Child support is intended to help pay for the care, support, health and education of children, so proper child support enforcement is a priority in many jurisdictions. When a parent decides not to pay their child support obligations occasionally or every month, the child support is in “arrears” and the delinquent parent must go before the court in order to get the obligation forgiven.
Failing to pay court-ordered child support could result in having one’s driver’s license revoked, the seizure of tax refunds, the revocation of a passport, liens on the delinquent’s property, and more. However, it is important to remember that failing to pay child support does not mean that parent can be denied the right to parenting time.
When your relationship ends it is important to get an official child support order as only a child support order can be enforced in Court should any issues arise. Within the Minnesota Department of Human Services is a unit called the Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) which was established to help enforce state and federal laws about child support.
The Child Support Enforcement Division has the power to do the following:
- Establish paternity of children born to unmarried couples
- Locate parents who have disappeared
- Establish and modify medical and child support obligations
- Collect and process child support payments
- Work with other states to ensure that parents pay their support orders, and
- Enforce child and medical support obligations
Both the Child Support Enforcement Division and family court judges have the authority to apply enforcement measures when paying parents are not fulfilling their child support obligations. The Child Support Enforcement Division will only use legal and financial tools to obtain payment from parents with past-due child support accounts after the paying parent has been given enough notice and opportunity to pay off the arrearages.
In urgent or complicated cases, going through the family court process can be more effective than waiting for the Child Support Enforcement Division to act.
If you are dealing with an ex-spouse that is delinquent on their child support payments, or if you are currently delinquent and are looking for advice on how to proceed, our Minnesota divorce attorneys can work with you to resolve the issue. At Alithis Family Law, our lawyers pride themselves on how they serve our clients. Please reach out today for your free consultation—you can call our office at (952) 800-2025 or contact us by email at info@alithisfamilylaw.com.