How will owing family-related court-ordered debts affect my reentry?

Family-related court-ordered debts are important to manage and navigate because if you are unaware, unwilling, or unable to pay, they can add up quickly and harm you as you try to rebuild stability in your reentry. If you owe money to help support your child or spouse, this may affect your wage earnings, credit score, ability to secure housing, bank accounts, and failure to pay could be a violation of your conditions of parole, probation, or other type of community supervision. Here, we describe each family-related court-ordered debt, how to find out if and how much you owe, how to request a change to the order, how to manage your payments, and the consequences for failure to pay.