Sunday, March 29, 2009
ANOTHER RIDICULOUS WASTE OF COURT RESOURCES IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Granted, the lawsuit discussed in Re/Max says local agency's logo too similar to its own is not a Family Court case. However, this ridiculous case is tying up precious court time and resources that could be better utilized for child abuse cases, juvenile criminal cases, domestic abuse cases, custody cases, child support cases, paternity cases, domestic kidnapping cases, parental interference cases, visitation cases--you get the picture.
What makes this nonsense particularly egregious is that South Carolina now has an unemployment rate of 11% and there are literally thousands of non-custodial parents who have been paying their child support religiously, but now need some relief from that obligation and need access to Family Court to obtain that releif.* As reported in "Fighting Over Child Support After the Pink Slip Arrives," "Since January [Family Courts across the nation] have been overwhelmed with urgent requests...alarming judges and overwhelming calendars with what are known as modification cases. In Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas, the district attorney’s family support division has received an unusually high number of calls from parents who previously paid diligently but are now having trouble."
Our suggestion is that the Courts advise all Re/Max Realtors and Brokers who are seeking an adjustment in their child support payments that they need to go to the end of the line. They have used their collective court time allotment for this quarter.
*See, "Economy Could be Affecting SC Child Support Payments," wherein it was written:
The economy and South Carolina’s high unemployment rate appear to be affecting child support payments in the state. Larry McKeown, child support enforcement director for the state Department of Social Services, says, "I can’t specifically attribute it to the economy, but we have seen a decrease of about a little over two percent in collections, when comparing January of ‘09 to January of ‘08'."
We note that, because South Carolina does such a poor job of collecting child support, there may not be much of a statistical drop off in collection rates during difficult economic times. However, that does not change the fact that there are those who want to pay their child support, but are unable to do so because they cannot find employment. And they cannot get into Family Court to obtain a reduction because the dockets are filled with nonsense cases.
Labels: Child Support Collection, Non-custodial Parents, Problems at DSS, Wasting Court Time
