Child Support Collection: Wage Garnishment and Property Seizure

If you owe unpaid child support, your child's other parent has a number of ways to collect the money from you. The following are some of the most common:

• Wage deductions. Child support is taken directly out of the parent's wages.
• Federal income tax intercepts. The state can intercept a parent's tax refund.
• Liens. Courts can issue liens on property to cover child support.

The most common method of collecting overdue support is wage deductions. The custodial parent can also seize your personal property, like your car, motorcycle, or boat.

What Is Wage Withholding?

All child support orders automatically contain a wage withholding provision. An automatic wage withholding order works like this: When the court orders a parent to pay child support, the court or the child's other parent sends a copy of the court order to the payer's employer. The custodial parent's name and address is included with this order. At each pay period, the employer withholds a portion of the pay and sends it on to the custodial parent. Only if both parents agree and the court allows it, is it possible to avoid the wage withholding and make payments directly.

Mandatory wage withholding works differently in different states. In some states, all current orders include automatic wage withholding, regardless of the parent's payment history. A few states have other ways of collecting child support as it becomes due. For example, a judge can order the noncustodial parent to pay child support to the state's child support enforcement agency, which then sends the money to the custodial parent. Other states allow judges to order noncustodial parents to make payments to a court clerk or court trustee who pays the custodial parents.

Wage Garnishment

A "wage garnishment" is like income withholding. That is, part of a parent's income is taken from their paycheck and sent to the custodial parent. A wage garnishment can often be used to collect child support arrears. However, the amount withheld is different. The amount of a wage withholding is the amount of child support ordered each month, whereas the amount of a wage garnishment is a percentage of the payer's paycheck.

Again, the amount garnished is a percentage of your paycheck. The court simply takes money out of each paycheck (and leaves you with a minimum to live on) until the unpaid support is made up.

Under federal law, if a court orders that your wages be garnished to satisfy any debt except child support or alimony, a maximum of roughly 25% of your net wages can be taken. For unpaid child support, however, up to 50% of your net wages can be garnished, and up to 60% if you're not currently supporting another dependent (55% or 65% if you're more than 12 weeks in arrears). (15 U.S.C. § 1673 (2024).)

Interception of Tax Refunds

Another collection method available is to intercept a payer's federal income tax refund, state income tax refund, or sales tax refund. The custodial parent may ask the district attorney to contact the Treasury Department for assistance. Also, states can intercept tax refunds to satisfy child support debts.

Property Liens

Some states allow a custodial parent to get a lien on the payer's real or personal property. The lien remains effective until payment, or until the custodial parent agrees to release the lien.

While a lien is in effect, the custodial parent can force the sale of the noncustodial parent's property or they can wait until the property is sold and receive payment then.

Seizing Property to Collect Child Support

If the wage garnishment doesn't cover the amount you owe, or you don't have wages or other income to be garnished, the custodial parent might try to get the unpaid support by going after other items of your property. Examples of the type of property that might be vulnerable include:

• bank accounts
• cars
• motorcycles
• boats and airplanes
• houses and other real property
• stock in corporations, and
• accounts receivable.

To learn about other ways the government or your child's other parent can collect child support from you, see our Enforcement of Child Support Obligations area.