Skip to main content

3 Amazing Facts about the DOR Child Support Enforcement Division

In Massachusetts the Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division (DOR:CSE) provides child support collection services to both payors and recipients of child support.  Three attorneys from DOR:CSE recently spoke at a Boston Bar Association Family Law Section Brown Bag presentation and shared the following amazing facts:

In 2014 the Massachusetts DOR:CSE collected 
over $646 million dollars in child support.  


DOR:CSE can collect child support in any case where the child support figure is a sum certain and the recipient requests services.  They deduct support directly from the payor's paycheck which reduces the administrative burden of payment on both the payor and recipient.  They also track any arrears which can assist parties in keeping a clear record of child support owed.



Each case at DOR:CSE has an individually assigned case worker 
and each case worker has between 1200 and 1900 cases.  


DOR:CSE has a comprehensive website that can provide a lot of information generally about there services and specifically to a recipient or payor about their account.  They also have a customer service line (1-800-332-2733) that can answer many of the basic questions that you may have.  If you have a more complicated question about your case, you should contact your case worker directly.


Despite the number of cases, DOR:CSE case workers are 
required to respond to all inquiries within 72 hours.


Case workers can be extremely helpful in addressing any issues with your specific child support case.  DOR:CSE can assist with reviewing support orders for consistency with the current child support guidelines and help with asking the court to modify the amount of the child support if necessary.  The can also assist with collection and enforcement remedies, such as bank levies, tax refund intercepts and credit reporting, to collect overdue support.


Click here if you want more information about the services available from DOR:CSE (and the services that are NOT available).

If you have a DOR:CSE hearing and need further assistance click here for more information.

Finally, if you found this information helpful, check out this site for upcoming programs from the BBA Family Law Section, including our next program on October 6:  How to Effectively Utilize the Various Settlement Processes Offered by the Court.


Comments

  1. It is super crazy to consider that these child support enforcement people have between 1200 and 1900 cases at any given time. On top of all those cases, they have a mandate of contacting clientele within seventy-two hours. That is less than a week between contacting every single client. That sure is a lot of telephone time.
    http://www.buchelawlv.com/services.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 U.S. Presidential Party Platforms - What are the policy positions that could affect families?

While the laws that affect family formation, marriage and divorce are often made at the state level, there are also many policies and laws at the federal level that affect families and children.  Just some examples from recent years that have impacted families in my mediation practice include changes to the federal tax laws (such as  the elimination of the alimony tax deduction ) and U.S. Supreme Court rulings on same sex marriage and reproductive health rights.  In just over a month, the United States presidential election will have a significant impact on these federal policies going forward, and could choose the next appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court as well. In 2016 and 2020 we shared what each presidential platform said about families and policy regarding family formation and dissolution, and below we'll provide you an update on the 2024 presidential platforms.  As Maya Angelou said, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."...

Updating your Divorce Agreement Template - More Lessons from Cavanagh v. Cavanagh

We recently posted a lengthy review of the the Massachusetts SJC decision in Cavanagh v. Cavanagh (2002)  which included some recommendations for drafting divorce agreements, also typically called Separation Agreements.  The Cavanagh case is best known for it's clarification of how the courts should evaluate support calculations when a case may have both alimony and child support.  However, the case also contained numerous rulings that should make practitioners review their Separation Agreement templates and change some of the ways in which they may have previously drafted certain sections. In this post we'll share actual language from the Gray Jay Endeavors, LLC form Separation Agreement template which addresses each of the issues raised by the Cavanagh decision.  If you are a professional interested in purchasing the full Separation Agreement template, check out Gray Jay's  forms subscription which includes editable Massachusetts court forms and financial st...

Co-Parenting Coordinator Agreements - What They Can Do and How to Draft Them

Photo by Marcelo Silva on Unsplash Conflict between parents negatively affects children but for some parents it's hard to avoid conflict when separating or divorcing.  Loss, grief, and anger all make it difficult to co-parent and some parents need help overcoming those barriers. One of the professionals that can help parents reduce conflict by assisting them in making the necessary co-parenting decisions is a Co-Parenting Coordinator.  The duties of a Co-Parenting Coordinator can vary but often include assisting parents with decision making around: changes or clarifications of the existing parenting plan; exchanges of the child or children including date, time, place, means of and responsibilities for transportation; education or daycare including school choice, tutoring, summer school, before and after school care, participation in special education testing and programs, or other educational decisions; enrichment and extracurricular activities including camps and jobs; the c...