Enforcement of Your Child Support Award

Many people are stumped as to what to do if the father/mother of their child(ren) is not paying his/her Court Ordered child support. There are various ways to enforce a child support award, and they are as follows:

Contempt
Whenever one party to a support order is not in compliance, the other party may file a Complaint for Contempt in the same court that issued the support order. The party not in compliance with the court order must come back to that court to defend the action, even if they have moved away. The court has continuing jurisdiction to enforce its own order. If the party who is supposed to be providing the support comes to Court and does not show that he/she had an inability to pay their support, they can be placed in jail until they bring their arrears current, or could face fines and other related charges including having to pay your attorneys’ fees and costs for having to bring such a motion.

Income Deduction Order
Under many circumstances, a Judge may enter an Income Deduction Order against the party who is to provide support. This Income Deduction Order is forwarded to the obligor’s employee and his/her court ordered support will be removed directly from his/her paycheck. Such income interception can be used to seize Internal Revenue Service refund checks, unemployment benefits, insurance settlements, lottery winnings and workers’ compensation benefits.

Suspension of Licenses
One of the most effective tools in enforcing a support order is obtaining a Court Order suspending driver’s license, occupational licenses, passports, or other recreational licenses. Typically, a suspension will not be lifted until all arrears are brought current. Generally speaking, if there is an inconvenience brought upon the person who is not in compliance with a Court Order, they will cure the defective in order to lift that inconvenience.

For more information on how to enforce your child support order, visit http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/childsupport/works.html#enforcement