Collecting Child Support in Maryland When the Parent Doesnu2019t Want to Pay
Unfortunately for some parents, having a child support agreement in place is not enough to get the other party to pay. Whether the other parent believes that the set amount is too high or they are refusing to pay outright, how can you go about collecting child support in Maryland when the other party won’t give you the funds you need to care for your child?
Child Support in Maryland
In Maryland, all child support orders are determined based on the adjusted income of each parent and the child support guidelines for the state. The child support guidelines for Maryland calculate the total amount of support each parent should be offering based on their actual income and the number of children that they have in common. The support amount will vary from household to household and depend on your physical custody arrangement as well.
Collecting Child Support When They Don’t Want to Pay
The Maryland Child Support Enforcement Administration (CSEA) is responsible for enforcing state and federal laws that cover child support. CSEA performs a broad range of functions, including establishing paternity of children, modifying child support arrangements and enforcing child support obligations. While CSEA can use a number of methods to go about collecting child support, it is always best to contact a lawyer in complex or urgent cases. A lawyer can advocate on your behalf directly to a judge.
What Next?
Whether you work with an attorney or through CSEA, the methods for collecting child support can include:
- Referring cases where over $2,500 is owed to the State Department, who can revoke or restrict the associated passport
- Intercepting the parent’s state or federal tax returns
- Suspending the parent’s driver’s license and/or occupational licenses if the parent has been delinquent for 60 days or more
- Reporting the parent to a credit bureau
- Establishing wage withholding with an employer to take payments from the parent’s paycheck
- Placing a lien on property, land or houses that the parent owns
- Collecting unemployment or worker’s compensation benefits from the parent
- Taking the parent who is not paying to court for contempt of court, which is a very serious charge
Providing that there is an order in place, if someone is not paying you can contact CSEA to file a motion for contempt of the child support order and request that any money owed be reduced to a judgment. Once this step has been taken, the parent receiving child support is entitled to 10% post-judgment interest and has access to all possible avenues for collection, including the above.
Trust Us for Help Collecting Child Support
Whether you are a parent struggling with collecting child support from a former spouse or concerned with your avenues for collection if your child’s other parent stops paying, Lebovitz Law can help. To learn more about how we can assist you, please contact us today.
