Raising a child is expensive, which is why the state of Arizona expects both parents to contribute to the process. While some parents can come to an agreement on how to cover the costs of raising their child, in other instances a court-determined order for child support is necessary. When all goes as planned, these ordered payments can go a long way toward supporting a child’s medical, educational and basic needs, but all too often these payments are neglected. When that happens, custodial parents can be left in a tight financial spot, struggling to make ends meet and properly support their child.
That’s why Arizona law has several enforcement mechanisms to ensure that child support obligations are paid. We want to identify them in this post so that you’re aware of the actions that can be taken to try to collect outstanding child support payments.
Arizona law provides for several child support enforcement mechanisms. These include:
- Wage garnishment: Here, a court orders that outstanding support obligations are to be taken directly from the non-custodial parent’s paycheck. Those funds are sent to the state agency responsible for collecting and managing child support payments, which then sends those payments to the custodial parent. If the non-custodial parent is employed, then this may be the best way to secure owed child support.
- Asset seizure: In some circumstances, a court order can be secured for the seizure of some of the non-custodial parent’s assets. If this happens, the assets will be auctioned off with the proceeds being used to pay off outstanding child support obligations.
- Tax refund interception: If the owing parent fails to make good on their child support obligation, then their federal and state tax refunds can also be seized and redirected to the parent who is to receive child support.
- Property liens: Unpaid child support may also lead to the imposition of liens on the non-custodial parent’s property. This disallows the parent from selling or otherwise transferring ownership of those assets without first settling their child support obligation.
- License suspension: The state can even go so far as to suspend a parent’s professional license or their driver’s license to coerce them into paying their support obligation. This may require some court involvement, but it’s a good way to place pressure on the parent to ensure that they’re abiding by the existing child support order.
- Contempt proceedings: The custodial parent can also seek to hold the non-custodial parent in contempt for willfully violating the court’s child support order. The focus of civil contempt is to coerce compliance with the existing court order, so the court will be able to use the threat of fines or jail time to try to reign the owing parent into compliance, which may be enough to successfully recover support that’s in arrears.
Regardless of which side of a child support dispute you fall on, you need to know your legal options so that you can protect your interests, as well as your child’s interests, as fully as possible. That’s why it’s critical to discuss your unique circumstances with your attorney. By doing so, you’ll hopefully be able to devise a sound legal strategy that helps you achieve the outcome that you want. In the meantime, though, just know that you can and will get through this stressful time, finding a new normal that works for you and your child.