Court Trustee

A picture of chidden interacting with each other.
A picture of children working together.
A picture of a young boy looking at the camera holding the hand of an adult.

The Court Trustee's Office staff is proud of its decades of service to the community. Each member strives to provide efficient and effective enforcement of the Court's child and spousal support orders. Everyone benefits from our communities’ children receiving financial support from both parents, which will help them grow into happy, healthy, and productive adults.

Duties

The Court Trustee's Office has been providing child and spousal support enforcement; paternity determination and child support establishment; and child and spousal support modification and review services in Wyandotte County since 1980. The Office's legal duties and authority are outlined in K.S.A. 20-275 - K.S.A.20-284.

Enforcement

Who Will Enforce The District Court Trustee or Department Of Children & Families (DCF)?

Two child support enforcement agencies may enforce Wyandotte County District Court child support orders - the Court Trustee (a County agency) or DCF (a State agency).

All Wyandotte County District Court child support cases are enforced by the Court Trustee, pursuant to the Administrative Order issued on February 1, 1991, unless good cause is shown otherwise, or State or Federal law requires enforcement by DCF. State law requires that certain child support cases be enforced through DCF or their contractors.

In general, if one or both of the parents receive state financial assistance for themselves or the child or both, then enforcement is likely required to go through DCF. However, some state financial assistance is not considered a mandatory program, and then the child support may be enforced by choice of the Court Trustee or DCF.

Examples

DCF Must Enforce

If a parent is receiving TANF (cash assistance), daycare assistance, or KanCare under Medicaid medical coverage.

Choice of Court Trustee or DCF

If a parent is receiving food stamps or the child is covered by KanCare under the CHIP medical coverage plan (formerly called Healthwave), then the child support recipient parent may choose Court Trustee or DCF to enforce child support. If a parent used to receive state financial assistance and no longer receives such support, the parent may choose to have the Court Trustee's Office enforce on their child support collection, instead of DCF, and terminate DCF's enforcement by sending DCF a Request to Terminate DCF Child Support Enforcement (a form to terminate DCF enforcement can be found on the Forms page of the District Court's website).

The Court Trustee's Office CANNOT provide information on a case enforced by DCF

If you have a DCF enforced case, please contact them directly at (913) 333-3250

Staff

Court Trustee's Office is made up of a Court Trustee (licensed attorney), Deputy Court Trustee (licensed attorney), Case Managers, and Administrative Staff. The Court Trustee oversees the operations of the Office and is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the District Court Chief Judge, pursuant to K.S.A. 20-378.

Fees

The Court Trustee's Office is funded through the collection of child and spousal support enforcement fees. The enforcement fee is 5% of the determined support amount, with no cap. In child support calculations, a child support worksheet is prepared, pursuant to the Kansas Child Support Guidelines, and 5% is added to the calculated payable support amount on the Child Support Worksheet to determine the total amount to be paid monthly by the child support payor/obligor.

The Kansas Payment Center will subtract the 5% Court Trustee's enforcement fee from the child support amount paid by the payor before distributing any child support funds to a child support recipient/obligee. The Court Trustee's Office is required to maintain a separate operations fund from the District Court and the County General Fund and utilize its revenues for child and spousal support enforcement purposes, pursuant to K.S.A. 20-380.

Mission

To make a difference in the community by our team's commitment to building strong, successful, productive families.

Department Head

Tracey Johnson

District Court Trustee