I just found out that my son father is out of jail for an unrelated drug charge. He's claiming he's been in jail for 16 months. I went to court last october and that was 12 months ago and they never stated he was in custody. He was in jail I am not sure about the amount of time. My question is will child support be notified that he is out. When I spoke to someone at the agency they stated there is really nothing they can do until he gets out. Well he's out should I call them.

YES! Call and notify that you need to modify your order (I'm assuming it was modified to zero when he went to jail) based on his new income or based on imputation of income that he would be able to earn, after he has a reasonable time to gain employment.

In CA, if the order was not modified when he went to jail, it stays in place undisturbed. In CA, you cannot do a retroactive modification for incarceration (or any reason). You will have to see if NJ has a similar statute. If so, unless he modified it when he went to jail, he may be stuck with the order the entire time.

If it was modified to zero when he went to jail, ask the court to make a work-search order, now that he is out, requiring him to submit X number of applications to employers between that hearing and the next continuance date. 30-90 days continuance is reasonable. If he fails to comply with the work-search order (which virtually all people do), ask the court to then impute minimum wage income (at the very least) against him in calculating support at the next hearing.

I just found out that when he was let out of jail. The judge did order him to look for work and report it to his caseworker. What happen if he does'nt comply to the order

Generally, it is good to request that when the court make such an order, it requires a particular amount of employment applications be submitted per week and that proof of such submissions be provided at the next hearing (60 or 90 days out). The order should indicate that if he fails to comply with the work-search order, the court shall impute minimum-wage income (or whatever you can prove he is able to earn based on his abilities and opportunities) against him in calculating a support order at the next hearing.

Although he has a criminal record (if it was a felony, worse yet), he will be able to secure employment, although it may be harder. That should not be a defense. The issue is whether he complied with the work-search order or not.

If he did comply, there is not much you can do, except make sure he was applying for the right jobs (i.e., jobs he qualifies for and is not excluded automatically based on his record). An example of this would be that he could not work at a sporting goods store that sells guns if he has a felony. That would be a wasted application. Also, request that he be ordered to continue the work-search under the same court order and continue the matter for another review.

If another person is paying a substantial portion of his daily expenses and he is not really trying to find work, the amount of expenses paid by another can be counted as gift money, which is income counted against him in calculating the order.

These are approaches to take under California law, but I'm sure New Jersey has similar statutes and/or case law to support the above.

Good luck!