Raising a child post-divorce has its challenges, especially if your child’s other parent fails to pay child support. Without the shared responsibility of providing financially for your child’s needs, affording the many costs of being a parent can become prohibitively difficult. Fortunately, you can seek assistance in enforcing a child support order.
The LCSA can help collect past due support
If your child’s parent stops paying the child support they owe, you can work with the local child support agency (LCSA) to collect what is owed. The LCSA has many tools at hand to collect past due child support. For example, the LCSA can report the delinquent payments to major credit reporting agencies.
The LCSA also has the ability to file a property lien against a person who owes unpaid child support. If that parent tries to sell the property with the lien on it, any past-due support owed will be paid out of the sale proceeds.
In addition, the LCSA can request the suspension of a parent’s state-issued license, such as a driver’s license or professional license, in order to collect what is owed in unpaid child support.
The LCSA is required to inform the Franchise Tax Board of any parent who owes more than $100 in unpaid child support and is 60 days overdue in making payments. The Franchise Tax Board can collect funds from financial accounts, tax returns, rental income and other sources of taxable income. The Franchise Tax Board can also take real and personal property via an Earnings Withholding Order.
Finally, the LCSA can intercept disability benefits paid to a parent who is delinquent in their child support payments to pay what is owed.
The LCSA can do a lot to help parents get the child support from the supporting parent. If you do not know where your child’s other parent is located, the LCSA can access the California New Employee Registry and Federal Parent Locator Service to find them. Paying child support is an essential part of being a noncustodial parent and is a duty that should not be shirked without consequences.