Enforcing A Child Support Order

"Enforcing" a child support order refers to making sure that the child support order is obeyed.

One way judges make sure that child support order are obeyed is by ordering an "income assignment" or "wage assignment" so that the paying parent's employer takes the child support out of the paying parent's wages.

The Department of Revenue has ways to collect child support that has not been paid.  There are actions that the DOR can take that the recipient parent cannot on his or her own, such as intercepting a tax refund or having a driver's license suspended. See the DOR Administrative Enforcement brochure for more details.

When a child support order is disobeyed you may have to go to court to make the payor obey the child support order. If you have to go to court, you file a Complaint for Contempt.  A Contempt case is a way to enforce the child support order.