In 2024, the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) dealt out 1,961 of the state’s 15,841 license suspensions for child support defaults, according to Ohio JFS data obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
That stat puts the county responsible for 12.8% of the state’s 2024 total suspensions despite having only about 4.5% of the state’s population, according to the most recent Census population estimates.
The next highest was the more populous Hamilton County, which yielded 1,826 suspensions — 11.5% of the state’s total 2024 suspensions with only about 7% of the population.
Montgomery County has been a notable outlier in Ohio for child support license suspensions for years, Dayton Daily News reporting has found.
- In 2023, the Montgomery County JFS handed out 2,129 suspensions related to child support. Hamilton County, the next highest, handed out 1,442.
- In 2022, the Montgomery County JFS handed out 1,727 suspensions. Hamilton, again the next highest county, handed out only 902.
As of Jan. 21, Montgomery County leads the state with 204 suspensions in 2025. Lorain County is the next highest with 135.
New legislation
A new bipartisan bill, effective April 9, limits the circumstances in which Ohioans can have their license suspended for non-driving infractions. But, House Bill 29 “does not eliminate (suspensions) as a legal enforcement option” for county agencies, said Montgomery County JFS spokesperson Reba Chenoweth — it only adds guardrails.
For example, H.B. 29 will permit those in default on their payments to present evidence that a suspension would effectively prevent them from getting current, but it doesn’t require JFS departments to do anything with that information. Another provision sets a 30-day delay on all child support-related suspensions, while another expands the window for Ohioans to petition the court for limited driving privileges.
While these guardrails are expected to make some dent, it’s not clear how big a difference it will make in the total number of suspensions that are handed out.
How suspensions work
In Ohio, the state places the responsibility of collecting child support — and in turn doling out punishments to those who fail to meet certain criteria — onto the county JFS agencies, which are ran independently but overseen by the state. The county needs only to contact the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles in order to suspend a license almost instantly.
State law requires that suspensions can only be handed down to Ohioans who are in default for at least 90 days; who did not pay an amount equaling at least one month’s obligation; and who failed to pay at least 50% of their obligations in the 90 days leading up to an advance notice of their suspension.
However, state law also gives county JFS departments leeway in how they choose to use suspensions. Highly populated Cuyahoga County, for example, suspended only 83 licenses in 2024.
In Montgomery County, Chenoweth described driver’s license suspensions as a “discretionary remedy used as leverage to encourage compliance with a child support order for a parent who is not paying at least 50% of their support.”
In May, Chenoweth told this outlet that license suspensions have been “a very effective tool” in prompting residents to contact the county JFS, which then allows the agency to connect residents with payment plans and other options to avoid suspension.
“Montgomery County is number one in arrears collections and number two in current support collections amongst the six metro counties in Ohio,” Chenoweth said. “Some of our success can be attributed to utilizing tools such as license suspension in the most efficient and effective manner.”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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