A New Jersey judge has ruled the state violates procedural due process rights of parents when it suspends driver’s licenses for nonpayment of child support without providing advance notice of the action and an opportunity to be heard.

The state Probation Department, Department of Human Services and Motor Vehicle Commission have been ordered to implement new procedures that would give advance notice of a suspension to a parent who faces loss of driving privileges due to unpaid child support. The agencies are ordered to give parents facing such suspensions the opportunity to be heard and to provide legal counsel to parents who are indigent.