Child support is a crucial financial payment that helps sustain the child’s well-being after a separation or divorce. Child support helps to cover education expenses, groceries, clothing, extracurriculars, and therapy. If a parent doesn’t pay child support, there could be a multitude of different consequences. Understanding the consequences of not paying child support is important for the paying parent and custodial parents alike.
Legal Consequences
Some of the biggest consequences of failed child support payments are the legal ramifications. Legal repercussions could impact your taxes, travel, and property. In extreme cases, a parent could face contempt of court, which could lead to fines, payment plans, or jail time.
Other legal consequences include:
- Wage garnishment: The government can withhold part of your paycheck to cover the unpaid portion of child support.
- Tax Refund Interruption: Federal and state refunds owed to the non-paying parent can be seized. The return will then be directed to the child and receiving parent as compensation for missed payments.
- License Suspension: Skipping payments could lead to suspension of driver’s license, professional license, or recreational licenses.
- Property Liens: Courts could put a lien on your property until the debt is settled.
- Passport Denial: When your payments exceed an amount over $2,500, the paying parent could be denied a U.S. passport or travel outside the U.S.
Financial Ramifications
Ignoring your child support payments can cause financial strain in the future. Even if you put off child support payments, these expenses will still add up, leading to large amounts of debt. The financial setbacks of accumulating months of child support payments could affect major purchases in the future.
A parent who doesn’t pay child support could also experience damage to their credit. Failure to make payments of any kind will be reported to your credit agency and lower your score. This could impact any future loans or credit cards you may apply for.
Emotional Impact On The Child
Child support payments are not only helpful financially for a child, but they can also help foster growth and support developmental activities. As a child ages, they may also begin to understand the subtext of what a child support payment means, therefore attaching the payments to your care/love for them. Children may see financial stress in the home as well, especially if the guardian is working to help support them. Skipping child support payments can leave a child feeling abandoned, stressed, confused, or sad.
Not only will a child’s emotions be impacted by child support payments, but their financial and educational futures could also be affected. Paying for education and extracurricular activities can be expensive. These are crucial to a child’s social development and their skills for the future. Financial hardship can impact a child for years into the future.
Can A Custodial Parent Take Action?
If a custodial parent is not receiving the monetary support that they need, they can take action to receive payment. The first step you can take if you are missing payments is to contact Child Support Enforcement Agencies to help you locate the non-paying parent and enforce monthly payments.
Another step you can take is to work with your family attorney to look into legal action against the non-paying parent. Your attorney may be able to file with the court or contact agencies for you.
Filing a motion of contempt is the last step to take in order to force the paying parent to give you the money you and your child are owed. Filing with the court could result in any of the legal actions listed earlier in the blog. The court will order that the child support be paid quickly, or legal actions will be taken.
Child Support Help From KNK Law
Our team at KNK wants to help you have a safe and secure future. Our family lawyers handle divorce cases, child custody, and child support so you can have peace of mind about the outcome. Going through a divorce is not something you want to handle on your own; in fact, it is always recommended to have a comprehensive legal team in your corner. Each lawyer on our team works hard to get you the best results and provide your family with all they will need in the future. Reach out to us or visit our office in Ogden, Utah, to see if we are the right fit for your family.
