It is important for parents in Texas to provide for their children. This is true whether the parents are married, divorced, separated or were never together. When parents are no longer together, most of the time one parent is actually court ordered to provide for their child through child support. It is important that people pay this child support, for the sake of the child. There are a number of different consequences if parents do not pay the required amount of child support.
One of these consequences is that people may not be able to register their cars, which means that they cannot drive those cars. A new law allowed for this punishment if a person has not paid child support for at least six months. Since the law went into effect, 14,779 non-custodial parents have had their renewals denied.
The parent is given notice 90 days in advance of the registration renewal date and has instructions of what they need to do to become compliant. If they cannot pay in full they can also work out a payment plan with the Office of the Attorney General.
Child support enforcement is important for many parents and most importantly children. It is important that they actually receive the money they are owed, so they can pay for the child’s needs. There are also many other enforcement actions that can be utilized besides denial of car registrations, which can give people incentive to pay or simply garnish money from them.
There are many people in Texas who pay their child support each month. However, there are many others that do not. This is not only a violation of a court order — it also deprives a child of financial resources. Therefore, there are many different options to enforce compliance with an order for child support, one of which is denial of vehicle registration. Establishing child support and enforcing child support can be complicated though, and consulting an attorney may be beneficial.
Source: kxan.com, “Failure to pay child support leads to over 14K vehicle registration denials” Sarah Rafique, Aug. 29, 2017
