What to Do When Your Ex is Past Due on Child Support Payments

There may be situations in which your ex falls behind in child support payments, causing financial hardship for you as the custodial parent. Whether there is any malicious intent on the part of the support-paying parent is irrelevant — he or she has a legal obligation to fulfill the terms of the support arrangement. 

If your former spouse falls behind in making payments, the following are some steps you can take to ensure you get the support you need: 

• Wage garnishment. Wage garnishment is a process in which money automatically gets taken from the offender’s paycheck to pay for financial obligations, such as child support. It is the employer’s responsibility to extract the necessary percentage. The money is then sent directly to the state’s child support enforcement agency to be delivered to the custodial parent.
• Working with your local child support agency. You can get in touch with your local child support agency to put together a child support order. The agency will get in touch with the spouse and collect payments, then send them to you for a minimal fee. These collections could happen through liens on real estate, intercepting tax refunds, taking money from unemployment or disability benefits and suspending driver’s or business licenses.
• Taking the parent to court. You can also work with your local child support agency to enforce the terms of your support agreement. Fill out and file the necessary forms, get your court date and serve papers to the delinquent parent to get them to show up. The judge can then determine how much the delinquent parent will owe in arrears and determine monthly payments going forward. 

If the noncustodial parent has disappeared, the local child support agency may also work to track that person down. To learn more about your options when child support payments are coming in late or not at all, speak with a skilled Long Island child support attorney at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates.