Child Support Enforcement in California

Parents who don't pay court-ordered child support can face serious consequences. If you're having trouble collecting the money you're supposed to be getting under a child support order, you should know about the different options you have to collect the money. And if you're the one who owes back support, you should know what can happen to you and how to avoid the worst consequences. Here's how child support enforcement works in California—and where you can turn for help.

How to Guarantee Payment of Child Support in California

When judges are first issuing child support orders in California, they have two important tools to help ensure that parents who are supposed to receive child support actually get the money: earnings assignment orders and child support security deposits.

Income Withholding Orders for Child Support

Judges usually include earnings assignment orders (also called income withholding orders) with child support orders. That way, employers automatically deduct the amount of the support payments from the paychecks of the parents who owe support (known as the "obligor"). The money is then forwarded to the recipient parents. (Cal. Fam. Code § 5230 (2024).)

California's Child Support Security Deposit

Income withholding isn't always possible or appropriate, such as when obligors are self-employed. So California law provides another tool to guarantee payment of child support. At the same time that judges issue support orders, they may require the obligors to deposit up to a year's worth of child support in an interest-bearing financial account, as security for future payments.

Recipient parents may then apply for a court order to dip into the account when support payments are at least 10 days late. After ordering the release of money to cover the overdue payments, the judge will also order the obligor to replenish the security deposit.

(Cal. Fam. Code §§ 4560-4563 (2024).

How California's Child Support Agencies Collect and Enforce Support

If you're having trouble collecting child support, you may request help from the California Department of Child Support Services (DCSS), which oversees all of the local child support agencies in the state. You'll need to enroll for services. There's a one-time $25 enrollment fee, as well as a $35 annual fee once the agency has collected at least $550 for you. (If you're receiving public assistance, you don't need to pay a fee or enroll before the agency will enforce child support in your case.)

Depending on how much the other parent owes in overdue support ("arrearages"), DCSS has a number of different enforcement tools to collect the money, including:

• getting an income withholding order for the overdue support payments (as well as the current payments)
• intercepting federal and state income tax returns
• withholding a portion of unemployment insurance or disability benefits
• suspending the delinquent parent's driver's, professional, and recreational licenses
• taking the money from the delinquent parent's bank or other financial accounts
• filing liens on the parent's property (including cars and real estate), so that the parent can't sell or borrow money on the property before paying off the debt
• reporting the debt to credit agencies, which can hurt the delinquent parent's credit rating, and
• referring the case for contempt proceedings or criminal prosecution (more on those proceedings below).

When child support agencies collect overdue child support, California law allows them to charge 10% annual interest on the past-due amounts. (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 685.010, 685.020 (2024).)

Enforcing Child Support in Court

If the agency collection efforts haven't worked, you might need to go to court to enforce your child support order. There are different ways to do this in California, including contempt proceedings, seeking civil penalties or additional security deposits, and criminal prosecution.

Contempt of Court for Failing to Pay Child Support

You may file a motion in court to have your child's other parent found in contempt for willfully failing to obey the child support order. To win your case, you'll generally need to prove that the obligor received notice of the order but didn't obey it. Also, if the obligor claims an inability to pay, you'll need to provide evidence contradicting that defense.

There's a time limit for filing a contempt motion: three years after the date the support payment was due. (Each month when the full amount wasn't paid can be a separate contempt count.)

When parents are found guilty of contempt for failing to obey child support orders, judges will often grant probation or impose a conditional jail sentence if they don't "purge" the contempt finding by paying the overdue amount. Otherwise, California law allows judges to sentence guilty parents to as much as 120 hours of community service or jail time for each month that the full amount of support wasn't paid. (The penalties go up with subsequent contempt findings.)

Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 1209.5, 1218, 1218.5 (2024).

Civil Penalties for Unpaid Child Support

In cases when the failure to pay child support is especially bad ("egregious," in legalese), judges in California may impose a penalty of up to 6% of the overdue amount for each month that it's not paid, up to a total of 75% of the original amount due.

You may request this penalty once the payments are more than 30 days overdue. You'll need to file a notice of delinquency (form FL-485) and have someone else serve it on the obligor through one of the methods listed on the form. The judge may begin imposing the penalties if the obligor still hasn't paid more than 30 days after receiving the notice.

However, you may request a hearing if you've received a notice of delinquency and believe you qualify for one of the exceptions allowed in the law. Among those exceptions, judges won't impose this penalty on obligors who can prove that they tried everything they could to pay all of the overdue support but weren't able to do so because of serious illness, disability, or unemployment.

(Cal. Fam. Code §§ 4720-4733 (2024).)

California law also allows judges to require obligors to deposit cash or other assets as a child support guarantee if they've failed to pay support without a good reason, and an income withholding order wouldn't be practical. (Cal. Fam. Code §§ 4600-4641 (2024).)

When Can Parents Be Charged With a Crime for Not Paying Child Support?

Parents who willfully fail to support their children, without a legal excuse, may be charged with a misdemeanor in California. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for a year or a $2,000 fine, or both. (Cal. Penal Code § 270 (2024).)

It's also a federal crime for a parent to willfully pay child support if the obligor:

• lives in a different state than the child or travels to another state to avoid paying support, and
• owes at least $5,000 in arrearages or hasn't paid support in more than a year.

Conviction can result in a fine, imprisonment, or both—as well as a requirement to pay all of the support arrearages. (18 U.S.C. § 228 (2024).)

Usually, however, prosecutors won't file these criminal charges unless all other collection efforts have failed.

Can You Stop Paying Child Support in California If You Can't See Your Children?

As a general rule, child support and child custody are separate issues—and are enforced separately. That means you aren't allowed to interfere with the noncustodial parent's visitation (parenting time) because you aren't receiving the child support that you're owed. Similarly, you aren't allowed to stop paying child support just because your ex is withholding visitation. Instead, you should keep making the payments while pursuing separate efforts to enforce your custody order.

However, it may be a different story when custodial parents hide their whereabouts, making it impossible for noncustodial parents to find their children. The California Supreme Court has held that custodial parents may not collect overdue child support payments that were due during the time they actively concealed their children from the other parent, as long as the noncustodial parent diligently tried to find them. (In re Marriage of Damico, 7 Cal.4th 673 (Cal. 1994).)

This exception for active concealment won't apply if the child is receiving public assistance, and the county is seeking reimbursement for that assistance from the noncustodial parent.

Other Resources and Help With Child Support Payments

In addition to the services provided by California's local child support agencies, the California Courts provide family law facilitators and self-help centers in each county to help parents with court forms, procedures, and other questions. Also, if you're struggling to pay support because of unemployment or other circumstances beyond your control, you can contact your local agency to request a review of your existing order, to see if you qualify for a change in the amount of child support.

Despite all of the resources that California's courts and agencies provide, there are some situations when you should speak with a lawyer. Whether you're seeking sanctions in court, trying to collect on a judgment, or claiming a defense in those proceedings, an experienced family law attorney can help you navigate the legal system and get the results you want.

If you're a custodial parent who's concerned about the cost of a lawyer, it might help to know that the judge may order the other parent to pay your attorney's fees and costs for the enforcement action, when that would be appropriate because of the disparity between the parents' resources to hire lawyers. (Cal. Fam. Code § 3557 (2024).)