Editorial: Court’s ruling a win for children

Thursday, Sept. 3, 1998 | 11:31 a.m.

THE Nevada Supreme Court made the right decision Tuesday when it ruled that parents have the right to file lawsuits against their ex-spouses to recover unpaid child support from as far back as 1981.

The case came about after the Washoe County district attorney's office began notifying parents in 1994 that it was going to enforce their child support payments. But two District Court judges, relying on a prior Supreme Court decision, ruled that custodial parents and government agencies could not sue to obtain child support payments if they waited more than six years from the last payment.

The Supreme Court, however, clarified Tuesday a previous decision that the District Court judges had been using to reject these back payment cases. Justice Cliff Young wrote that the intent of a 1987 state law was to get rid of obstacles blocking the collection of child support payments. Young noted that the Nevada Legislature understood that avoiding child support often was a "predetermined plan" by the noncustodial parent who disappeared until the six-year statute of limitations canceled the parent's obligation.

Parents who have the means to provide child support, but then avoid fulfilling that obligation, add even more destruction to an already fractured family life. Although the welfare of the children is the overriding concern in this case, another group could benefit from this decision: taxpayers.

In some of the cases, government agencies are trying to recover welfare payments made to mothers who were not getting their child support. So if deadbeat parents are forced to pay their spouses for missed payments, the state can get back the government assistance given to the welfare recipient.

Most divorced parents required to pay child support honor their obligation. But for those who try to escape their responsibility, the court's decision gives divorced parents and government agencies one more tool to crack down on deadbeat parents.