Tennessee Court to Hear 700 Child Support Cases in One Week
Posted on Dec 25, 2008 10:07am PST
In Memphis, Tennessee, the
child support division of the Shelby County Juvenile Court is expected to be extremely busy the last week of this year. In years prior, the child support division would not hear cases over the holidays. However, this year, the Court will be hearing cases next week due to an increase in reported unpaid child support incidents. Child Support Services Director, Mitch Morgan, reports that the Court will hear between 700 - 1,000 child support cases next week alone.
According to Morgan, child support collections have been up since July. Unpaid child support is up by $7 million from the same time period last year and collections have increased by 20%. And, despite the increase in collections, parents throughout Memphis are still owed $670 million in unpaid child support.
Some parents who owe child support have been identified in local papers because the amounts are so outrageous. For example, Winston Rogers, a Memphis rapper, owes over $230,000 in unpaid child support. Leeanthony Hamilton owes just over $40,000 and William Brents owes $167,000 in unpaid support.
In 2007, only 5,000 new child support cases were filed. In 2008, that number reached 16,000 cases, all of which have been entered into the court. Due to the increase in cases, Morgan had to hire 40 new staff members, including 8 child support enforcement attorneys. Cases are expected to heard and resolved next week.
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