Legal Financial Obligations Survey Question
Lindy Clevenger, February 2012
Question:
Benton/Franklin
Chelan
Are there any courts that have in-house programs for collecting legal
financial obligations, and if so, what is your program?
Benton & Franklin Clerks do the actual collection and create the dockets for
failure to pay.
I don't know that you would call it a program, however, we do have two
dockets per month where we address solely LFOs. We also try to have the
same judicial officer for consistency. We have also developed forms for the
process as well.
Handled by Clerk’s office staff. Not sure of the actual FTE, but it is either
1.5 or 2.
The financial collection officers conduct financial review hearings consisting
of the obligor(s) coming into the criminal calendar and to be sworn in by the
judge and then returning to that office for an “interview”. I am assuming
these are for folks who have fallen behind. Additionally, we have one PV
docket per month (lasts about a half-day) that is mostly made up of folks who
have really fallen behind.
I think the program here is pretty successful…I know Alice & Kay have
conducted training sessions for many other counties/programs.
Clallam
Clark
Clallam County’s District Court runs a pay or appear program for both
Superior Court and District Court for efficiency and shared resources.
Defendants are placed on the Pay or Appear program at sentencing.
Defendants are required to make a payment before the 1st Friday of each
month or appear before the court on the 1st Friday of each month to explain
why they did not make a payment. If the defendant does not make a payment
or appear in court on the 1st Friday of the month, a bench warrant is issued.
Our Clerk’s Office has a collections unit (5 FTEs I think) and our Court
obliges with one afternoon docket a week dedicated to this. If any of you use
a collections service (private) I’d be interested in the details or at least how
they are doing.JA
Island
Our clerk’s department collects and receipt for LFO’s.
Kitsap
Ours is similar to Andra's with 1 exception. We have a "Pay or Appear"
calendar once per month wherein the Clerk's Office bring folks in and rework payment obligations. At this point, no judge participates in this, though
the debtors don't know that until they arrive. The Clerk's Office would like to
engage a judge for effect. Bear in mind - this is a softer version of the
Jefferson County model that was just reviewed/overturned by the COA.
Lewis
We used to have a LFO docket once a month, but now pretty much all
handled with a collection agency.
Pierce
Superior Court Administration does not collect LFOs.
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The Clerk’s Office is responsible for collecting LFO’s. They do not have an
“in-house” program, just a cashier that accepts the payment.
If they aren’t paid, they are sent to Alliance One (Collection Agency).
Skagit
The Skagit County Clerk’s Office does have an in-house collection program.
We have 1 FT collector, and other clerks that help with processing returned
mail, mailing notices and preparing other paperwork, as time allows. We use
a variety of methods to attempt collection from defendants that are not paying
a monthly payment – post card notices, collection letters, phone calls,
Administrative Reviews, Court Review Hearings, Wage Assignment, and
possibly assignment to an outside collection agency.
If it appears the address we have on file is valid for the defendant, we send a
Notice for Administrative Review Hearing. This requires the defendant to
make a payment arrangement on or prior to the Review date. The Reviews
are held in a courtroom, however it is not. The defendants come in and meet
with one of 2 clerks in the courtroom. We go over the specifics of their
LFO’s – answer any questions they may have, and attempt to make a payment
plan to move forward. Once a payment plan is made, we set future reviews
every 3-6 months to ensure the defendant is maintaining a good payment
history and contacting the clerk if needed. We try to use this review type as
much as possible, to avoid taking up court time.
Notices for Financial Review Hearing are sent for cases with larger
restitution balances (usually over $5000), as well as for defendants that are
difficult to work with. These are during a regular Criminal Calendar, and a
Bench Warrant is issued if the defendant fails to appear. I request Prosecutor
assistance on most of these cases – and they will call the case on the record.
If at all possible, I will work with the defendant to have an agreed order
entered, instead of requiring the case be called & argued on the record.
Both the Administrative Reviews & the Financial Review hearings are also
used for cases that we are seeking an increased payment – even if the
defendant is in compliance with the current monthly payment ordered. Again
– the goal is to keep the matter out of the courtroom. If we can come to an
agreed payment amount, we will simply enter an agreed order, which may be
signed during the Ex Parte Calendar.
If attempts to contact the defendant have failed, we search for possible wages.
If a defendant is found to be employed, we may issue a notice of involuntary
wage assignment for up to 25% of disposable earnings. The actual % or fixed
$ amount depends on earnings, age of case & length of time employed. It is
not our intent to put a defendant in a situation they are not able to pay their
basic living expenses.
There are many defendants that I simply call regarding a past due amount,
eliminating the need to mail notices. I also field many calls from defendants
calling on their own initiative, as well as from victims asking about restitution
payments. Many of the Public Defenders send their clients to see me on the
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day of sentencing to go over the LFO’s and minimum payments ordered, and
some are ordered to come see me when they are in court for a review for
compliance with their judgment & sentence.
We are still developing a collection process for juvenile cases after the
respondent has turned 18, as well as for the Parent Financial Obligations
ordered in juvenile cases.
Snohomish
An outside collection agency is used for the Juvenile/parent cases that do not
respond to our attempts to set up a payment plan.
Info provide by Deputy Clerk, Teri Bordua
Our clerk’s office facilitates a collection process and we have a couple of
calendars for LFO’s. In our drug courts we track restitution and parties pay to
the Prosecutor. But as for Superior Court collecting LFO’s – our staff does
not directly take in money for these obligations.
Spokane
I stand corrected. Our clerk has issued an RFP for a collection company
contract. It is pending.
Stevens
One of the Deputy Clerks in Stevens County is the collection queen here. She
is very successful in collecting fines and restitution for the adult criminal
convictions. Last year alone she collected between $200,000 and $300,000.
And she’s a bulldog. We have a collections calendar once a month in front of
our Court Commissioner. Just shows that if you have the right person in that
role, it can be very successful. Evelyn
Thurston Co. monitors LFO’s by a Friday non-compliance calendar & LFOs
are monitored as part of their treatment compliance calendar. The can have as
many as 80 persons on their non-compliance calendar. Those calendars are
prepared by the Clerk’s Office, and the Clerk prepares show cause orders to
give defendants notice of the compliance calendar. If defendants fail to
appear for the show cause, a bench warrant is issued.
We do not have anything in Superior Court because our Clerk of the Court
handles all fines, fees, etc. However, in District Court we have a contract
with a local collection agency. They provide a full time person Monday
through Friday and we provide the space. She handles any phone calls or
customers that have been sent to collections. It really helps cut down on the
number of hours our staff are dealing with clients.
Robyn Berndt
Thurston
Yakima
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