deadbeat parents punishment act
Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act. A 1998 federal statute that makes it a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison, for failure to pay child support if the obligor has crossed state lines in an attempt to avoid paying the support. • The Act provides felony penalties if (1) a person travels across state lines intending to evade a child-support obligation that is over $5,000 or that has remained unpaid longer than one year, or (2) a person willfully fails to pay support for a child living in a different state if that obligation is greater than $10,000 or if it remains unpaid for more than two years. The Act supersedes the Child Support Recovery Act of 1994. The greatest change in the new statute is the provision regarding the obligor’s crossing of state lines in an effort to evade the support obligation. 42 USCA § 228. — Abbr. DPPA. See CHILD SUPPORT RECOVERY ACT OF1994.
