The new passport regulations have thrown a wrench in travel plans, and meant weeks or even months of waiting for thousands of Americans this summer. And that passport has been extremely costly for a select few who are ignoring their child support obligations.

That’s because the State Department denies passports to noncustodial parents who owe more than $2,500 in support payments. According to the Associated Press, a passport cost a U.S. businessman now living in China $311,491 in back payments and another planning a Dominican Republic vacation had to cough up $45,849.

States have reported collecting at least $22.5 million through the Passport Denial Program so far in 2007. The money is then forwarded to the parent to whom it was owed.

Jeanette Dean of Seattle had to tap into her retirement savings to pay the basics for her 12-year-old son, when the state of Washington was unable to help her collect delinquent child support payments. But this year she got a “windfall” of $36,000 through the passport program.

Delinquent parents can reapply for a passport once their debt is paid. But some people never learn. A boxer paid $39,000 in back payments to the state of Nevada, but then lost his passport. In order to fight overseas this year he needed a replacement, so his promoter had to lend him almost $9,000 to cover his new child support debts.

Too many years in the ring, or what?

Forget the image you have of a private eye as a hard-bitten, middle-aged man in a rumpled suit from Men's Wearhouse. More and more investigators are women — and they're finding a booming business in child custody cases and in tracking down cheating spouses.

Onesuch P.I. is Anji Fussell, who runs the She Spies Private Eye agency in Round Rock, Texas, just outside of Austin. "We're very busy," she told Channel 42 News, a CBS affiliate in Austin. And she's sure that a lot of her success is due to the fact that she's a woman. Most of her business is from divorced parents who want to know if their kids are being taken care of properly — "Are they leaving their children with babysitters and going out partying?" One male client who shared custody with his ex-wife was concerned about just this thing.

It turned out he was right, and when Fussell turned her video over to a judge, the man was awarded primary custody. Fussell is a mother herself, and it's important to her that kids "end up in the right home." And she also believes that being a woman in this field gives her a compassionate advantage that Sam Spade could never have.

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It was supposed to be a done deal.

When Britney Spears and Kevin Federline's divorce became final on July 30, both had signed off on continuing joint custody of 22-month-old Sean Preston and 10-month-old Jayden James. Supposedly, K-Fed had some reluctance, given Britney's somewhat erratic public behavior and her marginal grasp of parenting skills. Nevertheless, he agreed.

Now, sources have told E! News that Federline's attorney has filed papers requesting primary physical custody of his children.

Perhaps that's because in little more than a week since the divorce, Britney has been photographed frolicking with a college-age extra from her video shoot in a pool atop the L.A. Standard Hotel and making the cover of US Weekly. Then she accidentally rammed her Mercedes into a station wagon in the parking lot of a strip mall. Fair enough — we all have fender-benders. But Britney just drove away, without leaving a note. All of this was caught on film by paparazzi. After waiting a few days for Britney to do the right thing, her "victim" has just filed a police report, according to Perez Hilton.

Does she want her kids taken off her hands, or what?

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If there were an awards show for divorce — and that’s not out of the realm of possibility — Anne Heche and Coley Laffoon would surely be in the running for “Best Acrimonious Celebrity Divorce.”

The estranged couple has been fighting over everything from their five-year-old son Homer to bed linens they used during their five-year marriage.

Laffoon currently has full-time custody of Homer in Los Angeles while Anne films her ABC-TV show, "Men In Trees," in Vancouver, Canada. Heche had originally asked for sole custody.

The pair then started getting petty, trying to divide everything from their household furniture to their bed linens. A Los Angeles judge has now asked the couple to submit to psychological, drug and alcohol testing so the court can determine the best living situation for Homer.

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