Missouri law can criminalize parents who fail to pay child support. The Missouri Public Defender System handles approximately 6,000 of these cases annually. During a State House Budget Committee hearing, Systems Director Mary Fox said that handling these cases in civil instead of criminal court could have a significant financial impact on her office.

Missouri Capitol (Photo courtesy Alisa Nelson, Missourinet)

“If the person is willing to admit responsibility, there is a long time to determine what payments should be made and how those payments should be made. The person is often put on probation, ”she said. “Every time they fail to keep up with these alimony payments, there is a parole violation that becomes another case for us.”

Fox said in St. Louis County the district attorney had decided to try these cases in civil court rather than criminal court.

“Child support cases were one of the largest St. Louis County cases to be considered by the courts when they determined there was an overload and a waiting list was required. The elimination of these child support cases has reduced the number of cases the St. Louis County Public Defender has received, “Fox said.

She says St. Louis County’s child support collections have not declined due to the prosecution of these civil court cases.

A Missouri court ruled that putting people on waiting lists to receive public defense services is against state and state law. The system is overloaded with around 90,000 cases per year for its almost 400 lawyers. The waiting list has been in place since 2017 to cope with the load of the assembly housing.

Governor Mike Parson’s proposal on the state budget aims to reduce the number of people waiting for these services. Fox said the governor’s proposal required $ 1.1 million to hire 16 additional lawyers.

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