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You are here: Families & Children > Enforcement of Judgment > Child and Spousal/Partner Support Orders > What to do when a person ordered to pay support falls behind or stops paying
What happens if the person ordered to pay support falls behind in payments?
What happens if the person ordered to pay support falls behind and the Local Child Support Agency is involved in the case?
Can the person who falls behind in support payments go to jail for not paying support?
How do I end a stay on the wage assignment so the employer starts withholding the support payments?
What happens if someone refuses to pay court-ordered support?
What can the Local Child Support Agency do if someone does not pay their support?
The parent who is supposed to pay support is in jail. Do they still have to pay support?
What if the person ordered to pay support has moved to another state?
What can the Local Child Support Agency (LCSA) do to find someone who owes support?
What happens if the person ordered to pay support falls behind in payments?
If someone falls behind in paying support and does not already have their wages withheld to pay support, you can ask the court order to issue a wage assignment for you to serve on the other person’s employer to withhold support from wages. The wage assignment order will include an amount to pay off any past-due support they owe (called “arrears”). And, past-due child and spousal support accumulates interest, at a rate of 10% per year, so the total owed can grow very fast.
If you had an agreement that the person ordered to pay support would pay on their own, without a wage assignment, and you had the wage assignment stayed, you can ask to reinstate the wage assignment. Click here to find out how.
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What happens in the person ordered to pay support falls behind and the Local Child Support Agency is involved in the case?
The Local Child Support Agency (LCSA) must put a lien on all real property and bank accounts that person owns in California. Also, LCSA can intercept any tax refunds, unemployment, disability, or worker’s compensation benefits, and withhold any licenses, including driver’s, business, commercial, and sporting licenses. Click here for more information on what the LCSA can do to collect support.
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Can the person who falls behind in support payments go to jail for not paying support?
Someone cannot be put in jail just because they are in debt.
But, the person who owes support is ignoring a court order to pay support so they can be prosecuted criminally and maybe go to jail. This enforcement tool is generally used as a last resort when all other efforts to collect support have failed. The county Local Child Support Agency will try to get parents to voluntarily pay support. And, if they live in a different state from their child(ren) and owe past-due support, they can be prosecuted by the federal government.
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How do I end a “stay” on the wage assignment so the employer starts withholding the support payments?
In some cases, the wage assignment is “stayed”, which means that it will not be served on the employer as long as the support payments are being made on time and properly.
To ask the court to let you to serve the wage assignment on the employer because the person ordered to pay support has fallen behind in payments:
- Fill out Application for Termination of Stay (form FL-455) and turn it in to the court for the judge to sign. In some cases, you may have a court hearing for the judge to make the decision.
- Once the court signs the order, serve the wage assignment on the employer
- The employer will begin taking out the support payments out of the person’s wages
Click here for more information on having service of a wage assignment “stayed”
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What happens if someone refuses to pay court-ordered support?
Not paying child support can have very serious consequences.
If the court finds that someone has the ability to pay support but is willfully not paying it, it can find that the person ordered to pay support is in contempt of court. This enforcement tool is generally used only when all others have failed since it can result in jail time for the person who is not paying.
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What can the Local Child Support Agency do if someone does not pay their support?
If a parent is late or fails to pay court ordered support payments, the county Local Child Support Agency can do one or more of these to collect support:
- Credit reporting: not paying child support on time can affect a person’s credit rating. The county Local Child Support Agency will report each child support payment to major credit reporting agencies. They also report the failure to pay child support.
- Passport Denial: anytime a person owes more than $5,000 in past due child support, the U.S. State Department will not issue or renew a passport until all past due support payments (also called “arrears”) are paid. If your passport application is denied, you will have to make arrangements with the Department of Child Support to make your child support current before traveling outside the United States.
- Property liens: LCSA will file a lien against the real property (like a house or land) of a parent who owes past due support. When the property is sold, past due support may be paid out of the proceeds for the property.
- Suspending licenses: LCSA can request that permanent, state-issued licensed be suspended or withheld to collect past due child support. The State Licensing Match System is used to match parents who owe child support with business, professional, and driver’s licenses. These licenses include cosmetologists, contractors, doctors, teachers, lawyers, and more.
- Franchise Tax Board Child Support Collection Program: the county Local Child Support Agency must let the Franchise Tax Board know anytime a person is more than $100 and 60 days past due in paying support. The Franchise Tax Board can take funds from bank accounts, rental incomes, royalties, dividends, and commissions. The Franchise Tax Board can also issue an Earnings Withholding Order and take real and personal property, such as vacant land, cash, safe deposit boxes, vehicles, and even boats, to collect child support.
- Income tax intercepts: The Internal Revenue Service and the Franchise Tax Board can also intercept tax refunds to pay past due child support.
- Financial Institution Data Match: many banks, savings and loan institutions, and credit unions in California and the United States report the assets they hold. These assets can be taken for payment of current and past due child support.
- Disability Insurance Benefit Intercept System: LCSA can take part of state disability payments owed to parents who owe child support to pay both current and past due child support.
- Unemployment Insurance Benefit Intercept System: part of state unemployment benefit payments due to the noncustodial parent can be taken to pay both current and past due child support.
- Worker’s compensation appeals board match system: lump sum workers’ compensation awards can be taken to pay past due child support.
- Lottery intercept: lottery winnings can be taken to pay both current and past due child support.
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The parent who is supposed to pay support is in jail. Do they still have to pay support?
Yes. But, support will be nearly impossible to collect, unless the person in jail has assets or other income.
An incarcerated person must take action to change the child support while s/he is incarcerated. If not, past due child support will continue to grow and that person will have to pay the past due support when released.
A person who goes to jail should contact the county Local Child Support Agency to modify the support order if they are involved in the case.
If the LCSA is not involved, the person ordered to pay support should contact the Family Law Facilitator for help stopping the support while incarcerated. Click here to find your Family Law Facilitator.
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What if the person ordered to pay support has moved to another state?
Every state has an agency to enforce child support orders. States must cooperate with each other to collect both current and past due child support and locate parents and their assets. Laws may be different from state to state, but all child support agencies help each other. Federal laws require every state to enact the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). UIFSA requires states to work together to establish and enforce child support orders from other states.
If the local child support agency is involved with your case, contact them and let them know that the other parent has moved and give them any information you have about the parent’s new address or work.
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What can the Local Child Support Agency (LCSA) do to find someone who owes support?
The LCSA has access to several sources to get this information, like:
- California New Employee Registry: a database of the Employment Development Department. Employers in California must report the names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers of all new employees. By checking this registry, the county Local Child Support Agency may be able to locate parents to collect child support. In California, the names and address of independent contractors must also be reported to the Employment Development Department. This registry helps locate self-employed noncustodial parents.
- Federal Parent Locator Service: provides the county Local Child Support Agency with information about parents ordered to pay child support anywhere in the United States. This service is made up of the national Directory of New hires and the Federal Case Registry. The National Directory of New Hires is the central database of employment, unemployment insurance, and wage information from every state. Employers anywhere in the nation must report every new employee’s name, address, and social security number. The Federal Case Registry lists child support cases and orders from every state.
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Last modified: 03/17/2008
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