Child Support Withholding Orders

The court or an administrative agency may order the deduction of a specific amount from a parent's income for payment of child support. Typically, the non-custodial parent (one who does not have physical custody) is the parent ordered to pay. Income has been defined as any periodic form of payment due to a parent, regardless of source, and includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, workers' compensation, disability payments, retirement or pension payments, and interest from principle.

Are Withholding Orders/Notices Automatic?

Withholding orders/notices are not automatic. In order to have a non-custodial parent's income garnished, his or her employer must receive an Income Withholding Order (IWO). If it is an order to withhold income, the employer now has authority to garnish the non-custodial parent's income. If it is a notice, a copy of the underlying administrative or court order that contains a provision authorizing income withholding must be provided before the employer can begin to garnish the non-custodial parent's income.

Precedence of Support Garnishments

The only withholding that takes precedence over child support is a federal tax levy (the obtaining of money by legal process through seizure and sale of property) issued by the Internal Revenue Service prior to when the child support order was established. The date that the withholding order/notice was served on the employer is not considered in determining precedence. Otherwise, a child support income-withholding order/notice must be paid before all other garnishments.

Even if an employee declares bankruptcy, he or she is still obligated to pay child support. Debts due for delinquent child support are not dischargeable in bankruptcy actions. If an employer is notified that the bankruptcy court has taken over the task of withholding the child support payments, it is no longer responsible for doing so; however, it should continue withholding the amount until it has received official notification from the agency or bankruptcy court.

Responsibility of Employers

All employers must honor an income-withholding order/notice for child support from any state, including U.S. territories. A standardized withholding form, known as the Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Support (OMB No. 0970-0154) must be used by all states.

Employers must deduct the specified amount of child support during each pay period and send it to the appropriate State Disbursement Unit (SDU). The SDU then forwards the payment to the custodial parent.

State law provides for fines against any employer who discharges from employment, refuses to hire, or takes disciplinary action against an employee in response to withholding. Employers are also prohibited from withholding more than the ordered amount.

Calculating Child Support Garnishments

There are two steps to calculate the proper amount to withhold income: calculating disposable income and calculating allowable disposable income. Disposable income equals gross pay minus mandatory deductions. Disposable income does not equal net pay because there may be deductions taken that are not mandatory. Allowable disposable income equals disposable income minus percentage limits set by the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA). If allowable disposable income is equal to or greater than the ordered amount, then the employer should withhold the ordered amount. If the allowable disposable income is less than the ordered amount, the employer should follow the allocation method of the employee's principal state of employment to determine how much to pay to each order.

Most states use one of two methods to allocate withheld payments among multiple withholding orders: prorating by allocating a percentage to each order based on the total dollar amount of current support ordered or sharing equally by dividing the allowable disposable income by the total number of orders.

Related Resources on lawyers.com

- Child Support articles and information
- Find a Child Support attorney
- State Specific Child Support Links
- Garnishment
- Child Support Message Board for more help