CSP Form: Child Support Application, Fees, and Hearing Process

A child support application is the form you submit to your state’s child support agency to open a case so the agency can locate the other parent, establish paternity if needed, set a support order, and collect payments for you. Every state runs this program under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, and the process looks similar everywhere: get the form from your state agency, gather identifying and financial information about both parents and the children, complete every field, pay a fee that federal law caps at $25, and submit by mail, online, or in person. The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement keeps a directory of every state and tribal child support agency with the correct office, phone number, and website for your location.¹

Where to Get the Form

Your state’s child support agency has to make applications easy to get. Ask for one in person and the office must hand it to you the same day. Call or write for one and the agency must send it within five working days.² Most states also post the form on the agency website as a fillable PDF, and many offer a full online application.

The form has different names in different states: “Application for IV-D Services,” “Application for Child Support Services,” or the state’s own branded title. They all do the same thing, which is enroll your case in the state’s IV-D program so the agency can act for you. Along with the form, the agency has to give you material describing available services, your rights and responsibilities, and how fees and collected payments are handled.² Read it before you fill anything out. It explains what the agency will and will not do for you.

What to Gather Before You Start

The application asks for identifying and financial details about you, the other parent, and your children. Pulling everything together first prevents the back-and-forth that stalls cases. Have these ready:

Full legal names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers (if you know them), and current or last-known addresses for both parents. The more you know about where the other parent is, the faster the agency can serve legal notice.
Birth certificates for the children. These establish legal parentage. If paternity has not been established, the agency will deal with that before a support order can be set.³
Income and asset information for both parents to the extent you can access it: pay stubs, tax returns, bank account details, records of investments or property. The agency uses this to calculate the support amount.³
Copies of any existing court orders: divorce decree, custody order, prior support order. Providing these keeps the agency from creating a conflicting obligation.
Health insurance details. Whether either parent carries coverage for the children, and the monthly premium attributable to the children. Medical support is part of every child support order.
Employment information for the other parent: employer name, address, phone number. Once a support order is in place, federal law requires automatic income withholding, which means the agency sends a withholding order directly to the payroll department.⁴

If You’re Self-Employed

Self-employment income needs extra documentation because there is no employer-generated pay stub. Bring business receipts and expense records, profit-and-loss statements, and your most recent federal tax return with all schedules (particularly Schedule C or Schedule K-1). The agency calculates self-employment income as gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. Accelerated depreciation and investment tax credits don’t count as legitimate business expenses for this purpose. Expense reimbursements or in-kind benefits like a company car or free housing count as income if they meaningfully reduce your personal living costs.

If You Don’t Have Everything

Don’t let missing details stop you from filing. Enter what you know and mark unknown fields “N/A” or “Unknown” so the agency doesn’t bounce the form as incomplete. The agency has tools you don’t, including the Federal Parent Locator Service, which searches IRS records, Social Security Administration data, and the National Directory of New Hires to find a parent’s address, employer, and wage information.⁵ Even partial information gives the agency a starting point: a last-known city, a former employer, a relative’s address.

Filling Out the Form Section by Section

Most applications are divided into clearly labeled sections: applicant information, noncustodial parent information, children’s information, employment and income, medical support, and existing court orders. A few practical points prevent the most common processing delays.

Fill in every field. If a question doesn’t apply, write “N/A” rather than leaving a blank. A blank looks like an oversight, and many offices will return the application rather than guess. Use the other parent’s full legal name, not a nickname, and give as much physical description and location detail as you can in the noncustodial parent section. Vague or outdated details slow service of process.

In the income section, report gross income (before taxes and deductions), not take-home pay. State child support guidelines all start from gross income. If you aren’t sure of the other parent’s exact earnings, estimate based on what you know and note that it is an estimate. The agency verifies income independently through employer records and tax data.

In the medical support section, say whether either parent currently provides health insurance for the children and give the monthly premium for the children’s coverage specifically, not the total family premium. If no insurance is in place, say so. The agency factors health care costs into the support calculation and may order a parent to provide coverage.

Fees and Fee Waivers

Federal law caps the application fee at $25. Some states charge less, some absorb the cost, and some recover the fee from the noncustodial parent rather than charging the applicant.⁶ You owe no application fee at all if you receive Medicaid, foster care assistance, or cash assistance through TANF.⁷

Address the fee before you submit the form. The agency treats your application as filed on the day it receives both the completed form and the fee, so a missing payment delays your filing date.²

A separate $35 annual service fee applies later, after the agency has collected at least $550 in support for an applicant who has never received public assistance. States handle it differently (deducting it from collections above the first $550, charging the applicant, recovering it from the noncustodial parent, or paying from state funds).⁶ It doesn’t affect you at the application stage.

How to Submit

Submission channels vary by state, but you generally have three: a secure online portal, mail, or in person at a local office.

Online submission usually generates an immediate confirmation. If you mail the form, use a trackable method so you have proof of the date the agency received it. In-person drop-off lets a clerk do a quick review and flag obvious omissions before you leave, which can save a round trip.

What the Agency Does Next

Once your application is accepted, the agency assigns a case number that you’ll use for every future contact. What happens next depends on whether paternity is already established and whether the other parent’s location is known.

Locating the Other Parent

If you don’t know where the noncustodial parent lives or works, the agency runs the Federal Parent Locator Service, which searches IRS records, Social Security Administration records, the National Directory of New Hires, and FBI data for current addresses and employment.⁵ The system also matches the Federal Case Registry against the National Directory of New Hires automatically to catch the most current employer and wage information. These are databases a private attorney cannot use.

Establishing Paternity

If the parents were never married and paternity hasn’t been legally established, the agency handles that before setting a support order. The most common path is voluntary acknowledgment, where both parents sign a legal document at the hospital or later at the child support office. If the alleged father disputes paternity, the agency can arrange DNA testing through a certified lab and, after results, establish paternity through a court or administrative order. Genetic testing typically costs between $90 and $375, and the agency often arranges for one or both parents to cover the cost.

Setting the Support Amount

Every state calculates support using a formula called the child support guidelines, applied to parental income. Most states use the “income shares” model; a smaller number use a percentage-of-income model based on the noncustodial parent’s earnings alone.⁸ Common adjustments include child care costs, health insurance premiums, shared custody arrangements, and support obligations for other children.

Service and Hearing

Before a support order can take effect, the other parent has to receive formal legal notice. The agency arranges this through a process server, sheriff, or certified mail. You don’t handle it yourself. The notice tells the noncustodial parent about the case and their right to respond, attend a hearing, or negotiate. If they ignore the notice, the agency can often proceed with a default order based on the information it has. After notice is served, the agency schedules a hearing or conference where both parents present financial information. If the parents agree on an amount, the agency formalizes it; if not, an administrative law judge or court sets the amount under the guidelines.

Income Withholding

Once the order is issued, federal law requires automatic income withholding. The employer deducts the support amount from the noncustodial parent’s paycheck and sends it to the state disbursement unit, which forwards it to you. Withholding starts with the order; the parent does not have to fall behind first.⁴ This is why the employment information you provide on the application matters: accurate employer details mean the withholding order reaches the right payroll office quickly.

Changing the Order Later

If your circumstances change significantly after an order is in place (a job loss, a substantial raise, a change in custody, a child’s increased medical needs), you can request a modification through the same agency. You don’t file a new application. You contact your caseworker or submit a modification request form. The general standard is a material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing. Many states define this numerically: a recalculation under current guidelines producing a change of 15 to 20 percent or more from the existing order typically qualifies.

Federal regulations also require states to review support orders at least every three years if either parent requests it, or if the case involves a parent receiving TANF. Modifications apply only to future payments. They cannot reduce or increase what was owed before the modification request was filed, so file promptly when your income changes rather than letting arrears or overpayments build at the old rate.

1
Administration for Children and Families. Contact Information for State and Tribal Child Support Agencies
2
eCFR. 45 CFR 303.2
3
Administration for Children and Families. What Documents Do I Need to Bring to the Child Support Office
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures to Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement
5
Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Federal Parent Locator Service
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 654 – State Plan for Child and Spousal Support
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Administration for Children and Families. Is There an Application Fee
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National Conference of State Legislatures. Child Support Guideline Models