§ 46–213. Judgment against holder for failure to comply.

(a) If a holder fails to withhold support from earnings or other income, or fails to pay the support to the Collection and Disbursement Unit in accordance with this subchapter, judgment shall be entered against the holder for any amount not withheld or paid to the Collection and Disbursement Unit and for any reasonable counsel fees and court costs incurred by the obligor, obligee, caretaker, custodian, the Mayor, or their representative as a result of this failure to withhold or make payment.

(b) Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply where the holder proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the failure to withhold or make payment was due to exigent circumstances beyond the holder’s control.

(Feb. 24, 1987, D.C. Law 6-166, § 14, 33 DCR 6710; Apr. 3, 2001, D.C. Law 13-269, § 108(m), 48 DCR 1270; May 12, 2006, D.C. Law 16-100, § 3(m), 53 DCR 1886.)

Prior Codifications

1981 Ed., § 30-513.

Section References

This section is referenced in § 46-211.

Effect of Amendments

D.C. Law 13-269 rewrote subsec. (a) which had read:

“(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, if a holder fails to withhold earnings or other income in accordance with this chapter, judgment shall be entered against the holder for any amount not withheld and for any reasonable counsel fees and Court costs incurred by the obligor, caretaker, custodian, or their representative.”

D.C. Law 16-100, in subsec. (a), substituted “earnings or other income” for “income or other earnings”, substituted “obligor, obligee,” for “obligor,”, and deleted “responsible relative,” following “custodian”; and in subsec. (b), substituted “failure to withhold or make payment” for “failure to withhold”.

Emergency Legislation

For temporary (90-day) amendment of section, see § 107(m) of the Child Support and Welfare Reform Compliance Emergency Amendment Act of 1999 (D.C. Act 13-126, August 4, 1999, 46 DCR 6606).

For temporary (90-day) amendment of section, see § 107(m) of the Child Support and Welfare Reform Compliance Legislative Review Emergency Amendment Act of 1999 (D.C. Act 13-177, November 2, 1999, 46 DCR 9678).

For temporary (90-day) amendment of section, see § 107(m) of the Child Support and Welfare Reform Compliance Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 1999 (D.C. Act 13-241, January 11, 2000, 47 DCR 581).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 107(m) of the Child Support and Welfare Reform Compliance Emergency Amendment Act of 2000 (D.C. Act 13-446, November 7, 2000, 47 DCR 9213).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 108(m) of Child Support and Welfare Reform Compliance Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-5, February 13, 2001, 48 DCR 2440).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 3(n) of Income Withholding Transfer and Revision Emergency Amendment Act of 2005 (D.C. Act 16-167, July 26, 2005, 52 DCR 7648).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 3(n) of Income Withholding Transfer and Revision Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2005 (D.C. Act 16-200, November 17, 2005, 52 DCR 10490).

Temporary Legislation

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 107(m) of Child Support and Welfare Reform Compliance Temporary Amendment Act of 1999 (D.C. Law 13-57, March 7, 2000, law notification 47 DCR 1979).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 107(m) of Child Support and Welfare Reform Compliance Temporary Amendment Act of 2000 (D.C. Law 13-207, March 31, 2001, law notification 48 DCR 3238).

Section 3(n) of D.C. Law 16-42, in subsec. (a), substituted “earnings or other income” for “income or other earnings”, substituted “obligor, obligee,” for “obligor,”, and deleted “responsible relative,”; and in subsec. (b), substituted “failure to withhold or make payment” for “failure to withhold”.

Section 5(b) of D.C. Law 16-42 provided that the act shall expire after 225 days of its having taken effect.