Monmouth Probation Division Child Support Enforcement Unit Information PageIMPORTANT NOTICE TO INDIVIDUALS RECEIVING CHILD SUPPORTON MARCH 2, 2009 THE NEW CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENT SYSTEM – DELAYS The State of New Jersey is converting to a new child support system. The Monmouth Vicinage will be participating in the second phase on March 2, 2009. As a result, child support payments may be delayed for up to two (2) days in March 2009. Due to conversions in other areas of the state, you may also experience delays for up to two (2) days in the following months:
Please be patient during this transition. While the conversion to a new computer system is temporary there will be permanent long term benefits. NEW PAYMENT STRUCTURE Due to federally mandated regulations the manner in which individuals receive payments will change. This may impact your child support payments as follows:
Refer to Item 5 of the “SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY Chancery Division – Family Part ORDER” for the court ordered amounts and frequency of payment(s). If your obligations resulted from a Divorce, refer to the Matrimonial Order for the court ordered amounts and frequency of payment(s). The vicinage asks for your patience in the event that any difficulties are experienced. Please contact your caseworker to resolve any issues or answer any questions you may have. You may also call the Child Support Hotline at 1-800-621-5437. DEBIT CARDS To avoid interruption of child support payments, you must provide current address information. Please send us a notarized letter stating your old address and new address OR send a clear copy of a valid photo identification card (ie, drivers license, employee ID, Social Services ID, passport, etc.) with a copy of a recent bill (within the last two months) containing your name and the new address. You must also include the effective date of the address change as well as your case number (CS#). Please mail this information to Monmouth Vicinage Probation Division, 30 Mechanic Street, Freehold, NJ 07728. If you have any questions about these instructions, please contact our office at 732-677-4800. If your address has changed since March of 2006, and you are receiving child support on a Monmouth Vicinage case, your address must be updated in our records to receive a new debit card. The existing cards will expire in January of 2009. To avoid interruption of child support payments, you must provide current address information. Please send us a notarized letter stating your old address and new address OR send a clear copy of a valid photo identification card (ie, drivers license, employee ID, Social Services ID, passport, etc.) with a copy of a recent bill (within the last two months) containing your name and the new address. You must also include the effective date of the address change as well as your case number (CS#). Please mail this information to Monmouth Vicinage Probation Division, 30 Mechanic Street, Freehold, NJ 07728. If you have any questions about these instructions, please contact our office at 732-677-4800.
1. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR MY CASE TO BE SET UP? Upon receipt of the signed court order requiring payments to be made through Monmouth Probation Division, we will enter the information into our computer. At that time, the case will be ready for collection and enforcement. Delays will occur when we have to request any necessary information from you or other parties. Also, delays will occur if your order is not clear. 2. HOW DO I SET UP A CASE TO BE PAID THROUGH PROBATION? You must have a New Jersey support order or an order registered in New Jersey (requiring support payments to be made through Probation), a case information sheet, an Application to Redirect Payments Through Probation (which can be obtained from us). A current address is needed for the other party, whom is called the OBLIGOR, since we must verify good service of the initiating notice. Our notice gives the other party 12 postal days to contest and request a hearing. If he/she does not contest, we may initiate a court order and open the case as payable through Probation.
3. AS THE OBLIGEE, IF I MOVE, WHY DO I HAVE TO PUT IT IN WRITING? For your protection, we require that you immediately send to us a notarized letter denoting your old address, new address, case number (CS#) and Obligor's name or a clear copy of a valid photo identification card (ie., drivers license, employee id., Social Services id., passport or etc...) attached to a copy of a recent bill (within the last two months) denoting your name, new address and the effective date of the address change. This is necessary because our checks cannot be forwarded by the Post Office. 1. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RECEIVE MY CHECK? Your child support payments are sent to you from the Centralized Payment Center, which barring postal delays, takes about seven to ten business days to reach you. For your convenience, there is the 1-800-621-KIDS number that you can call to obtain payment information. 2. I DIDN'T GET A PAYMENT THAT YOU SHOW ON YOUR RECORDS. WHAT SHOULD I DO? After waiting ten business days, call and get the check number from your assigned Investigator. You must then send or fax a letter to the Bookkeeping Department with the check number, your name, case number and the reason you may not have received the check (ie. lost, stolen, thrown out). A stop payment is immediately placed on the check, then a new check or a copy of your cashed check is forwarded to you. If you do receive the original check after writing us, DO NOT CASH IT, payment has been stopped. III. INCOME WITHHOLDING / WAGE GARNISHMENT 1. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR THE INCOME WITHHOLDING TO START? It can take approximately three to four weeks from the time the notice goes out to the employer. The Obligor is responsible for the payments to Probation until support is deducted from their check. It is the responsibility of the Obligor to pay the difference if the income withholding does not cover the full amount of the obligation. Moreover, the employer is responsible for honoring the income withholding as directed by the Probation Division. 2. THE OBLIGOR WORKS OUT OF STATE. WHAT SHOULD I DO? As long as we have the name and address of the employer, an income withholding can be sent, however, it is a timely procedure. 1. WHY WAS THE OBLIGOR RELEASED WITHOUT ANY PAYMENTS? The case history is presented to the Judge who will make the final determination regarding the release figure, future payments and bench warrants. 2. IS THE BENCH WARRANT DONE AUTOMATICALLY AFTER TWO WEEKS? We process and carefully review many Bench Warrants daily. It is a timely, and multi-step process, in order to avoid false arrest. If you have a warrant stipulation on your case and would like this action, please contact your assigned Investigator. 3. HOW DO I GET A BENCH WARRANT STIPULATION IN MY ORDER? There are basically two ways to get a bench warrant stipulation in your order: · You or your attorney can make a motion for an Ex-parte Bench Warrant, in which your attorney must facilitate a Bench Warrant on your behalf. We can not process one for you, if your attorney is no longer retained. · The Probation Division can list the case for an enforcement hearing. At the hearing, before the Hearing Officer or Judge, a bench warrant stipulation can be requested. 4. WHY DO WE NEED THE OBLIGOR'S ADDRESS TO LIST THEM FOR COURT? The obligor's verified address is needed to properly serve the individual with a notice of hearing. We are often unable to obtain an Order of Default without proof the defendant received the notice to appear. V. PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE 1. CAN YOU TAKE HIS/HER DRIVERS LICENSE OR PROFESSIONAL LICENSE? A case may qualify for this action if it is a New Jersey child support order. In addition, one or more of the following must apply: · An active child support warrant;
Please note that the final determination for this action is made by the court team in consultation with the Presiding Family Judge. 2. WHY DOES WELFARE GET THE TAX MONEY BEFORE ME? Federal regulation directs that Welfare (AFDC) arrears be paid off first from IRS offset/intercepts. 3. I DIDN'T OWE THE MONEY WHEN I FILED MY TAXES, WHY WAS THERE A TAX OFFSET? A. If you owed money on December 1st of the previous year, the Federal Government's time standards will require offset of your return. B. Money will be returned to you if there are no arrears showing upon our receipt of your tax. 4. HOW MAY AN ARREARAGE AFFECT MY CREDIT? If your arrearage reaches $1,000.00 you will be notified that it may be reported to the credit bureaus. Prior to reporting you will be allowed the opportunity to appeal. 5. HOW CAN I GET THE INFORMATION ON MY CREDIT REPORT CORRECTED? If it was reported in error we will take action to correct it. If no error occurred in our reporting, it is up to the obligor to contact the credit bureaus to resolve the issue with them. The obligor may consider filing a consumer dispute directly with the lender or credit bureau representative. Once your arrearage has reached $1,000.00, however, even if you are paying off your arrears, the reporting will remain in place. A. OUT OF COUNTY - TRANSFER 1. UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES IS MY CASE TRANSFERRED? To better serve the parties, cases may be transferred when the Obligor resides out of county. 2. WHAT HAPPENS TO MY CASE AND HOW DO I COLLECT PAYMENTS WHEN MY CASE IS IN THE TRANSFER PROCESS? The case is forwarded from the sending county to the receiving county (where the Obligor resides). It is then up to the receiving county to either accept or reject the case. Payments that are made are forwarded to New Jersey Family Support Payment Center and continue to be disbursed to the obligee. B. OUT OF STATE - UIFSA (UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT) 1. WHY CAN'T A BENCH WARRANT BE DONE IF THE OBLIGOR LIVES OUT OF STATE? We do not have the jurisdiction to have a bench warrant executed in another state. 1. HOW CAN I GET A CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF SUPPORT ORDERED? · If your docket number begins with
"FD" or "FV" you may go to the Family Division in the
county where your order was entered and request a modification. 1. WHO DECIDES WHEN THE CHILD IS EMANCIPATED? You need to read your Judgement of Divorce or court order carefully to ascertain if there is an explicit age, or circumstance that determines the emancipation of the child(ren). If not, please note that there is no automatic age of emancipation as per New Jersey State Law, however, we use the following guidelines to assess if both parties agree to a voluntary termination of support and enforcement by Probation. · The stipulated child has reached
the age of 18 and is not attending school full-time; The existence of one or more of the above does not stop the enforcement of the order until a modified order is entered. 1. MY FATHER CALLED AND YOU WOULDN'T TALK TO HIM, WHY? Due to confidentiality regulations, we are obligated to communicate only with the (obligee) plaintiff, (obligor) defendant or their legal representatives. 2. THE OBLIGOR IS WORKING "OFF THE BOOKS" OR SELF-EMPLOYED, WHAT CAN YOU DO? If we have the name and address of the payroll site, we will attempt to initiate an income withholding. 3. I HAVE RECENTLY REMARRIED. WHAT DO I DO? If your case includes spousal support or is a spousal support only case, please immediately forward a copy of the marriage license to us. Also, if your court order stipulates that spousal support ceases upon remarriage, your account will automatically be adjusted. 4. MY HUSBAND AND I BOTH CONSENT TO A REDUCTION, WHAT DO WE DO? Both parties must provide this department with a notarized letter consenting to the reduced or increased support amount. We will review such and make a determination. 5. IF THE OBLIGOR FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY, WILL THIS AFFECT MY SUPPORT? Until we receive official notice of the bankruptcy, we continue our normal case management practices. Upon receipt of the Notice of Commencement, Probation has guidelines to follow based on which chapter is filed. Child Support and Alimony monies are not discharged in bankruptcy proceedings. * Please note that there are any other enforcement mechanisms that can be utilized by our Division such as passport denial, seizure of assets, civil withholding and so on. If you'd like more information about these items, please contact the Monmouth Probation Division at (732)677-4800. |
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