How to Get Child Support Payments

Unfortunately there are many situations where a court has ordered child support and the parent responsible for making the payments just doesn’t do so. You need to know that this can be remedied and there are legal steps you can take to do so. Sometimes it is just in knowing where to get that help.

• Contact the local agency that has set up the child support. This may have been by a court edict or set by a child enforcement agency within the state. These child service agency names vary from state to state so if you call your local courthouse they can most likely steer you in the right direction.


• Know the location of the parent who has to pay the support. This will hasten the process immensely. If you know their address, place of employment, social security number and all of that it will make the process so much faster.


• Provide the child’s birth certificate and social security number, as most states will require it. Whether you would actually need to physically show those papers would be up to the individual agencies and states.


• You may need to appear in court if the non-custodial parent disputes the request for support payments. It won’t always be necessary but you should be prepared to appear anyway. If you have a reason to be in fear for your safety explain this to the agency handling the claim and they may be able to help. If things get really out of hand you may need to submit the child for DNA testing to legally establish the responsibility for the support.