CHILD SUPPORT OWED: HOW TO COLLECT IN ARIZONA?

After a divorce, many parents find it difficult to collect child support. These parents often struggle to raise their children on their own. However, when a child support order is in place, many collection remedies are available in Arizona.

Though an experienced family law attorney can best aid you in collecting child support, it is valuable to keep these few tips in mind:

• Maintain valid contact information. Keep track of where the other parent lives. Information about where he or she works is also helpful. Collecting child support can be made more difficult if you do not know where the other parent is living and working.

Try to be cordial with the other parent. This will make resolving future disputes easier.

• Establish Paternity. A court order that establishes the identity of the father is many times necessary before child support is ordered. A Recognition of Parentage signed at the hospital does not generally ensure that you receive child support from the other parent.
• Know the terms of your Child Support Order. Whether you have come to an agreement on child support or the court has decided the issue, be familiar with what has been ordered. Is there a child care or insurance portion of the child support award? Is a portion of the child support waived if the other parent insures your child?
• Use available remedies, if you do not receive payments. Numerous procedures exist to assist you in collecting child support, such as, judgment liens (general and specific), wage garnishment, assignment of tax refunds and contempt proceedings.

The expensive nature of child-rearing necessitates that child support orders are followed. Remedies are available to facilitate collection of the support your children deserve. In Arizona, the suspension of professional, occupation, recreational and driver’s licenses may be ordered for any person who has not paid child support for at least two months and willfully fails to pay after notice and hearing. Parents who fail to pay child support in Arizona may also be held in contempt and ordered to serve jail time until they pay a cash bond that covers past due child support.

Tags: Child Support, collection