In addition to providing emotional and physical support, a parent's role should also be as a financial provider for his or her child. When parents are not together anymore, the court decides how much financial obligation each parent will have. Unfortunately, for any number of reasons, sometimes one parent may be unwilling to pay his or her share of the child support. The child is then the one that suffers when this occurs.
Ways to Collect Child Support
The custodial parent can collect past due child support from the non-custodial parent one of several ways. One option is to hire a family law attorney and let the attorney petition the court to get the past due child support. This is an effective way to get the support but it also the most expensive. It can also be time consuming waiting for a court date.
If the custodial parent is not getting child support, chances are the parent does not have the funds to retain a family law attorney. The next option would be to contact the local Child Support Enforcement Agency via the Department of Social Services. Child Support Enforcement Agencies normally charge a minimal fee usually no more than $25. The custodial parent sends in the necessary paperwork and the Child Support Enforcement Agency attempts to track down the non-custodial parent.
The first thing Child Support Enforcement Agency will do is set up monthly or bi-monthly support payments to accommodate the child support order. Once the agency receives the payment from the non-custodial parent, it will mail the custodial parent a check or deposit the funds directly into a checking account electronically. If the non-custodial parent does not agree to make the required payments or becomes past due again, then the Child Support Enforcement Agency will take further steps to get the support payments.
These steps can include wage garnishment from the employer, requesting revocation of motor vehicle license for failure to pay, state and federal tax garnishment and other methods. Even though this is an good option to get the child support, it is perhaps the slowest. State agency workers have many cases to work on and the case could potentially wait one month to two months.
Private Child Support Collection Agencies
If a parent has tried other ways to get the past due child support and has been unsuccessful, an alternative method would be to consider a private child support collection agency. Private child support collection agencies aggressively fight to get past due child support, however, they do charge a fee which is a small percentage of the amount in arrears. Child support collection agencies usually will not take the case unless it has reached a minimum past due amount. This is probably the fastest way to get the past due child support.
It is unfortunate when one parent decides not to pay child support because it causes a financial hardship on the custodial parent and the child. Courts try to resolve child support disagreements and go after the deadbeat parent but often that is not enough. It is always helpful and in the best interest of the child for the custodial parent to utilize the quickest methods of getting the child support.
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