Tips for collecting child support payments when one parent fails to meet support obligations.

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My ex-spouse is refusing to pay court-ordered child support. How can I have the order enforced?
My ex-husband moved out of state. How can I force him to continue to make child support payments?
What happens if a parent falls behind on child support payments?
Can I be excused from the child support debt I accumulated while I was temporarily out of work?
I just filed for bankruptcy. Can I discharge my child support arrearages?
My spouse and I separated a year ago. Can I file for child support now and get an order that covers the last year?
My spouse is in charge of our household finances but barely provides me with enough to keep the cars running and buy food and clothes for the kids. Can I sue for child support?

My ex-spouse is refusing to pay court-ordered child support. How can I have the order enforced?

Under the Child Support Enforcement Act of 1984, district attorneys (D.A.s) or state's attorneys must help you collect child support. Sometimes this means that the D.A. will serve papers requiring that your ex meet with the D.A. to arrange a payment schedule. These papers usually say that, if the ex refuses to meet or pay, jail time could result.

Federal laws allow the interception of tax refunds to enforce child support orders. Other methods of enforcement include wage attachments, seizing property, suspending the business or occupational license of a payer who is behind on child support, or -- in some states -- revoking the payer's driver's license. Your state's D.A. may employ any one of these methods in an attempt to help you collect from your ex. In addition, the U.S. Department of State may refuse to issue a passport to anyone who owes more than $2,500 in child support.

As a last resort, the court that has issued the child support order can hold your ex in contempt and, in the absence of a reasonable explanation for the delinquency, impose a jail term. This contempt power is exercised sparingly in most states, primarily because most judges would rather keep the payer out of jail where there's still a chance your ex will earn the income necessary to pay the support.

Almost every state has an agency that can help you with child support enforcement at little or no cost to you. For a list of links to these agencies, visit the National Child Support Enforcement Association at http://ncsea.org

My ex-husband moved out of state. How can I force him to continue to make child support payments?

If you think your ex has moved out of state, you or the D.A. can use legal procedures to locate your ex and seek payment. Federal and state parent locator services can also assist in locating missing parents.

If you know that your ex-spouse lives in a different state, you can use the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) to enforce a child support order. Under this law, you have a number of options. You can:

• ask a court in your state to force your former spouse to pay (but your state must have legal authority over your ex, called "personal jurisdiction")
• ask a court in your state to forward the child support order to a court in the state where your ex lives, and have that state's courts and agencies enforce the order
• file an enforcement request directly in the state where your ex lives, or
• forward the order to your ex's employer, and ask the employer to withhold the support amounts from your ex's paycheck.

The Child Support Recovery Act (CSRA) of 1992 makes it a federal crime for a parent to willfully refuse to make support payments to a parent who lives in another state. However, this statute has been challenged on constitutional grounds (as being beyond the authority of Congress), and its enforcement is inconsistent. Possibly as a remedy to CSRA, Congress passed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998, making it a felony to willfully refuse to pay out-of-state child support.