Parents who are seeking to collect much-needed child support may wonder what can be done when a parent fails to pay according to a valid child support order. The answer is that there Indiana law provides many options to help enforce child support orders that parents should be aware of.
Several different methods can be employed to help ensure child support enforcement including:
- Withholding child support payments from wages, unemployment compensation or other benefits.
- Cross-referencing parents who owe child support against employer new hire reports.
- Interception of federal or state income tax refunds, lottery winnings and insurance settlements.
- Reporting unpaid child support to credit bureaus.
- Suspending the non-paying parent’s driver’s license, professional license or recreational license such as a hunting or fishing license.
- Applying liens to vehicles owned by the non-paying parent.
- Locating and withholding bank assets owned by the non-paying parent.
- Denying or revoking a passport for the non-paying parent.
Child support enforcement mechanisms can be unpleasant for parents who have failed to pay the child support that they owe. They can also help parents seeking to collect child support they are owed on behalf of their children collect the child support they are due.
Requesting a modification
Any parent who is having trouble keeping up with their child support payments should seek out help before any of these enforcement actions become an issue. If the parent has lost a job or experienced other big changes that make a child support order unworkable, they may ask the court for a modification.
An experienced Indiana attorney can help both paying and receiving parents understand their options.