License Suspension For Unpaid Child Support

By Author: Brian Simoneau
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In the United States, driving is not considered a right, but a privilege. In fact, Massachusetts uses that very word when it explains that this privilege is authorized by the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV). As the authorizing agency, of course, the RMV also has the power to rescind the privilege, either permanently through a revocation or temporarily via a suspension. For people who don't live near efficient, round-the-clock public transportation, losing the ability to drive can have an extremely negative impact on many aspects of life.

It is wise to get hold of your driving report every year or two, or after any tickets, fines, suspensions or other RMV actions. You will also be able to check the points that have accumulated against your license, information about reported accidents and details of previous suspensions and/or terminations. You should also keep a current RMV handbook, and not simply to study for your next driving test but to keep you abreast of current regulations and traffic laws. Any mistakes you make while in a car, even one that is not moving, can end up costing you money in tickets, repairs ...
... and increased insurance premiums.

Kinds of license suspensions
The Massachusetts RMV automatically suspends your driver's license in a variety of cases, beginning with a 30-day suspension and $100 reinstatement fee for having three speeding tickets in one year. Having five or seven surchargeable events in three years gets you the same reinstatement fee, with 30- and 60-day windows, respectively, in which you must undergo complete driver retraining. For habitual traffic offenders, and people with out-of-state suspensions or revocations, the reinstatement fee can be as much as $500, with a possibly indefinite suspension.

There are many other ways you can have your license suspended or revoked, such as committing vehicular crimes all the way up to homicide. The RMV can also simply use its discretion and take you off the road if you are deemed a threat to public safety. However, one of the fastest-growing categories of license suspensions is failure to pay child support. After an upsurge in bad press for deadbeat parents over the last several decades, many states discovered that the most powerful leverage with most people is the possible loss of driving privileges. Life can quickly go awry when simple, convenient and affordable transportation is taken off the menu.

The Massachusetts DOR
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) teams up with the state RMV to pressure so-called deadbeats into paying the court-ordered child support. The DOR regularly sends notices to people who are either past due on their support payments, or are not making them regularly. Their continuing failure to pay the past-due sums, or agree on specific arrangements to bring their child support payments current, can result in the suspension or revocation of their licenses.

If the DOR notifies you that it intends to tell the RMV to suspend or revoke your license, or deny issuance of a new one or renewal of an existing one, for unpaid child support, you have 30 days to request a hearing. This hearing would be with the DOR, and it is the only way outside of going to court that you can prevent them from making a final determination that you are, in fact, delinquent and uncooperative. If this determination is made, the DOR will communicate this to the RMV and your license will be gone, with the length of the suspension entirely dependent on your subsequent actions. The subsequent action the state wants, of course, is payment of the court-ordered child support.

How to contest the suspension
If the DOR tells the RMV to suspend or revoke your license, the RMV must comply, as it has no choice in the matter, legally, but to take the specified action. You can, as previously mentioned, pay off the past-due amounts and/or resume your scheduled payments, get a court order to reinstate your driving privilege or request the DOR hearing as explained. Even if you do pay up, you may have to help the process along a bit, as you are dealing with a state bureaucracy, after all. Assuming all the records are in good order, your driving record has remained in good standing and the DOR has newly updated information regarding your payment of the obligation, then the DOR will tell the RMV to reinstate, renew or issue your license.

As with suspensions, the RMV has no discretion, and must comply with the DOR determination. In Massachusetts, the Board of Appeal doesn't hear DOR license action appeals. Any license suspensions that occur as a result of DOR support proceedings have to be appealed to the court that issued the relevant child support order. As with any matter that can affect your very livelihood, you may wish to obtain the services of a qualified attorney with specific experience in this area of the law. Experienced lawyers don't just know the law, they know how state agencies work and understand such other involved areas as administrative law. If you are uncertain about any aspect of your child-support-related license status, get hold of good counsel before you take another step.
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Dealing with agencies such as the Registry of Motor Vehicles can be frustrating, confusing, and sometimes difficult. Our ma dui lawyer attorneys are familiar with RMV regulations and procedures as well as the laws governing ignition interlock devices, license suspensions and hardship licenses. There is no reason to struggle alone with complicated laws and harsh penalties.