Court Voids Rule on Child Support

A state appeals court has declared unconstitutional a widely used procedure for enforcing child support payments.

The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that prosecutors seeking to force delinquent parents to pay child support must first prove the parents are capable of paying, even if the ability to pay was already established earlier.

The court said a section of the state civil code used to enforce court-ordered child support payments “is unconstitutional because (it) . . . lessens the prosecution’s burden of proof.”