, and when life happens, it’s easy to see how unexpected unemployment can lead to a large child support arrears in a relatively short amount of time. It piles up quickly.

Moreover, it’s not unsual for our clients to come to us owing thousands of dollars in back child support or alimony. Don’t wait until your child support obligation results a substantial arrearage, license suspension, passport suspension or even in an arrest and incarceration. This is one problem that almost never improves over time on its own!

The key is to remain proactive. If you are unable to manage your current child support obligation due to unemployment or some other significant circumstances affecting your ability to pay such as a substantial, involuntary change in your income (e.g. a layoff or medical problems), then a motion could be filed on your behalf to reduce your obligation to a more manageable amount and establish an arrears payment so that you can begin to pay down what you already owe.

Either way, you may also want to consider seeking a different mode of remitting child support.