Bradley Amendment

In United States law, the Bradley Amendment (1986, Public law 99-509, 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(9)(c), Bill Bradley) requires state courts to prohibit retroactive reduction of child support obligations. Specifically, it:

But, like any other past-due debt, the obligee may forgive what is owed to them.

When past-due child support is owed to a state as a result of welfare paid out, the state is free to forgive some or all of it under what's known as an "offer in compromise".

The amendment text was included in the Sixth Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, 1986, bill S.2706.

Senator Bill Bradley, Democrat of New Jersey, introduced the amendment in an earlier bill on May 5, 1986. It passed in the Senate with amendments with an 88-7 yea-nay vote on September 20, 1986.

The amendment was intended to correct a perceived imbalance between the power of the obligee (usually the mother) and the obligor (usually the father) during subsequent child support disputes. It had been alleged that a significant number of men were running up large child support debts and then finding a sympathetic judge, often in another state, to erase them.

The Bradley Amendment is credited with increases in the collections success of wealthy debtors including a New York plastic surgeon who owed $172,000, a professional athlete who owed $76,000 and a yacht company owner who owed $50,000. The Bradley Amendment standardizes the treatment of interstate child support disputes (estimated at 40% of all cases according to Geraldine Jensen, president. Association to children for Enforcement of Support.

According to Sherri Z. Heller, Ed.D, Commissioner of U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement, the child support system collects "about 58% of current support due." The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 68% of child support cases had arrearages owed in 2003 (a figure up from 53% in 1999 - however this information is based on data supplied only by the custodial parent so it be viewed with extreme doubt). Some believe that the process can never collect the full amount because a high proportion of obligors are unable to make the required payments. According to Ford Foundation Project Officer Ronald B. Mincy, between 16 percent and 33 percent of obligors are "turnip dads" (obligors earning less than $130 a week). According to one study 38% of non-custodial parents not paying child-support said they lacked the money to pay.

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