Columnist Sandra Thompson: Making deadbeat parents pay is no easy task

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, Jan. 10, 1999 | 9:10 a.m.

KNOW THE CLICHE "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink"?

It can be applied to some people who won't pay child support. Try all you want, you can't make 'em pay.

Take the case of a Las Vegas doctor who owes his ex-wife and two young sons $30,000 in back child support and some spousal support. There's a court order, and he acknowledges he owes the support, but he doesn't pay.

Attach his assets, you say.

That's difficult because he apparently doesn't pay his other debts, either. He has more than $200,000 in tax liens against him, according to a credit report his ex-wife obtained, and he owes more than $200,000 in student loans he received in 1990.

However, he earns -- or is capable of earning -- $700 to $1,000 per day, she says. Because he's self-employed, his wages can't be garnisheed.

Under a recently enacted state law, the district attorney's office had his driver's license revoked for failure to pay child support. The next step may be taking away his professional or business licenses.

Another Las Vegas man allegedly owes $65,000 in back child support to his ex-wife in Florida. She's been begging local authorities for the six years he's been living here to make him pay what he owes.

The D.A.'s office sent the ex-husband a "notice of intention to withhold income" on Aug. 7, 1995, but nothing happened, the ex-wife says.

The D.A.'s office says it will take another look at the case.

The link between these cases -- aside from the incredibly large amounts of child support owed -- is how do you make someone pay a child support obligation when he or she won't? Sure there are laws outlining penalties, but if that doesn't get the parents' attention, what will?

Therein lies the challenge, according to Leslie Arnold, supervisor of policy and program development for the Nevada Welfare Division's Child Support Program.

The toughness of the case, she says, depends on the person and the degree to which he or she wants to fulfill his/her responsibilities.

Does the high amount owed in these two cases make it more difficult to enforce?

"The amount itself doesn't make or break law enforcement activities," Arnold says. She did point out, however, that the high amount owed may mean the person has other large debts.

It's difficult to collect back child support from a self-employed person because the wages can't be garnisheed, Arnold says. Also, interstate cases are tougher to handle.

The Clark County district attorney's office and U.S. attorney's office are working on a new program that would go beyond the civil realm and consider criminal prosecution in interstate cases. Just last week there was a meeting to work out some of the details.

Elana Hatch, chief deputy D.A., couldn't comment on the specifics of the two cases cited here, but acknowledged that none of the cases the office handles is easy.

"Our goal is to take a problem case and convert it into a paying case," she says.

The office is experiencing some success. Hatch says the D.A.'s child support unit closed 1998 with a record monthly collection of $5 million. That's nearly double the amount collected in January 1994.

For the year, the unit collected $56 million in child support in Clark County. That's nearly $6 million more than 1997.

There are legal tools the unit can use such as suspending a driver's license (the person still can drive to work and to see the children under a restricted license) and/or professional licenses for failure to pay child support.

Wages also can be garnisheed. Hatch says the unit has "incredible cooperation with Las Vegas employers. We send 1,000 wage withholdings a week."

If an employer doesn't cooperate, she says, a contempt of court citation can be issued.

The court may order jail time and then offer the person the opportunity to pay some of the owed support in lieu of bail to get out. However, jail's not the ideal motivational tool. If you can't work because you're sitting in a cell, then you sure as heck can't pay child support.

Sometimes there are mitigating circumstances.

Some people don't -- or can't -- pay support because of a substance abuse problem or they are chronically unemployed. Some gamble away the money. Then there are "serial" parents who have several children -- each with a different partner -- and they don't earn enough to take care of their responsibilities.

There are programs to help these people fulfill their obligations, Hatch says.

"We try to legally deal with social problems," she says. "We don't have the ability to remake anyone, but we do have the ability to keep going on."

Maybe the new collaborative effort calling for criminal prosecution will get the attention of those who owe large amounts of child support.

A message for the Las Vegas doctor who's $30,000 in arrears and the man who allegedly owes $65,000: Your children are counting on you.