DOES ANYBODY ACTUALLY DO THIS?
May 10, 2012 § 7 Comments
The following is from the “Attorney Check List” section of the Civil Filing Form Instructions in the Uniform Data Collection Procedures (UDCP) mandated by the MSSC:
“In accordance with the Federal Social Security Act, Titla IV-D, §§ 454(2)(A) and 454A(e)(4), and Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-31(l)(iii) (Supp. 2000), cases wherein child support is sought must provide the name, date of birth and Social Security number for all parties to the case to the State’s repository for this information (in Mississippi, the Department of Human Services). If child support is contemplated at the time of the initial pleading, filing party must complete Child Support Information Sheet. Initial pleadings wherein child support is contemplated must include this sheet prior to the clerk’s admitting the pleadings for suit; if, at any time after filing initial pleadings, child support becomes an issue and this sheet has not been submitted as part of the Court file, attorney for Plaintiff shall provide the completed form for the Court’s file. Any information not provided at the time of filing, but discovered at a later time up to disposition of the case, may be reflected in a more complete form being filed with the clerk’s office for the court file. The Child Support Information Sheet shall be submitted by the clerk to the AOC along with the disposition form … ” [Emphasis in original]
Do you know anybody who complies with this? The first MSSC order adopting UDCP and mandating reporting was in 1993, and the last amendment was ordered in 2001. Never during the time that I practiced law did I offer such a form to a clerk, either before or after initiating a suit, and I do not know of anyone else who did. I asked a clerk whether she had ever had a lawyer submit such a form, or whether she or the other clerks had ever refused to file pleadings for failure to submit the form, and the answer was negative on both counts. She also said that AOC has never raised the issue.
On another similar tack, we in the 12th District have required Wage Withholding Orders to be submitted in every child support case since they came to be in the 1980’s. Judge Warner insisted on it, and we did it, and continue to do it. Judges in other districts have told me that they not only do not require them, but that their predecessors did not.
All of this probably falls under the category of letting sleeping dogs lie, and I will. I just found these curious.
The Better Chancery Practice Blog 
We always submit one. It is at the bottom of the civil case filing form.
Click to access civil_case_filing_form.pdf
And that’s in which county? Honestly, I’ve never seen or heard of it, and I regularly practiced over a 12-county area, occasionally venturing out into many others. As a judge, of course, I never deal with it.
Jackson, George, Greene, Harrison, and Hancock Counties.
Judge I have not been putting SSN’s on anything that will be open to the public (sucha s 8.05’s). In criminal cases it is required on pleas petitions, and I do it because I have to …. but I don’t loke it or see the need for it.
I was a little thrown off when I was asked to fill it out along with a civil cover sheet a few weeks ago. But now Rankin Chancery asks for it every time I fill a petition where a child is involved.
What a way to provide fodder for identity thieves!
No kidding!