HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Office of the Attorney General has had about $4.2 million in undistributed money for child support, some of it dating back decades.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Douglas Moylan wrote a letter to Speaker Therese Terlaje regarding money in the AG’s Office Child Support Division that hasn’t been distributed in years.
“Our records reflect that about $6,223,252 is undistributed as of June 30, 2023. Of this amount, $4,228,099 are collections that remain undistributed for more than five years,” Moylan wrote.
Of the undistributed amount, Moylan said, about $823,119.84 has come from “canceled, returned and stale-dated checks prior to Aug. 30, 1996, that cannot be reconciled because of improper record-keeping.”
Moylan added, “In addition, some consumers of our Child Support Division over the years changed their residences and failed to update their contact information; failed to maintain their bank account for direct deposits; failed to cash their check, which have become stale-dated; or have since passed away.”
Proposal
Attached to Moylan’s letter to Terlaje was draft legislation to effectively change the law to ensure the undistributed money can be used.
Moylan stated that because Child Support operations are two-thirds funded by the federal government and one-third funded by the taxpayers, using the money outside of Child Support areas will mean a reduction in the amount given by the federal government.
To ensure the undistributed money is used and doesn’t affect federal funding, Moylan proposed returning the funds to GovGuam as income and using federal money to offset the amount before reprograming the returned funds back to the Child Support Division.
The proposed bill also states that if the office has lost contact with a custodial parent, it will continue attempting to locate the parent for six months. Then, if the funds have remain unclaimed for at least two years, the AG’s office will send a letter to the last known address and give the parent 60 days to claim the money.
Terlaje has asked to meet to discuss the potential measure.
In observance of Child Support Awareness Month, a billboard featuring an outreach program of the Office of the Attorney General, “Love Your Kids Month,” has been installed in Barrigada, as seen Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023.
