Opinion ID: 2539186
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Bearden Due Process Requirements Apply to Cases When Probation Revocation is Sought for Failure to Comply with Child Support Payment Conditions Because Payment of Past Due Child Support is Restitution.

Text: The opinions of the Court of Appeals in the cases before us reached divergent holdings on what due process requires in these cases. And this Court has not previously extended due process requirements for resolving motions to revoke probation for failure to pay fines and restitution to this context. Namely, the trial court must consider (1) whether the probationer made sufficient bona fide attempts to make payments but been unable to do so through no fault of his own and, if so, (2) whether alternatives to imprisonment might suffice to serve interests in punishment and deterrence. [22] As the Court of Appeals aptly stated in Gamble, payment of past due child support is restitution: [Restitution] is defined in KRS 532.350(1)(a) as any form of compensation paid by a convicted person to a victim for counseling, medical expenses, lost wages due to injury, or property damage and other expenses suffered by a victim because of a criminal act. When a person commits the offense of flagrant nonsupport, he or she causes the party entitled to receive child support to incur expenses because of that criminal act. We believe that money owed for past due child support constitutes [restitution ] within the meaning of the statute. As such, before probation or conditional discharge may be revoked based on a failure to pay child support, the requirements of the Bearden case must be met. [23] So we agree with the Court of Appeals in Gamble that the Bearden case requirements apply to motions for probation revocation for failure to comply with conditions requiring payment of child support.