Hamilton County Child Support collected more than $47,000 in back support from an auto injury settlement and an inheritance, making the holiday season a bit better for three local families. 

The personal injury case resulted in collection of $39,041 on behalf of two children. One custodial mother got $23,895 for her daughter, 20.  Another received $15,237 in back support due for her daughter, 18. 

Rae Ryan, a Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) attorney, seized the funds from a personal injury auto accident case initiated by the absent parent father, resulting in both cases having the arrears fully satisfied and the cases closed. 

Ryan noted that the father was arrested on a court order issued in 1998. When he appeared in court from jail in January 2009, he revealed that he expected settlement on a personal injury case from two years earlier. The judge placed a restraining order on dispersal of the settlement, allowing for the recovery of back support. 

“It’s all over,” said the 20-year-old child’s mother. “And everybody is happy.” 

Meanwhile, at about the same time, the mother of children ages 7 and 9 got $8,000 in back support from an inheritance. 

In October 2009, a residential parent of two children notified Child Support technician Dan Bleh that her ex-husband would be inheriting funds from his mother’s probate estate. 

Bleh took quick action and verified a probate estate pending in Boone County, Ky., and that the non-residential parent would be receiving a distribution of funds. 

He relayed the information to the CSEA’s legal staff. Attorney Janice Barr, licensed to practice in Kentucky, immediately filed a claim in Boone County District Court. She attended a court hearing regarding the deceased mother’s probate estate in November 2009. The $8,000 was collected and applied to arrearages.