Patrick Hest, an Assistant Director at the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, joins Tom to discuss how the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office is handling their family law-related work through the pandemic. This includes not bringing new contempt proceedings for non-payment of child support due to the poor economy and the desire to reduce the jail population. He identifies the opportunities for payment of child support with per capita stimulus payments as well as expanded eligibility for unemployment compensation under the previous federal stimulus packages.

In addition, his office is leveraging already available public assistance services to help those with child support obligations find employment or even develop a career path. A goal is to help people get well-paying jobs with the collateral benefit of helping them get on top of their child support payments.