The Clinic, which is part of The Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School, was granted permission to appear as amicus curiae in Price v. Scharff, which raised the question whether New Jersey’s child support enforcement agency must collect interest on past-due child support. In its oral arguments presented to the court on Feb. 7, the Family Law Clinic maintained that state law, which is enacted pursuant to federal requirements, mandates that the agency seek full enforcement of child support obligations. Since past-due child support becomes a judgment by operation of law, post-judgment interest attaches and becomes an intrinsic part of the money due to custodial parents, the Family Law Clinic argued.

Given that there are over a quarter million families in New Jersey to whom child support is past due and since uncollected child support arrears in the state exceed $2 billion, the court’s ruling in this case will have a tremendous impact across the state, noted Professor of Law Claudette St. Romain of the Family Law Clinic.

The state argued that the agency is empowered to establish a rate of post-judgment interest different than other money judgments. In addition, the state argued that the agency appropriately exercised its discretion in declining to collect interest so it could maximize its success rate in the collection of past-due support, thereby, possibly qualifying the state for incentive payments from the federal government. Finally, it interpreted the federal statute to permit, but not require, the collection of interest and argued that federal reimbursement might not be available for activities devoted to the collection of interest.

Under the direction of St. Romain, Seton Hall Law School students Erin Gilmore of Grapevine, TX, and Patricia McManus of Cranford, NJ, each wrote briefs for the case accepted by the Appellate Division, and Scott Krompinger of Hoboken, NJ, worked with both Professor St. Romain and counsel for the appellant in preparing the oral arguments.

The only private law school in New Jersey, Seton Hall University School of Law was founded in 1951, and is located in the city of Newark. Seton Hall Law School offers both day and evening programs leading to the Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Science in Jurisprudence (M.S.J.) degrees. For more information on Seton Hall Law School, visit law.shu.edu.