Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

Victim Who Needs Child Support 141
visitation as an opportunity for continued contact with her. Be certain the potential
difficulties don’t overwhelm the advantages of receiving support.
Ways to Provide Safety
Obtain an Order of Protection
Consider seeking an order of protection. The best way is to file a separate
petition at the same time the child support petition, or the divorce complaint, is
filed, with a request for a temporary order of protection that can be served along
with the child support petition. It is also possible to request an order of protection
after the child support proceedings have commenced, if the need arises.
Provide an Alternative Address
If the abuser is likely to pay, but your client doesn’t want contact with him,
the order can require payments to be mailed to a post office address. If payments
are made by check, however, the cancelled check that gets returned to the abuser
will contain information about your client’s bank and general area of residence,
possibly even her bank account. This can be avoided by having someone else
pick up the check, deposit it in a different bank, and write a check, or give cash,
to your client. The client needs to be alert so that location information is not
inadvertently revealed to the batterer.
Have the Order Made Payable through the Support Collection Unit
The court can order that payments be made to New York State’s Support
Collection Unit (SCU), for forwarding to your client. Through this mechanism,
all payments are made to a central account, from which a separate check is
drawn and mailed to the intended recipients. The SCU will also deduct the
money from the abuser’s income so that he doesn’t have any active part in the
payment. This procedure helps put distance between the parties and ensure that
no address information is exchanged. It also eliminates any excuse the abuser
might make for coming to your client’s house.
Assess the Likelihood of Success
Ask your client some questions to determine whether or not it is worth the
effort to seek a child support order. What kind of work does he do? Does he
work for someone, or is he self employed? Does he work “off the books”? Will
she be able to help the court determine how much he earns? Will you be able to
enforce an order after it is made? If he does not work, does he receive social
security, unemployment, disability, or worker’s compensation benefits? Did he
have cash around the house when they were together? If so, does she know how
much was there? Does he receive public assistance or SSI benefits? If so, only a