Behind on child support?: State may take your license
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In all, about 20,000 letters were sent out last week by the Department of Human Services, targeting those who are behind in their court-ordered child support payments. The letters warn that if arrangements are not made within 20 days to get payments up to date, then the state will revoke any and all state licenses held by the person.
The licenses which can be revoked by the state cover a broad range of areas including driver’s licenses, hunting and fishing licenses, and professional licenses.
According District Attorney General Dale Potter, whose office helps enforcement child support collections, the state is becoming more aggressive each year in making delinquent parents pay up.
“Really, they ought to get a lot more of them, but lately, they’ve been getting more and more each year,” Potter said. “We have had people be stripped of their licenses here for not paying child support and we’ll probably have some more this year.”
The most common license forfeiture is a Tennessee driver’s license. Once a license is stripped by the state for nonpayment, the person will be required to first become up to date on his or her child support payments and then re-apply for a license. Driving while a license is stripped by the state is a criminal offense.
While a limited number of Warren countians have had their licenses revoked, Potter said the main impact of the program is that it prompts delinquent parents to pay up.
“Some times normal persuasion doesn’t get them, but when they are looking at the possibility of losing their driver’s license, they often get serious and pay up,” Potter said. “This is a good tool and we normally see a lot of people catching up on their payments real fast when these letters go out.”
DHS estimates about $20 million is currently owed in delinquent child support payments state-wide.