Massachusetts Support Collection Lawyers

How the Process Works

• Locating Absent Parents
• Enforcing Support Orders
• Complaint for Contempt

Locating Absent Parents

One of the biggest challenges we face when taking on a new case is learning the whereabouts of the absent party and putting them on notice to either begin paying or to expect us to begin the enforcement process. 

This may be the most difficult and time-consuming part of the process as sometimes people move without notifying anybody…they work off the books, don’t work at all…in order to avoid paying court-ordered support.

While our support-collection attorneys have dozens of databases and other tools at our disposal to locate absent parties or parents and their assets, our success often depends on how much information you provide us with, how up-to-date and accurate that information is, and how cooperative you are with us so that we can, ultimately, help you! 

When you contact us to begin working on your behalf, we use location tools including:

• New hire reporting: employers are required by law to report new hires!
• Financial institution records
• Credit agencies to monitor new activity
• IRS information
• Driver’s license records
• Utility company records
• Internet databases

Additionally, when we begin working on your case it is helpful if you to provide us with the person’s full name, date of birth, Social Security Number, last known address and employer. 

It’s a surprise to many, but you can get this information from old income tax records or forms or even old hospital or bank records.  Also, check with past employers.  Often sympathetic to your situation, they may be able to provide leads about where they are living or working.  Finally, review old correspondence for return addresses – old or new!

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Enforcing Support Orders

Once we do track down the absent party, support orders are often enforced by our firm using these enforcement tools:

• Income deductions from the debtor’s paycheck
• Intercepting federal and/or state income tax refunds
• Reporting serious offenders to credit bureaus, possibly affecting their credit rating
• Suspending driver’s, professional or occupational licenses
• Intercepting lottery winnings
• Denying, suspending or revoking passports
• Filing liens to seize bank accounts, worker’s comp settlements or other property

We are often asked what happens when we locate the absent party, attempt to enforce the Court Order, but still remain unsuccessful. 

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Complaint for Contempt

When a party just won’t pay, there is still hope.  If we’re given no choice, our final attempt is to file a complaint for contempt with the court.  Here, if a party has not obeyed a court’s order to pay, he or she may be found in contempt of court.  A contempt action may be filed against the absent party who fails to make support payments or does not maintain the health insurance as ordered by the court.  If clear and convincing evidence is shown that there was a deliberate action to violate the order, a party may be fined, sentenced to jail or both.  In addition, the wrongdoer may be ordered to pay the innocent party’s attorneys fees incurred by collecting and enforcing the order along with paying the full amount of past-due support.

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Attorney Irwin M. Pollack, founder of the Massachusetts Family Law Group and The Law Offices of Irwin M. Pollack, focuses his practice primarily on divorce, child support & alimony, custody & visitation, property distribution, modification & enforcement and business valuation in Boston communities including Andover, Lexington, Wellesley, Weston, Belmont, Topsfield, Marblehead, Swampscott, Manchester, Natick, Framingham, Marlborough, Sudbury, Dover, Duxbury, South Shore, North Shore, Worcester, Shrewsbury, Holden, Cape Cod, Sharon, Foxboro, Newton, Needham and Chestnut Hill.  Contact the Massachusetts Support Collectors for a free, no-obligation consultation or call (781) 461-9800.