One of Abbott’s staff attorneys is President-elect of the National Child Support Enforcement Association, and the group’s immediate past president works for a major vendor to Abbott’s office. The award event itself was sponsored by a number of vendors with direct financial ties to the child support collection industry.
Abbott’s phony child support “award” is part of a long-term and ongoing effort by Greg Abbott to create the impression that he does a good job administering child support collection. A fair and careful review of the facts, however, show just the opposite – Greg Abbott ranks among the worst AG’s in the country in collecting delinquent child support or doing the hard work necessary to keep child support payments from falling behind.
Over the years, Abbott has used boastful press releases and misleading statistics to avoid hard questions like:
- Why has Greg Abbott let the amount of uncollected child support in Texas increase to over $1.4 billion in 2013, the most in the nation?
- Why do more than two-thirds of the child support cases on Abbott’s books have delinquent or unpaid balances?
- Why is the average unpaid or delinquent child support account in Texas more than $12,000, higher than almost any other state?
Lone Star Project research completed and provides below a detailed review of Greg Abbott’s actions on child support enforcement in Texas. All sources are cited and conclusions are supported.
Our report exposes Greg Abbott as a Deadbeat AG who has let billions of dollars stack up in uncollected child support, leaving thousands of Texas parents and their kids without the money they need and they are owed.
Lone Star Project Research Report
Greg Abbott and Child Support Enforcement
Prepared by Lone Star Project research staff
Overview
Greg Abbott stakes much of his public service and political reputation on his record collecting child support through the Attorney General’s Child Support Division. Abbott points to statistics that Texas’ child support services have surpassed all other states in total collections. However, his brags are designed to divert attention from a real record of failure. Abbott has obscured and hidden a damning fact that undermines any boasts he’s made or credit he’s taken regarding child support – Greg Abbott is the national leader in UNCOLLECTED child support.
As Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott is leaving billions of dollars of child support uncollected that could, and should, be supporting Texas families. When compared to other states with a large child support portfolio, it becomes clear that during Abbott’s tenure, child support collection in Texas has badly deteriorated.
Here are key details that Abbott leaves out of his press releases and boastful speeches:
- In 2010 Greg Abbott’s office had the largest amount of uncollected child support in the country. In 2013, $1.4 billion was left uncollected and did not go to Texas families.
- Under Abbott, Texas’ total delinquent child support payments, known as arrearages, exceeded $13.1 billion in 2013 and included over 1 million cases.
- Abbott now ranks second to last in the nation in total delinquent child support arrearages, among public officials responsible for overseeing child support collection.
- Texas families are owed an average of over $12,000 for each case in delinquent payments.
- Abbott is near the bottom among state officials responsible for child support enforcement on the average amount of back child support owed in 2013 – coming in 47th out of the 54 officials in US states and territories.
- Over the past three years, Abbott has delivered only about 65 cents for every dollar in child support currently owed to Texas children.
- The cumulative child support delinquency in Texas has grown so large that it is now roughly equal to the combined amount of one half (27 of 54) of all the other US states and territories.
A clear-eyed examination of the facts shows that Greg Abbott’s attempt to paper over his real record of child support enforcement in Texas is a tragedy for Texas families who are entitled to the financial assistance needed to make ends meet. Greg Abbott has failed in his responsibility and stated mission to assure that Texas children “grow up and succeed in life.”
Abbott’s Bogus Brags and Claims on Child Support
Child support enforcement comprises the largest part of the budget of the Office of Attorney General. Approximately half of the Attorney General’s budget, and more than half of its full time employees are dedicated to child support.
Greg Abbott’s rhetoric touts his record on child support enforcement by offering up misleading statistics. Abbott declares that Texas is at the top in child support rankings among the states. However, he carefully cites relatively unimportant measurements where Texas ranks highly, while failing to mention more important measurements where he ranks very low compared to other state officials responsible for child support.
Debunking Abbott’s Claims: Most Cases in the Nation
Abbott’s statements that Texas leads the nation in the amount of child support may be technically accurate, but for a reason that has nothing to do with Greg Abbott – Texas should lead the country in child support collection because Texas, by far, leads the nation in the amount of child support due.
Texas has, by far, the highest number of child support cases in the United States. In fact, Texas has so many child support cases that the total amount due each year exceeds second place California by almost $2 billion.
According to the most recently available numbers from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, Texas had nearly 131,000 more child support cases than second-ranked California. For some perspective, the difference in cases between Texas and California was nearly as much as the total number of child support cases in the entire state of Kansas.
| State | Texas | California | Michigan | New York | Ohio | Florida |
| 2013 Open Cases | 1,421,193 | 1,290,377 | 996,341 | 918,027 | 899,109 | 854,777 |
Abbott could hardly take credit – nor would he – for the number of divorces and separations that occur in our state.
Logic dictates that, if Texas leads the nation in open child support cases, and if Texas has the largest amount of child support due in the country, then it should therefore lead the nation in child support collection.
Abbott’s Exploding Child Support Debt
If Greg Abbott is going to take credit for Texas’ massive growth in child support collection, then he must also take the blame for the massive growth in child support debt in Texas.
Under Greg Abbott, Texas leads the nation in the amount of child support due. And, when it comes to actually delivering what is due to the children and working parents of Texas, Greg Abbott leads the country in the amount of uncollected child support due.
By fiscal year 2013, the amount of missed child support payments in Texas totaled $1.4 billion. Texas fell to dead last in this measure when sinking below California in 2010.
| Texas Current Support | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Uncollected Cases | $1,118,057,653 | $1,216,456,415 | $1,260,185,453 | $1,347,045,828 | $1,423,870,857 |
By failing to collect what is due to the children of Texas each year, Greg Abbott has piled up billions of dollars in cumulative back due, or delinquent, child support debt. Each year, for the past five years, the amount of delinquent child support in Texas – known as arrearages – has increased.
And, the current cumulative amount of delinquent child support in Texas exceeds an astounding $13.1 billion according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement – the same federal agency Greg Abbott cites in his child support claims.
At the same time, the number of child support cases with delinquent payments in Texas continues to climb and is now the highest in the nation. In 2013, Texas had 1,050,863 child support cases with delinquencies.
Abbott at the Bottom
Finally and perhaps most damning to Abbott, the current average amount of past due per child support case is now $12,487.
Abbott consistently ranks near the bottom in average past due, or delinquent amounts compared to other states and territories. In 2013 child support enforcement officials in 46 other states and territories did a better job of managing back due child support than Greg Abbott. It’s no surprise, of course, that Abbott’s 47th place ranking has not been mentioned in any of his press releases.
Conclusion
Through both official and campaign communication, Greg Abbott has fabricated the illusion that his office is a national model for child support collection and enforcement. The relevant facts and statistics detailed above tell a far different story – Greg Abbott has failed to competently or successfully collect child support due to Texas families.
