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Passport suspension

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berryjungle

Junior Member
New York: NY

my husband owes arrears which is paying down whilst paying his monthly support. The mother of his child had just emailed us stating that because he has not paid all the arrears off yet, the child support agency have suspended his passport. He travels to earn money.

Is this possible? can they do that without the intervention of a court? She recently took him to court for violating the support order but the case was dissmissed.
 


OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
Yes, they can do it. I suggest he contact the CS department and make a deal to pay a portion of it and get the passport reinstated.
 

LillianX

Senior Member
They can absolutely do this, as well as suspend his drivers license. They do not do this for a small amount of arrears. Clearly, your husband's arrears are substantial.

As OHRoadwarrior stated, your husband needs to make a call and see if he can make an arrangement to have his passport reinstated.
 

berryjungle

Junior Member
thanks for all your advices! The arrears are bigger than any of us want but we are paying them off! and aim to do so completely in the next 3 months.
 

LillianX

Senior Member
Child Support agencies are willing to work with people. Do you actually KNOW if the passport has been suspended, or is his ex the only one telling you that? They do tend to at least notify people first. Have your husband make the call to them and see what's going on. If you're following a schedule and doing as they've asked you to do to get it paid off, the ex-wife very well may be blowing smoke. Verify it with the agency, ask what you can do to get it resolved, and do it!
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Has the husband received ANYTHING in the mail concerning suspension?
That is exactly what I am thinking...while the CS agency might notify mom of any action they are taking, the first person they are going to notify of a passport suspension is the person whose passport it is.

Also, if the arrears are low enough that you can pay them off in three months, then they are very unlikely to be high enough to trigger a passport suspension.
 

berryjungle

Junior Member
hi, no we have received nothing in the mail and the mother of the child has a history of exageratting these things a great deal, even making things like this up.

She knows that in the next 3 months we are planning to pay it all off because thats when he has several work engagements booked abroad. She knows this because when she took him to court for the violation of the order which was dimmissed my husband made it very clear he was aware of the arrears and though at the time could only pay his monthly amount he would have the arrears paid of in 3 months due to the work abroad. She knows he can only afford to pay them off with the work he has abroad coming up so it is quite possible that she is just trying to be unpleasant.

Either way, I feel confident that if this has happened for real, that the CSS will recognize the need to act within reason and allow him to travel in order to pay!

We were told by her cutting and pasting a sentence from some letter she claims she got into an email......
 

BL

Senior Member
If the payments go through CSEU then the central registry notices when arrears get too far behind .

He would get a letter himself of any suspensions .

In NY it doesn't take much in arrears to trigger the action(s).

My brother's drivers license was suspended and they would only lift it once every single penny was paid on arrears .
 

CourtClerk

Senior Member
(a) The Department may not issue a passport, except a passport for direct return to the United States, in any case in which the Department determines or is informed by competent authority that:

(1) The applicant is in default on a loan received from the United States under 22 U.S.C. 2671(b)(2)(B) for the repatriation of the applicant and, where applicable, the applicant's spouse, minor child(ren), and/or other immediate family members, from a foreign country (see 22 U.S.C. 2671(d)); or

(2) The applicant has been certified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as notified by a state agency under 42 U.S.C. 652(k) to be in arrears of child support in an amount determined by statute.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:
 

stealth2

Under the Radar Member
If Dad is planning on traveling abroad (especially for work), he would be wise to contact the appropriate authorities to ensure that his passport has NOT been yanked. And yes, HE has to do this.
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
If it has not been and he is notified of an impending suspension, he may need to stay out of the country, until he has earned and paid off the owed support.
 

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