Vol. 74, No. 6, June 2001

The Child Support Lien Docket

Property buyers beware! When the new child support lien docketing system is fully implemented, child support obligors whose support orders are enforced by a county child support agency may discover that liens exist against all their real and personal titled property if they are in arrears of their court-ordered support. Currently, more than 190,000 cases with Wisconsin court orders statewide are receiving services from the child support program. That number includes cases where one of the parties is receiving public assistance and cases where an application for support enforcement services has been filed in the local agency.

Title insurers will be required to check the child support lien docket as a routine part of title searches. Potential buyers will need to be aware of the increased likelihood that the property they are purchasing may have a lien against it for unpaid child support. Attorneys practicing real estate or family law are likely to see an increase in cases as the number of individuals on Wisconsin's child support lien docket increases.

New Tools to Collect Child Support Arrearages

The lien docket is one of many new enforcement tools available to collect child support arrearages resulting from passage of the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996.1 Enactment of this legislation marked a turning point in the provision of public assistance programs in this country. Eligibility for public assistance is now time limited, and recipients are required to participate in job training and/or work programs designed to increase their self-sufficiency. A major factor in the ability of a single parent household to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency is the receipt of child support. Children who receive financial support from both parents are much less likely to find themselves dependent on public aid.

Wisconsin has long been a leader nationwide in both establishing and enforcing child support orders. In 1999, Wisconsin collected nearly $1 billion in child support. However, Wisconsin still has almost $1.9 billion in uncollected child support. Although many of our existing enforcement tools are effective in collecting support, more stringent enforcement tools are needed to ensure that all children receive the financial support they deserve.

The PRWORA requires all states to enact new measures to enforce child support orders. States that do not comply with this requirement will lose the continued receipt of federal funding. In Wisconsin, federal funding for the child support and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families programs approaches $420 million annually.

Among the new requirements was an amendment to 42 U.S.C. 666(a)(4) requiring all states to have laws or procedures under which child support arrearages become liens, by operation of law, against all real and personal property owned by an obligor who either resides or owns property in a state. States were given until April 1998 to enact the necessary legislation and until Oct. 1, 2000, to implement the new procedures.

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