Managing Past Due Support

Circumstances can quickly lead to past-due child support. Your Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) wants to do everything it can to help. Here are some options to help manage past due support:

Modifications

If you have lost your job, had another child, experienced a financial hardship or had another significant change in circumstances, you should consider Modifying (PDF) your existing child support order.

Early Intervention

If you became past due because of a temporary hardship or medical condition and you expect to resume payments, you should contact the CSEA to discuss payment arrangements. Your caseworker will try to create a plan that helps you pay off past-due support in a reasonable time, without referring your case to the court.

Arrears Forgiveness

People can voluntarily waive any past-due support that is owed to them by completing an affidavit. Affidavits are available for Administrative (PDF), Domestic Relations (PDF) and Juvenile Court (PDF).

Waiver & Compromise

If you have past-due support that is "assigned" to the State, and they were affected because you were incarcerated or suffer from a disability or medical condition, you should consider asking for a Waiver or Compromise (PDF) of Assigned Arrears. To get started, complete and submit both the Request to Negotiate an Assigned Arrears Reduction and the Financial Disclosure Affidavit (PDF). This program can greatly reduce your past-due support and avoid legal action.

The following are other reentry resources:

Fatherhood Program

If you are struggling to find a job, need legal help or just need help navigating Job and Family Services, our Fatherhood Program can help connect you with resources.

Bankruptcy

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 gives unpaid child and spousal support claims priority over any other creditors' claims, including taxes. If there's a claim for a domestic support obligation in a case, the law requires a trustee to give you and your state's CSEA written notice of the bankruptcy and any discharge given to your ex-spouse.

Past-Due Support Calculator

The Reconciliation Calculator is designed to easily determine the total amount of support owed and paid in cases when someone has child support orders for the same child in more than one state or U.S. territory.

Past-Due Payment Order

When a support payment is made, items are paid in a specific order mandated by federal and/or state law. The order is as follows:

  1. Current child support
  2. Current spousal support
  3. Current medical support
  4. Payment on past-due support (first child support, then spousal support, then medical support)
  5. Support obligations assigned to other states
  6. Fees