How Does Wage Garnishment Work for Child Support?

If the other parent of your child regularly neglects to pay the child support he or she owes you, there are a variety of potential collection methods you and your attorney could work to implement to ensure you get the money you need. Perhaps the most common type of collecting judgments for overdue child support is wage garnishment.

In a wage garnishment arrangement, a portion of the delinquent parent’s income is automatically withheld from their paycheck and then delivered straight to you, the custodial parent, before that money even hits their bank account.

You’ll need to go through the court system to make wage garnishment happen. Here are some of the issues you’ll need to be aware of:

• How much money you can get: The court is legally allowed to garnish a maximum of about 25 percent of a person’s net wages for any debt other than child support. For child support, however, that maximum debt rises to up to 50 percent, and even 60 percent if the delinquent parent isn’t supporting another dependent. How much the court actually orders be garnished depends on the total debt, how long the delinquent parent has gone without paying and the parent’s general financial state.
• How you begin garnishing wages: You’ll need to go through the court system to petition for wage garnishment, being certain to provide evidence of delinquency. The court will then notify your employer, whose responsibility it is to notify the delinquent parent.
• Court hearings: The delinquent parent does have the right to request court hearings to make certain objections.

For more information about how wage garnishment works for child support, contact an experienced divorce lawyer at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates.