An unexpected bit of good news landed on the door step of one Ohio woman recently. The Summit County state’s attorney presented her with a large check for back child support payments owed by her ex-husband. She and her ex-husband were married for 10 years and had two boys before divorcing. However, the ex-husband had stopped making the court-ordered child support payments quite some time ago.
Today, the mother of two is wed to a man she married 17 years ago, and she is also now the stepmother to his four children. However, before meeting her current husband, she struggled to support her two boys after the father stopped paying child support. According to a local newspaper report, basic survival was a struggle for her during that time period.
Even though the two boys are now adults, her child support case was never forgotten. When her ex-husband started receiving some income a couple of years ago, Summit County began garnishing his wages. The prosecutor for the county was unable to locate the woman until recently, when she was finally presented with a check for more than $8,200. The large sum represents the total of the garnished wages of the ex-husband over the past two years, and she will also begin receiving $332 a month.
Custodial parents who bear the burden of raising and supporting the child deserve compensation from the non-custodial parent. Often times though, the non-custodial parent is unable to pay due to financial hardship. However when the financial hardship ends, mechanisms such as garnishing wages are available.
Source: News Channel 5, “Akron mother surprised with huge past due child support check,” Elisabeth Leamy, Oct. 11, 2011