Family Law

Tips to Collect Child Support

By Erin Kelley

If you are the custodial parent of a minor child, you may be eligible to receive child support payments from the non-custodial parent. The following tips may help you establish and collect child support.

You Must Have a Valid Child Support Order

A valid child support order issued by a family court is enforceable. A verbal or other informal agreement between parents that has not been made an order of the court may be worthless. State child support guidelines determine which parent will pay child support, how much support is to be paid and the duration of the payments. Family courts generally go by these guidelines when ordering child support.

Each State has a Child Support Enforcement Agency

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration fro Children and Families Web site lists contact information for each state’s child support enforcement agency. If you don’t have a valid child support order, you state’s agency may be able to help you obtain one. There may be a fee associated with the services provided by the agency.

Provide Your State Child Support Enforcement Agency with Correct Information

If possible, gather information regarding your ex and his or her current employer to aid your state child support enforcement agency. If you have a divorce decree or current child support order, provide the agency with copies of those documents along with your ex-spouse’s name, current address, Social Security number and employment information.

Press Charges Against a Deadbeat Parent

If all other child support collection efforts fail, you may file a petition with the family court to hold your ex-spouse in contempt of court, for failure to pay court ordered child support.

Additionally, the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 allows a child support violator to be prosecuted under federal law if local efforts to collect child support have been unsuccessful and a required payment hasn’t been made in more than a year or is greater than $5,000.

To learn more about child support, visit Total Divorce. If you have questions or concerns about your child support case, speak with a local family law attorney for both divorce and non-divorce cases.

By Gerri L. Elder

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on February 19, 2009 (boomark / email).