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Enforcing a Child Support Order Out of State

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:14:12 GMT

While a parent living out of state may make enforcing your child support order a bit tricky, it certainly doesn’t make it impossible. The first step is to find the other parent’s address. In some cases, this may require hiring a private investigator or using locator resources from your local child support office. Every state has a parent locator service, and local child support offices have access to resources such as federal new hire data, state new hire data, unemployment insurance information, criminal and civil court records, credit bureau data, Bureau of Motor Vehicles information, and other similar sources of information. In many cases, particularly if the other parent works, he or she will not be too hard to track down. Once you have other parent’s address, you’re halfway there, because now the courts have a way to contact him or her.

One easy way to enforce your child support order when the other parent is out of state is to have the courts send a garnishment order directly to the other parent’s employer. Under federal law, all employers must honor child support garnishment orders from other states. An employer can’t refuse to garnish an employee’s wages for child support just because the garnishment order comes from another state.

If you don’t know where the other parent works, there is still hope for enforcing your child support order. Every state has passed some version of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (“UIFSA”), which is a law that is designed specifically to enforce child support orders from one state against a parent who lives in another state. By using UIFSA, which usually requires hiring an attorney or contracting with your local child support office, you can ask the courts, the child support agencies, and/or a private attorney in the state where the other parent is living to enforce your child support order. The courts in that state must enforce your child support order just as if it was a child support order issued in that state.

Many states also have criminal laws that govern child support orders. If a parent fails to pay child support as ordered, your local prosecutor’s or district attorney’s office can file criminal nonsupport charges against the parent, even if he or she lives in another state. Your state can extradite, or bring the parent back to your state from another state, because he or she is charged with a crime. State felony nonsupport charges can result in various sanctions, including incarceration, home detention, and probation.

Failing to pay child support is also a federal crime, so you can ask the federal prosecutor or district attorney for your jurisdiction to bring charges against the other parent. Like state criminal laws concerning non-payment of child support, the other parent can be incarcerated or placed on probation for failing to pay child support as ordered.

Can I have my child support payments automatically deducted from the other parents paycheck?

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:02:23 GMT

Are you tired of getting your child support payments whenever your ex feels like paying them? Does your ex not always pay the amount of child support that he or she is supposed to pay? One easy solution to these problems is to have your child support payments automatically deducted from the other parent’s paycheck by his or her employer. Taking this step can ensure that you and your child receive the consistent, timely full payments to which you are entitled.

Federal and state law requires, in most circumstances, that a parent’s child support obligation be automatically deducted from his or her paycheck through a garnishment or income withholding order. In some cases, however, there may be a good reason as to why the parent’s child support obligation should not be deducted from his or her paycheck, such as if he or she is self-employed. In this case, he or she can get an order from the court that the payments do not have to be deducted. Nonetheless, in most cases, you can easily have your child support payments automatically deducted from the other parent’s paycheck.

A court can issue a garnishment or income withholding order for the payment of child support. In most states, your local child support agency can also administratively issue an order to have payments deducted from the parent’s paycheck. Therefore, if you know where your ex works, you can ask your court or child support agency to send a garnishment order to that employer in order to have your child support payments withheld from your ex’s paycheck.

An employer has no choice but to follow the garnishment order for child support. Even if an employer receives a garnishment order from another state, the employer is required to follow the order under federal law. In most states, the employer is liable for the child support payments, damages and/or fines if the employer does not properly deduct and send in the child support payments according to the garnishment order.

There are some limitations on the amount of money that can be garnished from the parent’s paycheck. Under federal law, only 55% - 65% of the parent’s disposable income (income after taxes) can be deducted from the paycheck for child support payments, depending on the parent’s current family situation. Therefore, if a parent is only working 20 hours per week at minimum wage, and is ordered to pay you $150.00 per week in child support, the employer cannot legally deduct your entire child support payment. In this situation, then, a garnishment order would not be completely effective.

Finally, it is important to know that a child support order takes precedence over other garnishment orders. This means that if a parent has been sued for an unpaid credit card bill, and the credit card company wants to garnish the parent’s wages for the money owed, their garnishment order will come second in line to your child support order. In other words, your child support will be paid first, before any other garnishment orders.

Do I have to pay child support if I dont get to see my children?

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:16:45 GMT

It hardly seems fair to pay your child support on time, week after week, month after month, only to have your ex-husband or ex-wife prevent you from seeing your children. In fact, problems with visitation are one of the most common reasons given by parents for not paying their child support. However, child support and visitation are two totally separate issues, and you cannot stop paying child support simply because your ex-spouse is not allowing you to see your children.

While it is tempting to stop your child support payments in order to get back at your ex-spouse for not letting you see the kids, it won’t help you out in the long run. Just as your ex-spouse is ordered to allow you visitation with your children, you are ordered to pay child support. Therefore, if you don’t pay child support, for whatever the reason, you are violating the terms of a court order, and you can be punished by the court for doing so. It will also not reflect well on you if you complain to the court about your ex-spouse violating a court order by not allowing you to visit, when you are also violating a court order.

The only exception to this rule, which is rare, is when your ex-spouse disappears with your children for an extended period of time, which effectively prevents you from having any contact with your children at all. In this case, some courts have held that a parent’s child support obligation should stop, at least on a temporary basis, until the ex-spouse and children are located.

Barring this exception, you should continue to pay child support as ordered, even if your ex-spouse does not allow you to see the children as ordered. The proper remedy for problems with visitation is to turn to the court for assistance, not to stop paying child support. Just as you can be held accountable and/or punished by the court for failing to pay child support, your ex-spouse can be similarly held accountable and/or punished.

If you are having trouble with your ex-spouse over visitation, your best bet is to seek advice from an attorney who can advise you what steps to take next. While you might be able to work out visitation problems informally with your ex-spouse in some circumstances, you may need more formal assistance with this issue. A lawyer can contact your ex-spouse, or his or her lawyer, and try to come to some sort of resolution as to visitation with your children. If reaching an agreement is not possible, then the lawyer can help you use the court system to enforce your rights to see your children as ordered. For instance, if two parents cannot agree whether the father should have overnight visitation with two young children, then the court will make a determination of whether overnight visitation is appropriate, and how often it should occur. In any case, the court can help you enforce your visitation rights, and it is a much smarter solution than simply stopping your child support payments in order to get back at your ex-spouse.

Intercepting Tax Refunds When a Parent Fails to Pay Child Support

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:16:56 GMT

It seems only fair that if a parent is entitled to a tax refund, and he or she owes back child support, then back child support ought to be paid off first. For that reason, federal law provides that if a parent owes back child support, then a state child support office can intercept that parent’s tax refund for you and apply it to the back child support. Even if the child for whom child support is owed is now emancipated, a parent’s tax refund can still be applied to the back child support that he or she owes.

In order to qualify to receive the other parent’s tax refund for back child support, you need to make sure that you are enrolled in your state’s tax intercept program, which you can do by contacting your local child support office. If you or your child receives public assistance, then your local child support office’s services are generally free. Otherwise, you will have to pay up to $25.00 for an application fee. In some states, private attorneys also can obtain court orders requiring that parent’s state or federal tax refund be applied toward his or her back child support.

The federal tax intercept program also applies if the federal government issues stimulus payments to taxpayers, such as it did in the year 2008. This type of tax payment also can be intercepted and applied to a parent’s back child support.

Likewise, many states have state tax intercept programs, which essentially work the same way as the federal tax intercept program. State child support offices can intercept parents’ state tax refunds, and apply them to back child support. Those states that do not assess income tax, of course, would not have a state tax intercept program.

If a parent who owes child support is remarried, however, their tax refund might not be applied to back child support. If the parent and his or her new spouse has filed a joint tax return, and part of the tax refund is due to the new spouse’s income, the new spouse is entitled to his or her portion of the tax refund. In order to get that portion of the tax refund, the spouse must file an “injured spouse” form with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). For this reason, joint tax refunds are held by state child support offices for six months before they are applied to back child support.

Tax refunds intercepted for back child support are first applied to back child support that has been assigned to the state, such as for periods when public assistance was drawn, and child support was not being paid. Once any balances owed to the state are paid off, the refund is applied to back child support that is owed to the other parent.

If the parent owes certain other government debts, such as federal student loans or federal income tax, the parent’s tax refund will go to pay those debts before back child support is paid. Additionally, the tax intercept program doesn’t help much when a parent doesn’t file his or her taxes, or isn’t entitled to a tax refund, which can happen for various reasons.

Free Child Support Articles | Free Child Support Legal Articles

Enforcing a Child Support Order Out of State

Can I have my child support payments automatically deducted from the other parents paycheck?

Do I have to pay child support if I dont get to see my children?

Intercepting Tax Refunds When a Parent Fails to Pay Child Support

Can I have my child support payments automatically deducted from the other parents paycheck?

Do I have to pay child support if I dont get to see my children?