Information from the County Attorney's Office
By Steven J. Franzen, Campbell County Attorney
There are many provisions under Kentucky law that addresses the obligation to pay child support and several remedies for failure to pay child support including criminal charges.
The potential criminal charges available are memorialized in Kentucky Revised Statute 530.050. Under Kentucky law, a person is guilty of criminal non-support when he persistently fails to provide support which he can reasonably provide and which he knows he has a duty to provide to his child or when he is delinquent in paying court-ordered child support for at least two months. Non Support is a Class A Misdemeanor punishable by up to a five hundred ($500.00) dollar fine and one year in jail. For a second offense, there is a minimum sentence of seven days in jail and for a third or subsequent offense a minimum sentence of thirty days in jail.
Moreover, there is a felony criminal charge for non-support called Flagrant Non-Support. A person is guilty of Flagrant Non Support when he persistently fails to pay support, which he can reasonably provide and has a duty to provide, and the failure results in (i) a child support arrearage of at least one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars; (ii) six consecutive months elapsing without the payment of any support; or (iii) leaving the child in destitute circumstances. Criminal Flagrant Non Support is a Class D Felony with a potential prison sentence of one to five years.
To the surprise of many, Kentucky’s Criminal Non-Support Laws also apply to a child eighteen years of age or older residing in this state has a duty to provide support to a parent who is destitute of means of subsistence and unable because of old age, infirmity or illness to support himself or herself.
Other than filing criminal charges, there are also other means by which to collect child support to include withholding delinquent child support from Kentucky’s lottery winnings, tax refunds, and wage garnishments. The law also allows for someone’s driver’s license to be suspended along with a lien on a registered vehicle when a person is at least six months behind in child support payments.
Failure of a parent to support their children is something our office and the Judges in Campbell County take very seriously. The County Attorney’s Office is here to help with child support enforcement, collection, and potential criminal charges. You can call our Child Support Office at 859-431-0522 or visit in person at 515 Monmouth Street, Suite 201, Newport, Kentucky.
I hope this information is interesting and helpful. If you have any topics you would like to have covered in this column, please contact my office by e-mail at campbellcoatty@gmail.com, by phone at 491-7700 or by regular mail addressed to 319 York Street, Newport, Kentucky 41071.