New methods lead to greater efficiency in collecting child support
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New methods instituted by local authorities have led to greater efficiency in collecting child support arrears.
For instance, the City of Vantaa has succeeded in collecting nearly 60% of late child support from parents who have neglected the payments. In 1999 the figure was 45%.
In 1999 a law came into effect, placing a five-year limit to child support debt, after which the debt would expire.
Under Finnish law, municipalities partially compensate families for child support payments that are not forthcoming from the parent in question. It is then up to the local authority to collect from the parent.
The first lot of expirations occurred at the beginning of the year. Helsingin Sanomat has calculated that nearly EUR 100 million worth of child support arrears were written off in Finland's ten largest cities at the beginning of the year.
Helsinki accounted for EUR 25 million, Vantaa for EUR 10.6 million, and Espoo for EUR 7.6 million of the nullified child support debt.
"The elimination of the non-productive arrears make collection easier, because now we can concentrate on debts that can actually be recovered while the children are still underage", says Riitta Kuusisto of the Ministry for Social Affairs and Health.
In some cases the oldest debtors were born in the 1920s; the "children" that they owed child support to are now in their 40s and 50s.
The introduction of a five-year limit was accompanied by new methods of collecting on debt, which have significantly helped municipalities get money out of deadbeat parents.
Now unpaid child support can be deducted directly from a parent's pay during the whole five years. Also, in debt recovery proceedings child support debt is given priority over other arrears.
There are many reasons why parents fail to pay child support. Local authorities say that genuine economic difficulties are the most common.
"The recession of the 1990s will be reflected in the payment of child support for a long time. Especially the expiration of income-linked unemployment benefits has dramatically changed the position of those paying child support. Naturally there are some who are unwilling to pay, but that is the problem of a minority", says Helka Saari, the secretary of child support affairs in Tampere.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 1.2.2005 - TODAY |
 New methods lead to greater efficiency in collecting child support |
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