Mother seeks help to get child support

A divorced mother of two is asking for the Legislature’s help in her pursuit of child support for her children. Her problem? Their father lives in Bermuda.

Minnesota does not have a child support services reciprocity agreement with the British island territory located 640 miles east of the North Carolina coast, which means as long as Heidi Shea’s ex-husband lives there, Minnesota does not have jurisdiction to make sure he pays child support.

Shea contacted her legislator in hopes of solving her problem.

As a result, Rep. Joe Hoppe (R-Chaska) sponsors HF795, which would require the human services commissioner to initiate procedures to enter into a child support enforcement reciprocal agreement with Bermuda under authority granted by federal law. Nine other states currently have a similar reciprocal agreement with Bermuda.

Shea said her ex-husband owns a successful contracting business and can afford child support. He stopped paying once he realized that Minnesota currently is not granted jurisdiction to enforce child support payment laws on him while he resides in Bermuda.

Because of her situation she was unable to pursue any legal action until a judge recently ordered county child support services to take her case. Even then, there was little workers could do to aid in her pursuit of legal action.

“It has really been quite a frustrating journey for me in trying to support our children,” Shea told the House Judiciary Policy and Finance Committee April 12.

The committee approved the bill and sent it to the House floor. Its companion, SF639, sponsored by Sen. Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen), awaits action by the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.