Parents with dependent children have to bear full responsibility for their children until they are of the age to work and take care of themselves. This is applicable even after the parent’s separation. After the separation of the parents, a single parent gets custody of the child but this doesn’t mean he/she alone has to meet all expenses. This is where the law for Child Support Garnishment takes place.
The Purpose of the child support law is to ensure that the child’s needs are met and provided for by both parents, including the parent who doesn’t have the child’s custody. This basically means that as much as the custodial parent is responsible to take care of the child as a parent financially, so is the non-custodial parent. The child support law decides an amount that must be withheld from the non-custodial parent’s paycheck for child support. This is called child support garnishment.
Child support law is governed by both federal and state laws. Although the federal government has standard laws, state laws can alter these laws as far as they are in compliance with federal law and not going against it.
The child support garnishment withholding process
The procedure is very simple and straightforward. Custodial parents need to reach out to the local child support enforcement office with the required documents (non-custodial parent information). To start the process, the child support enforcement officers would need to locate the parent and employer first, one must carry all the available information when visiting.
Some of the very important information to file this claim would be the birth certificates of the children, photo ID proofs, accurate personal details, etc. There is usually an application fee you would need to pay to submit your application.
The next step would be to provide the details of your income, financial status, and expenses along with accurate proof, and when the other parent is located by this office, they would have to provide the same information. This helps the office understand the earning status of both the parents and the amount the custodial parent is entitled to for taking care of the child.
The caseworker will handle your case by determining the sum you are entitled to on monthly basis, and other expenses for the child care such as healthcare expenses, dental care expenses, etc.
Your application will be submitted to the court for a child support hearing
Your application will later be submitted to the court and a date would be given for the child support hearing, where both parents’ presence would be requested. Although it’s important to be physically present, in most cases if a parent is out of the city or country, the judge allows the parent to attend via call or video call.
Once the order is passed, the garnishment would be immediately started from the next paycheck. The court will send an order through direct contact with the non-custodial parent’s employer to withhold the amount and directly send it to the custodial parent.
Final Words
The non-custodial parents can dispute the amount owed if it creates a hardship for him/her, and similarly, the custodial parent can dispute if the amount seems to be less for child support.
