Legal Dopers, am I reading this right? (Child Support/Passport Related)

[TellMeI_mNotCrazy]

OK, quick background. My ex has custody of our children. I paid child support up until the time I was unemployed. I was unemployed for about 4 months, and am now working again. The first two months back to work I played catch up on everything, paying the ex what I could. He got impatient, reported me to the state, and they are now handling my child support. Gets taken right out of my check, which is fine, easy, convenient, everyone is happy.

In the beginning of the State support enforcement, I got a notice saying that my arrearage was less than 5000, and therefore while I was subject to income-tax offsets, I was not subject to passport denial or revocation. Unfortunately, I was right on the precipice of 5K, and between enacting of the support order, and the actual first payment, my balance has now gone over 5k.

I already have my passport, have had for over a year.

I need to go on business trip in the upcoming month or so. I am now panicking, trying to figure out whether my passport is going to be an issue. I’ve called the state agency in charge of my file, but have not been called back. The information line does state that they may lift the restrictions on new applications if it is for a death in the family or work-required trip.

As I said, I already have my passport, which means they’d have to revoke it. I found this snippet on http://travel.state.gov/passportinfo_lawenforcement.html

The passport of an non-custodial parent with child support arrears may only be revoked by the United States Secretary of State. The revocation process is administered under the current passport regulations found at 22 CFR 51.71(1) and (51.72), which provide for passport revocation when an individual is the subject of an outstanding Federal warrant of arrest for a felony, or is the subject of a criminal court order or condition of probation or parole which forbid departure from the United States. ** Therefore, if you want to revoke an non-custodial parent’s passport, you will first need to refer the case for federal prosecution of criminal non-support. ** Refer to CS 844 Criminal Non-Support for additional information.

Additionally, it says:

Passport revocation may be effected when the person obtained the passport fraudulently, when the passport was issued in error, when the person’s certificate of naturalization was cancelled by a federal court, or when the person would not be entitled to a new passport under 22 CFR 51.70 (a) or (b). The physical revocation of a passport is often difficult, and an apparently valid passport can be used for travel until officially taken by an arresting officer or by a court.

My take on this is 1) they won’t actually revoke an existing passport unless I’m criminally non-paying - which I wouldn’t think I am, seeing as I’m paying every paycheck. 2) my passport is valid until it’s physically taken from me anyway. If I go to the airport with my valid passport, I’m fine. 3) Even if they do decide to revoke my passport, that’s not going to happen without me knowing it, right? I mean, they’re not just going to say “Passport no good” and not at least let me know that my passport is no longer valid.

So am I reading that correctly? Please note that I am not asking for legal advice, just some assistance interpreting this. Thanks!

[TellMeI_mNotCrazy]

OK, I finally got a call back from the state, and luckily, I was right. They won’t actually revoke my existing passport. Were I to apply for a new passport though, I’d be SOL.

Phew.

[kittenlm]

I’m glad to hear that you got word back from the State. I have friends going through child support / custody problems and I know it can be a b*tch!