How will owing child support affect my reentry?

Owing child support can affect every area of your reentry from getting employment to occupational licenses to public benefits and even housing. If you do not make child support payments, you can face such serious consequences as the following:

    If you are employed, your employer will automatically deduct (take away) a portion of your wages to pay your current and/or overdue child support obligations (called a wage assignment or wage garnishment);[2541]
    Your child support payments can be automatically deducted (taken away) from other income and benefits you earn, including state or federal income tax refunds, workers’ compensation benefits, unemployment and state disability benefits, retirement benefits, and lottery winnings;[2542]
    Liens can be placed on your property and bank accounts to pay overdue child support (see PG. 724 for more information about liens;[2543]
    Your driver’s license, occupational license, and commercial or recreational licenses may be suspended, revoked, or denied;[2544]
    Your passport may be revoked or denied;[2545]
    Unpaid child support will be reported to credit bureaus, which can hurt your credit rating and make it harder to get a loan, rent an apartment, or find a job;[2546] AND/OR
    The amount of interest that you owe will continue to increase.[2547]
    If you are unemployed and do not pay your child support obligations, the judge may order you to get a job (or at least to try). For example, the judge may order you to apply for a certain number of jobs every week until you get hired, and may require you to bring in proof of every job application you do.[2548]
    Finally, if the judge finds that you are able to make child support payments and are willfully failing to pay, the judge can find you “in contempt of court” and have you arrested or put in jail.[2549] However, the judge usually only does this as a last resort, if all other enforcement efforts have failed.
  1. 2541

    Cal. Fam. Code § 5230

  2. 2542

    Cal. Rev. & T. Code § 19271(d)(2) (state income tax refund); 42 U.S.C. § 664 and 26 U.S.C. § 6402(c) (federal income tax refund); Cal. Fam. Code §§ 17510 (workers’ compensation), 17518 (unemployment benefits), 17528 (retirement)

  3. 2543

    Cal. Fam. Code § 17523

  4. 2544

    Cal. Fam. Code § 17520

  5. 2545

    42 U.S.C. § 652(k)

  6. 2546

    Department of Child Supportive Services, Information for the noncustodial Parent, http://www.childsup.ca.gov/portals/0/resources/docs/pub247_english.pdf

  7. 2547

    Cal. Rev. & T. Code § 19271(c); Cal. C.C.P. § 685.010.

  8. 2548

    Telephone call with Eleanor Miller, reentry attorney, Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic, Jan. 6, 2015.

  9. 2549

    California Courts, Falling Behind in Child Support Payments, http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-support.htm