Behind on Child Support? You Won’t Be Allowed to Hunt or Fish

If you’re not paying or are behind in Child Support Payments in Utah, you won’t be able to legally hunt and fish if you don’t start making payments.

A law that was passed by the Utah State Legislature goes into effect on July 1, and if someone is delinquent on at least $2,500 on their child support payments, they won’t be able to purchase hunting and fishing licenses, tags or permits in the Beehive State.

Paying for 12 consecutive months according to a payment schedule or paying the debt in full will restore the ability to get a hunting/fishing license after contact Utah's Office of Recovery Services.

Utah Office of Recovery Services says that there’s over $377 million in unpaid child support in Utah going back decades.

Letters are being sent out this week to 19,062 people who have been identified as being behind on their child support payments. Of those, over 9,000 people have purchased a hunting or fishing license in the past. If they want to go out and legally get a hunting or fishing license this year and beyond, they’ll have to pay in full or at least be in the process of making payments to be considered.

In Iowa, to be "delinquent" on child support means the parent cannot be making payments through wage withholding and they must be three months behind in payments. If people fall far enough behind in paying child support, the Child Support Recovery Unit can "sanction" drivers' licenses, per IowaLegalAid.org

In state fiscal year 2020, the Child Support Recovery Unit in Iowa collected $348 million in total current and past due child support. A total of 2,664,503 child support payments were processed in Iowa in 2020.

According to acf.hhs.gov; as of April 2017, 5.5 million delinquent parents in the U.S. owed over $114 billion in past-due child support. 3% of those owed OVER $100,000.