When a parent fails to comply with court ordered support payments, the Department of Child Support Services will take action to collect support. The action taken may be civil or criminal and may include one or more of the following:

Wage and/or Health Insurance Assignment - A wage assignment is an order sent to the non-custodial parent's employer requiring the child support obligation be deducted from his/her paycheck and sent directly to the State of California Department of Child Support Services State Disbursement Unit (SDU). Wage and Health Assignments are mandatory and are ordered on all child support cases regardless of payment history. All earnings including Workers' Compensation Benefits, employment wages, Social Security Benefits, vacation pay, revolving funds and contractual earnings are subject to wage assignments.

Liens - A lien is recorded against the non-custodial parent's name in the California county where she/he resides and any other California county where she/he may own property including his/her parent's county of residence. Liens are required by law.

Intercept Programs - If the non-custodial parent is in arrears in his/her payments, she/he will be submitted for intercept of income tax refunds, lottery winnings, unemployment, and disability programs. If the money intercepted is more than the amount owed, the non-custodial parent must mail a copy of the intercept notice to the Department of Child Support Services. We will investigate and notify him or her of our findings.

State law requires the lottery winnings of $100 or more be intercepted to collect past due support. If the amount intercepted is more than is owed, a refund will be issued after the money is received by the Department of Child Support Services from the State Lottery Commission.

Up to 25% of weekly benefits from State Unemployment or State Disability may be automatically intercepted. A non-custodial parent who objects must file an appeal with his or her local Employment Development Department.

Credit Reporting - State law requires that all payment history information be reported to credit reporting agencies. If the account is current, it will be reported favorably to the agencies.

Business, Professional, and Driver's Licensing - State law requires the denial of permanent business and professional licenses as well as driver's licenses for failure to pay support. To request reinstatement, the non-custodial parent must complete a Request for Review form and send it to the Department of Child Support Services. The Request for Review form was provided with the notification from the State Licensing Board.
Other methods we may use to enforce a child support order include:

• Writ of Attachment
• Garnishment against personal property
• Contempt of Court
• Reciprocal Action with Other States
• Criminal Complaint for Failure to Provide
• Franchise Tax Administrative Collection Process

Other Debts of the Non-Custodial Parent

Overwhelming bills and a limited income are often a problem and do make enforcement difficult. However, court-ordered child support payments are a right of the child. Under the law, the obligation to support the child is considered more important than other debts owed. Once the non-custodial parent has been contacted, support payments should be taken care of before other bills are paid.

The Non-Custodial Parent Lives Out of State

California has reciprocal child support agreements with other states and a number of other countries. In some cases, we must rely completely on the courts of the other state or country. If this is the situation, response time may be slow. The minimum time frame for out-of-state processing is 90 days. The other state or country may have to contact the non-custodial parent personally and may have problems and delays in doing so.

In some circumstances, a wage assignment order may be served on the non-custodial parent's employer in another state or country. We will take this action if it is possible to do so.