Child support obligations are serious legal duties that are governed by state and federal laws. States allow courts and state child-support administrative agencies to take money directly from a parent under a child support order, often through garnishments. Each state has different child support laws and garnishment provisions, so talk to a lawyer if you need legal advice or have specific questions about how the law applies to your case.
Collections
State laws allow and require courts to take child-support payments directly from a debtor's paycheck or income. These garnishment orders, sometimes called income withholding orders, are made a part of the court's child support order. Ohio Revised Code 3121.02 states that any time a court issues or amends a child support order, it can ensure collection of the payments through garnishment. Once an employer receives the notice of garnishment, it must send the payments to the office of child support.
Arrearage
State's also allow for garnishments any time a debtor is late on child support payments, known as arrearage. In addition to various "deadbeat parent" laws that penalize and even criminalize failures to pay child support, state garnishment laws broaden the kind of property the state can take to satisfy the late payments. For example, Minnesota allows garnishment's against any of the debtor's property that can help satisfy the obligation, such as bank accounts or personal property such as a boat, according to the Minnesota House of Representatives. Re-employment insurance, worker's compensation payments, lottery winnings and even money owed to the debtor by someone else can be collected in satisfaction of child support arrears.
Consumer Credit Protection Act
Along with each state's garnishment laws, the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act also affects child support garnishments. Title III of the CCPS allows garnishments of up to 60 percent of the employee's disposable earnings. If the payer is late in child support payments for more than 12 weeks, an additional 5 percent can be garnished. Disposable earnings include taxes, unemployment insurance, Social Security and state-mandated retirement payments.
