English
Español.Ways to enforce a child support order (if violation or not)
In most states, there is no time limit on when a person can file a violation petition to collect back child support. I cannot speak to your specific state in terms of how your state enforces child support orders but in general, in many states, a person may have the option of enforcing a child support order through the original court that issued the order or through the state’s Child Support Enforcement Unit, which could be an out-of-court proceeding. In some states, going through the Child Support Enforcement Unit maybe required whereas in other states, it may be the parent’s choice whether or not to enforce the order through that unit or through the courts. The options discussed below are some examples of means by which parents, in general, may try to enforce child support orders – again, they are not specific to STATE:
• Getting an Income Withholding Order: Many local courts allow people (who are owed child support) to enter what is sometimes called an IWO (income withholding order) either at the beginning of a child support case or later on if a parent is not paying what s/he is supposed to pay. This may also be referred to as garnishing one’s wages. Basically, an IWO would order the child’s parent’s employer to deduct child support from his/her paycheck - this may also be the case for government-issued benefits so that the government can pay the owed money directly to the custodial parent before paying the benefit to the non-custodial parent. This money usually goes directly to the agency that collects the child support, and then is paid to the custodial parent. I am not sure if the court where your child support order is in place has this procedure in place. You may want to call the clerk of the court to find out or speak to a lawyer who does child support cases.
• Filing an enforcement petition: Another way a person may be able to try to collect the money owed to him/her from a child support order, if the other parent fails to pay the support that is ordered, is by filing an enforcement petition in court, which may also be called a violation petition, contempt petition, or another similar name. This petition informs the court that the a parent has violated the child support order and ask the court to enforce the order. The judge may issue a money judgment for the money owed and/or put penalties on the non-paying parent for failing to pay (such as a license suspension, threat of jail time, etc.). The clerk of court may be able to help get the necessary paperwork filed in court. To get in contact with the clerk of court nearest to where you live, go here:
LINK TO COURTHOUSE LOCATIONS PAGE
• Going to the state’s child support enforcement unit: Most states have a government agency that coordinates the collection of child support payments. Here is the link for the Child Support Enforcement Unit in your state: [GOOGLE CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT UNIT IN HER STATE] and here is the page that specifically talks about enforcing a child support order: LOOK FOR THIS PAGE ON THEIR WEBSITE
• Getting a lawyer: Of course, one option may be to work with a lawyer in getting the money owed. Here is contact information for lawyers in STATE:LINK
• Hiring a child support collection agency: This may be an option for someone who would rather have someone else do the legwork for collecting support - if, for example, a parent cannot find the non-paying parent, these agencies may be able to locate the non-paying parent (and his/her employer). However, the agency likely would take a percentage of everything they collect (which may be around 30 percent but I am not sure). If they use a lawyer, there may be additional financial costs.
[NOTE - ONLY INCLUDE THIS IF THE PERSON DOES NOT CURRENTLY HAVE AN ORDER BUT IS DOING AN INFORMAL ARRANGEMENT, FOR EXAMPLE - If you do not have a current child support order and are thinking of filing for an order, you may also be able to get a rough idea of the amount that may be owed to you by going to http://www.alllaw.com/calculators/Childsupport/. However, this website only estimates the amount of support a parent may get. The amount of support a parent receive depends on how much the judge actually decides to give the parent based on the factors s/he must consider in the state where the case is taking place.]
