Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / September 2005

Tuesday, September 27, 2005
2005 9:18 AM CDT

DA pursues child support payments
By Bob Gibbins, Press Staff Writer

Even millionaire lottery winners are responsible for child support
payments.
One non-custodial parent recently learned that lesson the hard way.
District Attorney Richard L. Gray's child support enforcement division
collected $46,500 in August from a father who owed the back child
support. Gray said his staff tracked down a lottery payment from another
state.
"There was a small slip of paper in the file indicating the
non-custodial parent won a lottery in another state," he said. "That
started case specialist Gudonna Lee working on how much was won and how
the winnings could be turned into child support payments."
"Sometimes it just takes digging around and asking for information about
assets," Lee said.
The parent, who was not identified, allegedly hid the money in a trust
account for a period of time. A child support office in the other state
and the lottery commission discovered its location.
"The non-custodial parent won more than $6 million and was receiving his
winnings at better than $300,000 a year," Gray said. "A garnishment was
mailed to the lottery commission and the $46,500 payment was received."
The lottery winnings were also added to the parent's gross income and
his monthly child support payment was modified with his new payment
being more than twice what was previously ordered.
"Knowing that the child's family received a large sum after five years
of no payments was wonderful," Lee said.
Gray said he was very pleased with Lee's effort in the case. He said
she's to be commended for her persistence.
"Gudonna does an excellent job for us in child support," he said. "She
put a lot of time and effort in this and it paid off in a big way for
the child. They're what it's all about."
The local office's aggressive pursuit of child support also paid off in
another way.
The child support enforcement division sued a company who was
withholding child support payments from an employee as ordered, but not
mailing them to the office. The employer paid after receiving a letter
from the child support office.
Gray said the employer can be fined $200 a day for not mailing withheld
payments to the child support office. He said the company involved in
this case mailed $3,000 to catch up payments that were to be made
monthly.
Child support is ordered and enforced under Oklahoma law and the
legislature has recently made it easier for offices like the one in
Tahlequah to get garnishments from Social Security, worker compensation
and employee paychecks. Offices also have the power to levy bank
accounts and seize assets for failure to pay. Anyone owing child support
is encouraged to contact the local office at 1-800-522-2922 to make
payment arrangements.