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By Dani Taylor
Child support is a serious obligation that should not ever be taken lightly. Both parents have a responsibility to see that their children’s needs are met, regardless if their marriage has failed or not. Ignoring an order to pay child support is a serious offense with laws varying by state and is punishable by fines, imprisonment, or both. And, besides the most important aspect of harming the children, not paying support as ordered will also damage one’s credit rating and can even effect their job as well.
Here are just a few tips to try for getting your ex to pay child support payments:
1. Be Civil: Despite your personal feelings toward your ex, this really isn’t about you, it’s about the children and what’s best for them. For this reason, keep all of your communications, in person or on paper, as civil as possible.
2. Be Honest: While you may not be required to give minute details about each and every penny spent of the child support money you are owed, letting the other parent know what’s being done with the money when they do pay may encourage them to keep up with the payments in the future.
3. Offer Receipts: Ask your ex if receiving receipts from you is something they’d be interested in. Explain that this way there will be no question as to when they paid or how much as you both will have a matching receipt for each instance. Computer glitches sometimes do happen, but with this as a backup, all of your bases will be covered.
4. Keep Accurate Records: Every time your spouse is late with or doesn’t pay the child support, this should be recorded and dated in a running log.
5. Send a Registered Letter: Sending a registered letter lets you know that the recipient did indeed receive it, and when. Keep the letter civil and simply state the facts, including when the last payment was received, and how much is now due. You could continue on to state what your plans are if there’s no response to this letter, making reference to the legal end of child support and what the ramifications of not paying are in your state.
If the above tips still do nothing at getting your ex to pay child support, or at least getting a positive response from them, then it’s time to take legal action and let the courts handle the matter as you’ve certainly done more than your part by now. Contact the U.S. government’s Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), which have resources available in every state. The CSE (Child Support Enforcement) Program is individually run by each state and has plenty of resources on hand for getting parents to pay their child support orders.
Some of the serious consequences of not paying child support include liens placed on property, garnished wages, and incarceration, which is generally used as a last resort, as after all, if a parent is in jail they won’t be able to earn money to pay the child support anyway. The Internal Revenue Service and their state’s tax departments will both be notified and their state and federal refunds can be sent through the court system, and then to you instead of going directly to them.
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Source: isnare.com
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