South Dakota Family Law: Child Support

Maybe your divorce order included a child support order, or maybe you had to drag your ex back into court to get a child support order. Regardless, South Dakota gives you three ways to get your child support payments. The information below will help you learn more about this and other South Dakota family law issues.

What South Dakota Family Law Says

Both parents have a financial obligation to pay for the care and feeding of a child, regardless of marital history. If you have primary custody of your child are a stay-at-home mom or dad, South Dakota family law will require the other parent to get health insurance for the child. However, this is only true if the insurance is available through the other parent’s employer.

The South Dakota Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) has many ways to force a parent to pay court-ordered child support, even if that parent is self-employed or unemployed. If the other parent lives outside of South Dakota, OCSE can work with the noncustodial parent’s state to enforce any child support ordered in South Dakota.

How Child Support is Calculated:

• Monthly Net Income: Your child support payment is calculated, in part, based on both parents’ monthly net income (Sec. 25-7-6.2).
• Number of Children: Your child support payment is also calculated based on the number of children you have (Sec. 25-7-6.2).

How to Get Your Child Support Payments:

• Direct Deposit: You can get your child support payments directly deposited into your bank account by selecting option #1 on the Child Support Payment Authorization Form (Sec. 25-7A-3.2).
• US Bank ReliaCard Visa: You can also get your child support payments directly deposited to an electronic Visa card by choosing option #2. This option is great for parents who want to keep their child support payments completely separate from their salary or other personal income. (Sec. 25-7A-3.2).
• Checks: If there is some reason that you can’t use either direct deposit or the ReliaCard Visa, you can fill out option #3 to receive your child support payments in check form.

How to Write a Valid Premarital Agreement:

• Written and signed: a valid prenuptial agreement must be written and signed by both parties (Sec. 25-2-21).
• Fair and Reasonable Disclosure: Both you and your spouse must provide a “fair and reasonable disclosure” of property or other financial obligations — this basically means that you need to show your spouse your bank and investment statements, along with any deeds you might have in your name (Sec. 25-2-21(2)(i)).
• Only Add to Child Support: Feel free to include things like “working parent must pay for private school for children” or other bonuses for the kids. But clauses in prenups that negatively affect child support payments — like agreeing that neither parent will have to pay child support — is a big no-no (Sec. 25-2-18(b)).

I Have Been Ordered to Pay Child Support: What’s Next?

The Department of Social Services is the central payment center for the state and handles all disbursements (SDCL 25-7A-3.2). Once the modified order is filed with the Clerk of Courts, all future child support payments shall be made payable to the Office of Child Support Enforcement and mailed to: Child Support Payment Center, 700 Governors Drive, Suite 84, Pierre, SD 57501. Payments may also be made electronically by credit/debit card or e-check by visiting the South Dakota Department of Social Services E-payments page.