LOCAL OFFICIALS CITE ADVANTAGES OF STATE'S NEW CHILD-SUPPORT LAW

Every year, thousands of dollars in child support go unpaid, leaving the children of broken marriages without money courts have ordered that they receive.

But a bill signed by Gov. Mel Carnahan last week gives the courts a "bigger gun" to point at non-custodial parents who refuse to pay child support.

Among other things, the bill enhances the crime of criminal nonsupport from a class A misdemeanor to a class D felony if the parent has arrears in excess of $5,000 or has failed to pay for longer than a six-month period.

In addition, the bill allows for the prosecution of criminal nonsupport until the child is emancipated. Current law allows for prosecution until age 18.

Kelly Hartmann, the child support investigator for the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney's office, said the law will make her job considerably easier.

"It doesn't take long for non-payments to add up to $5,000," Hartmann said. "You're probably going to see us file a lot more nonsupport charges."

In January 1992, a Reno, Ark., man was placed on probation, after being ordered to pay $200 a month in child support. Last March, after failing to pay any child support since the court order, the man's probation was revoked and he was sentenced to 12 months in the Cape Girardeau County Jail the maximum sentence he could receive.

The man was almost $24,000 behind in child support payments.

The new law would allow the court leeway to sentence an offender to a maximum of five years in prison. And when released, the parent would be expected to resume child support payments.

"I hope the law will change things," Hartmann said. "Maybe it will get the word out to these guys that if you don't pay you're going to jail."

Kathy Wolz, a Cape Girardeau attorney, handles paternity establishment proceedings and civil contempt suits brought against parents for failure to pay child support for the county prosecutor's office.

"It really has been frustrating," Wolz said. "With some people, it's been years since they've paid anything; with others, we end up dragging them into court once every few months.

"There's not a whole lot we can do now, other than order them to pay," she said. "I think it's unfortunate that this may be the only way we can get their attention."

Wolz said she handles about 10-12 cases of nonsupport a month. The cases she handles are referred to the prosecutor's office by the Child Support Enforcement Agency when it has exhausted efforts to make the parent pay. So Wolz hauls the people back into court sometimes repeatedly.

"A lot of times the misdemeanor charge doesn't scare them," she said. "Maybe the threat of a felony charge and serious prison time will make them pay."

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said the law is a positive step in the right direction.

"The law looks at the amount owed rather than if the person has left the state," Swingle said. "In the past, only if a person leaves the state, could they be charged with a felony."

The new law would reduce charges which could be filed if a person left the state from a class D felony to a class A misdemeanor.

Swingle said he currently files criminal charges in only two or three cases per year for nonpayment of child support.

"Ninety-five percent of the cases are civil, where a judge orders an amount to be paid," Swingle said. "When it is clear that a person has the ability to pay and just isn't, then I'll file criminal charges."

The new law brings Missouri in compliance with a federal mandate on child support. It becomes effective for court orders of child support payment entered or modified after Jan. 1, 1994.