California Child Support Payment

After a judge issues a child support order, parents must provide their child with food, clothing, health insurance, and education. California's child support guidelines ensure that the child or children's lifestyle does not change after the parents' divorce.

Child support obligations differ from spousal support obligations. Unlike alimony, both parents must contribute to their child's care, and the obligation does not end if one parent remarries or changes jobs. Parents often have questions about child support payments. This article answers the following frequently asked questions about California's child support laws.

• What is child support for?
• How are child support payments determined?
• How are child support payments made?
• What is an income withholding order?
• Can I have a child support order changed?
• How long do I have to make child support payments?
• Can I go to jail if I don't make child support payments?
• What happens when a parent moves out of state?
• Get legal advice from a California family law attorney

What Is Child Support For?

When parents divorce or legally separate, one parent's income is gone from the household. Child support payments cover basic expenses and all the child's entertainment, extracurricular, and incidentals. For example, if the parents' combined incomes paid for private school tuition and after-school sports, the child support order will continue that tuition.

How Are Child Support Payments Determined?

Judges in family law courts make an initial determination in a child support case based on the parents' "disposable income." After paying state and federal taxes and other court-ordered payments, disposable income is what parents have left. Under California's child support laws, the higher-earning parent typically makes child support payments.

The state of California uses a formula in which:

The formula multiplies the combined total income (K) by the higher-earning parent's income (HN) minus the percentage of time that the parent spends with the child (H%) times the total net monthly income of both parents (TN). CS = K[HN - (H%)(TN)]

This complex calculation generally ensures that the higher-earning, non-custodial parent pays support to the lower-earning, custodial parent. State law allows judges to deviate from support guidelines if the result is unfair or unjust. Some reasons for deviation from guidelines may include:

• Agreement between parents to a different support amount
• Unusually high incomes or great income disparity between parents
• Special needs or requirements in the child's housing or schooling
• More than one legal parent

The amount of child support payments can affect other court-ordered support payments, such as spousal support. Courts calculate child support payments before any other orders.

How Are Child Support Payments Made?

The California Department of Child Support (DCSS) manages all child support payments through the State Disbursement Unit (SDU). The payor parent can pay SDU via check, credit card, or automatic bank account withdrawal.

State and federal law require parents to make child support payments through a single entity rather than local child support agencies (LCSAs). All states use a central SDU service to manage child support payments.

Having a state agency protects the interests of both parents. It lets the recipient parent get payments regularly. It gives the payor parent a third-party record of payments in case of disputes.

What Is an Income Withholding Order?

An income withholding order, or earning withholding order, is an automatic wage garnishment where a payor parent's child support comes directly from their paycheck. In California, if a parent works, their support payments must come through their employer via an income withholding order.

Local child support agencies send employers a copy of the income withholding order (IWO) unless a judge makes a separate order in your case. Employers must follow an IWO unless a judge gives specific instructions otherwise.

Like making payments through the SDU, IWOs protect both parents' interests. Deducting payments from a parent's paycheck ensures timely payment for the recipient and provides a record for the payor parent in the event of a dispute or alleged missed payment.

Can I Have a Child Support Order Changed?

Courts base child support orders on the parents' incomes at the time of the order. But the law recognizes that circumstances change. Parents may make more or less money, and children's needs are not always the same.

The court-ordered child support amount will not automatically change when a parent's income changes. Although employers should reduce the percentage of pay removed in an income withholding order, the support order amount stays the same.

To modify a child support order, the requesting party must show a "substantial change of circumstances" that justifies a change in the court order. Changes to modify a support order include:

• An increase or decrease in either parent's income
• Loss of employment or a change in status (for instance, from full-time to part-time)
• Incarceration or institutionalization of either parent
• Changed needs of the child

Parents should not make their own arrangements to alter their support order. Even if both parties agree with the agreement, the court must approve it. Only a judge's order can stop an income withholding order. Missed payments will appear on the payor's record as child support arrears.

How Long Do I Have To Make Child Support Payments?

Parents in California must support their minor children until:

• The child is 18 years old, or 19 if they have not graduated from high school
• Marries or becomes emancipated
• Enlists in the military

In some cases, child support may continue beyond the child's 18th birthday. California law allows courts to order child support into adulthood if the child has a physical or mental disability that prevents the child from living alone or earning a living wage (California Family Code § 3910). The disability must have existed before the parents separated. To end an extended support order, a parent must show that the child can live alone and earn a living wage.

Can I Go to Jail if I Don't Make Child Support Payments?

California law allows judges to send child support scofflaws to jail for past-due child support. Family law courts generally prefer parents stay out of jail and meet their child support obligations. But failing to pay child support is a misdemeanor offense punishable by less than one year of jail time. If the lack of financial support causes the child to suffer physical deprivation (abandonment or desertion), the parent can face felony charges (California Penal Code § 270 et seq.)

DCSS has other enforcement tools when a parent fails to make support payments. The first step is usually a court hearing to determine the reason for the failure to pay support. Often, the non-paying parent simply has financial difficulties and can't pay the current child support amount.

Non-payors are more likely to encounter these enforcement efforts before they go to jail:

• Contempt of court citations, resulting in fines and community service
• Suspension of driver's licenses
• Suspension of professional licenses and passports
• Interception of tax refunds and lottery winnings
• Property liens
• Notification to credit reporting agencies

Even if a payor successfully evades payment and a child ends up on public assistance, the scofflaw is not off the hook. DCSS will continue enforcement efforts to recover support payments made by the state on behalf of the child.

What Happens When a Parent Moves Out of State?

The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act is a federal law adopted by all 50 states. This law allows states to enforce child support orders across state lines without parents needing to open a new child support case in a new jurisdiction. The new state may enforce an existing order, but only the original court can modify the order.

For example, a support order issued in a California court can be enforced by a Nevada court, but a payor parent cannot have the order modified in a Nevada court. The parent must return to the California court to modify the order.

Related Resources

• How Much Child Support Will You Pay?
• Child Support and Taxes: Non-Custodial Parent Facts
• Child Support Enforcement in California

Get Legal Advice from a California Family Law Attorney

Child support payments are a serious business in California. If you have trouble making or receiving payments, don't wait for them to become a serious issue. Get legal advice from an experienced California family law attorney and resolve things immediately.