Receiving Financial Support
Child support is typically awarded to the custodial parent and is meant to help cover a variety of costs associated with raising a child. Child support payments are made monthly, but when those payments don’t come, it is the child who suffers. For this reason, it is important that custodial parents who receive child support take steps to enforce their child support order.
Typically, child support payments must be made through the New Jersey Family Support Payment Center. The Payment Center keeps records of payments made and received and ensures the receiving parent (i.e. the obligee) receives payments on a timely basis and in a confidential manner. When the obligor doesn’t make the child support payments, the New Jersey Child Support Agency can help obligee parents enforce the child support order through a variety of methods.
Child support that goes unpaid is called arrears. Child support arrearage is debt. The Child Support Agency can employ a variety of methods to enforce a support order including:
- Income withholding
- Reporting the arrearage to credit bureaus
- Lottery prize intercept
- Tax refund offset
- Seizure of assets
- License suspensions, and
- Passport denial
The court can also take action to issue a judgment against the obligor, issue a warrant, or otherwise enforce the order.
As the custodial parent, you should know that the non-custodial parent who pays child support (i.e. the obligor) cannot be denied parenting time because of failure to pay. Do not withhold your child from the obligor even if he or she owes you child support arrearage. Rather, contact an attorney for help, and make sure you continue to follow your custody and parenting time order.
If you receive child support and need to enforce a child support order, you have options. Consult with an attorney if you need help enforcing a child support order. An attorney can explain the process of enforcing the order step by step. Likewise, speak with an attorney if you owe child support arrearage and need to make arrangements to pay. An attorney can help you avoid serious legal consequences for failure to pay, help you make arrangements to pay off arrearage, and even modify your child support order if there has been a significant change of circumstance since it was issued.
If you have questions about enforcing child support, the Williams Law Group, LLC is here to help. The experienced attorneys at Williams Law Group, LLC can help you enforce court orders and defend your rights. Located in Union, New Jersey, Williams Law Group, LLC provides compassionate and dedicated legal services to Union, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Monmouth, and Middlesex counties, and the surrounding areas. Our knowledgeable attorneys handle divorce and family law, child custody, and child abuse/neglect cases. Call our office at (908) 810-1083, email us at info@awilliamslawgroup.com, or contact us through our confidential online form to schedule a consultation and ultimately get you connected with an experienced New Jersey divorce and child custody attorney.