How do I find out whether I owe child support and how much I owe?

If you were ordered to pay child support, you should have received papers from the LCSA or the other parent.[2550] If you can’t remember whether you received papers (or you don’t have them anymore), you should contact the LCSA to find out how much you owe.[2551] To find the LCSA in your county, call 1-866-901-3212 or visit http://www.childsup.ca.gov/home/lcsaoffices.aspx. You can also contact the family court clerk to get a copy of your child support order and other court papers.

If you disagree with the amount of overdue child support you (or the other parent) owe, you can ask the LCSA for a review of your account, and/or you can ask the judge to determine how much money you owe (called a Judicial Determination of Arrears).[2552] If the overdue child support payments are from the period of time you were incarcerated, there is a special form to ask the judge how much you owe (Form FL-676: Request For Judicial Determination of Support Arrearages or Adjustment of Arrearages Due to Incarceration or Involuntary Institutionalization.)[2553]

IMPORTANT: If you never received any papers or child support order, but the LCSA now says that you owe child support, you may be able to have the judge cancel the child support order. But you must act as soon as you find out that there is an order for you to pay child support. If you do not act immediately, the judge may refuse to cancel the order.

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  1. 2550

    Judicial Council of Cal., Child Support FAQs ( Nov. 12, 2014), http://www.courts.ca.gov/1200.htm. ↑

  2. 2551

    Cal. Fam. Code § 17526(a) requires the LCSA to provide you with information about how much child support you owe. You can also ask the judge to determine exactly how much child support and interest you owe. § 17526(c). ↑

  3. 2552

    Cal. Fam. Code § 17526. ↑

  4. 2553

    Form FL-676 is also available online at http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/fl676.pdf. For more information, read the accompanying information sheet, FL-676-INFO, http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/fl676info.pdf. ↑