As the recession drags on, California continues to be one of the hardest-hit states. With an unemployment rate higher than the national average and a battered real estate market, many California parents have found themselves making the difficult decision to forgo child support payments in favor of paying the mortgage or buying groceries or other necessities.

Currently, non-custodial parents owe over $19 billion in delinquent child support payments in the state, which makes up almost 18 percent of the total child support debt in the United States. While the recession has certainly contributed to this near-record number (state child support arrears peaked at $20 billion in 2007), California's high interest rate for civil judgments has much to do with the amount of child support debt that is currently owed.

California charges a 10 percent annual interest rate for civil judgments, which includes child support as well as personal injury and property damage claims, among others. There are only four states that charge a higher interest rate. A recent report from the Urban Institute found that interest owed to the state currently makes up a staggering 27 percent of California's $19.2 billion in arrears. Further, approximately 70 percent of the state's child support debt is owed to the state, not to custodial parents.

Advocates have argued that the high child support interest rate unfairly harms low-income parents. To support this claim, the Department of Child Support Services recently estimated that approximately 80 percent of current child support debt is owed by parents who earn less than $15,000 per year.

Clearly, this is a broken system that is harming parents and children alike. However, the state legislature has displayed little desire to make a change. Since 2005, lawmakers have proposed three separate bills to lower the interest rate on child support and all other civil judgments. All three bills were defeated.

Source: California Watch, "High interest rate driving state's child support debt", Kelley Weiss, 21 April 2011