Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
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Quoting
CourtClerk
The family court or DOR doesn't have the AUTHORITY to reverse a passport revocation. That's FEDERAL law, so if your attorney recommended that that is the course of action you take, you need to look for another attorney - preferably one that knows what they're talking about. The ONLY way you're going to get your US passport reinstated is to pay the arrears. Even if you were to modify the support on Monday, it would do nothing for the arrears since support won't be modified retroactively. Your attorney should know that.
Also, are you prepared to have your income imputed because "I'm going to school" doesn't allow you to divest yourself of income so that you can accomplish your educational dreams and not make as much money as possible to contribute to the raising of your child.
That is not entirely correct CC. The feds don't revoke or suspend a passport unless requested to do so by the state, and will un-revoke or un-suspend a passport if requested to do so by the state...either based on the fact that the arrears were paid, OR based on the fact that the arrears were vacated...or based on some other reason the state might have. Child support is a state issue not a federal issue. The feds support the states and their determinations, they do not supercede the states.
So yes, the family court or the DOR DOES have the authority to reverse a passport decision, because they are the ones who requested the passport hold in the first place.
Now, that doesn't mean that I think that this OP's passport may get reinstated without payment of arrears, it just means that I disagree with your response.
Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
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Quoting
llworking
Child support is a state issue not a federal issue. The feds support the states and their determinations, they do not supercede the states.
You do realize that FEDERAL LAW supercedes STATE LAW... always, right? Didn't your accounting degree tell you that? That you disagree with my response? I'm shocked. That's never happened before, now has it? It happens almost as many times as I disagree with your responses. I'm sure your accounting degree (if you have one) has taught you a lot about family law.
I'd love to see one (actual) instance where a state has requested reinstatement of a passport based on... they need it? And you do realize that the OCSE and the tax intercept unit require arrears to be reduced to ZERO before they'll release a passport, don't you? It's right there in their own procedures that you've probably never seen a day in your life in your accounting office. Yes, that was sarcastic as HELL.
Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
Quote:
Quoting
CourtClerk
You do realize that FEDERAL LAW supercedes STATE LAW... always, right? Didn't your accounting degree tell you that? That you disagree with my response? I'm shocked. That's never happened before, now has it? It happens almost as many times as I disagree with your responses. I'm sure your accounting degree (if you have one) has taught you a lot about family law.
I'd love to see one (actual) instance where a state has requested reinstatement of a passport based on... they need it? And you do realize that the OCSE and the tax intercept unit require arrears to be reduced to ZERO before they'll release a passport, don't you? It's right there in their own procedures that you've probably never seen a day in your life in your accounting office. Yes, that was sarcastic as HELL.
If you are going to be sarcastic, then you really need to make sure that you are being sarcastic when you are correct.
Federal law only supercedes state law on those issues that are under federal jurisdiction as outlined by the US Constitution. Any other rights are reserved for the states. Once again passport holds and tax intercepts as well are matters where the feds support the states. The states tell them when to make the hold/intercept, and the state tells them when to stop the hold/intercept.
Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
Just as an amusing hijack...
My better half works as a cruise travel agent, and I must hear the horror stories 2 or 3 times a week about people who call in because they have paid for a multi-thousand dollar cruise, only to show up and be refused boarding because their passports have been tagged as delinquent in child support. The poor idiots that didn't purchase travel insurance not only don't get to go on their cruise, but also don't get refunded their fare. It PAYS to pay one's support, to purchase travel insurance, and to read the fine print about travel and passport issues and who is going to eat costs associated with suspended passports. Several folk have attempted to recoup fares in court, but in only ONE case I'm aware of did the court order the cruise line to reimburse the fare - NOT to the traveling parent in arrears, but rather to the state child support collection agency, towards the arrears (sans cancellation and other fees).
</hijack>
Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
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Quoting
Dogmatique
Some tid-bits from Dog's links:
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Even being a U.S. citizen is not, however, enough in some cases. Under a program called “Passport Denial,” authorized by a 1997 amendment to a law called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), any person who owes child support in an amount greater than $2,500 will be denied a U.S. passport until the matter is cleared up. (At one time, the threshold was $5,000, but it was lowered to $2,500 in 2007.)
Note: It says "until the matter is cleared up". That allows for more than just it being "paid" as a reason to un-suspend.
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The U.S. Passport Agency automatically receives information from a database kept by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The information in this database originally comes from county district attorney offices that work on child enforcement, which reports support amounts owed (“arrearages”) to DHHS.
Note: Its the state/county putting the people on the list, and therefore taking them off again.
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You will need to contact your local child support agency to make arrangements to pay your child support debt or otherwise reach some satisfactory agreement
Again, its clearly up to the state/local child support enforcement.
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The Passport Denial Program, which is part of the Federal Offset Program, is designed to help states enforce delinquent child support obligations
Again, clearly its to support the states.
Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
Based on personal experience:
My husband worked for the same company for about 15 years and wasn't behind in support. Due to some unusual, very bizarre circumstances that I'm not going to get into here, he was hit with a HUGE judgment for arrearages well in excess of the $2,500. In fact, the judge was extremely upset about his own ruling, stated as much on the record, and wanted to certify his own ruling for automatic and immediate appeal because he believed the judgment was inequitable and wanted the case to go to a higher court. He said that he felt his hands were tied based on the law and believed that the issues were important enough to merit further review. We just didn't have the money to go through the appeals process.
Anyhow. After this happened my husband had to make a trip overseas for work. I (yes *I* even though it was my husband's case because I had the time to do this) got in contact with the two DCS caseworkers in two different states to get the passport hold LIFTED. I didn't contact the State Department. They had nothing to do with it. The STATE DCS is the entity that contacts the State Dept to issue passport holds & releases.
Having said all of that, my husband did have to get a letter from his employer stating the travel was going to become an integral part of his job. The two caseworkers worked closely together, with me, and got the hold released within two days.
So, yeah......the bit about the Feds controlling is not accurate.
Re: Passport Validity with Arrears
So y'all know I'm not pulling this stuff out my ass...
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PASSPORT REINSTATEMENT PROCESS
When the NCP makes a request for reinstatement of passport privileges to local CSS, responsible caseworkers must determine whether that NCP meets the criteria for reinstatement.
If reinstatement is appropriate, caseworkers should:
Provide the NCP with a copy of the "Passport Reinstatement Information/Instructions" document.
Explain the reinstatement process to the NCP:
NC CSS sends a request to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to remove the NCP's name from the passport denial file.
OCSE notifies the U.S. Department of State in the next weekly file update. It can take up to ten to fifteen (10-15) business days from the date of the state's deletion request for the passport to be issued.
Once the NC CSS has notified OCSE to lift the restriction, the NCP can expedite the process by contacting the National Passport Agency at the telephone number shown on the passport denial letter and requesting that the passport status be updated and the application processed.
Obtain the following information from the NCP to assist in processing the request and for statistical purposes:
The NCP's name (as it appears on the birth certificate;
The NCP's place of birth (city and state);
The NCP's current address;
The NCP's home and work telephone numbers;
The name of the passport agency that appears on the passport denial letter that the NCP received;
The reason for reinstatement (EX: payment of arrearages, emergency, submitted in error) and the reason for the planned travel (EX: employment, vacation, military deployment, etc.)
Send a request to the Tax Intercept Unit, asking them to process the request for removal of the passport denial and providing the information that was obtained from the NCP in Step #3.
Tax Intercept Unit workers must do the following:
Verify that the NCP's arrearage balance has been reduced to zero ($0.00).
Document local CSS’s request that the NCP’s name be removed from the passport denial file, including the reason for reinstatement.
Request that OCSE remove the NCP's name from the passport denial file. OCSE notifies the Department of State when the restriction has been lifted.