If your ex has stopped paying court-ordered child support, the fastest move is to contact your state’s child support enforcement agency, because every missed payment automatically becomes a legally enforceable debt the state can collect through wage garnishment, tax refund seizures, license suspensions, liens, and ultimately court contempt. You do not need a lawyer, and you do not need to wait for the arrears to grow. Here is what happens when an ex doesn’t pay child support, and what you can do to force the issue.
Start With Your State’s Child Support Enforcement Agency
Every state runs a child support enforcement program, sometimes called a IV-D agency, that will pursue your ex on your behalf. The application fee is capped at $25 under federal law, and if you already receive public assistance like TANF or Medicaid, you are typically referred automatically at no cost.1Congress.gov. Child Support Services Annual User Fee: In Brief
Once you apply, the agency can locate your ex, garnish wages, intercept tax refunds, place liens on property, suspend licenses, and take most of the enforcement actions below without requiring you to hire an attorney or appear in court. You can find your state’s agency through the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement at acf.gov/css. Many parents spend months frustrated before realizing the state will do the heavy lifting for free.
Every Missed Payment Becomes a Permanent Debt
Under federal law, each payment your ex misses becomes arrears, and those arrears automatically become enforceable judgments the moment they come due.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures to Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement That matters because a judgment has full legal force in every state. Your ex cannot escape the debt by moving.
Many states also charge interest on the unpaid balance. Rates run from nothing in some states up to 12% per year in others, with 6% and 10% being common. Whether it is simple or compound depends on the state, but the practical effect is the same: the longer your ex waits, the bigger the hole gets.
A judge cannot go back and reduce arrears that have already come due. Federal law, sometimes called the Bradley Amendment, prohibits retroactive modification of child support arrears. The only exception is when a petition to modify is already pending, and even then any change applies only from the date the petition was filed. If your ex lost a job six months ago but never filed for a modification, those six months are locked in as debt.
Wage Garnishment Is the Default Tool
Income withholding is the workhorse of child support enforcement. The state agency sends an Income Withholding for Support order directly to your ex’s employer, and the employer is legally required to deduct support from each paycheck before your ex ever sees the money.3Administration for Children and Families. Income Withholding In most new child support orders, wage withholding is set up to start immediately, without waiting for a missed payment.
Federal law caps the share of disposable earnings that can be withheld, with the cap rising when the parent is not supporting another household and rising again when arrears are more than 12 weeks overdue.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment These ceilings are significantly higher than the 25% cap on ordinary consumer debt garnishments. A child support withholding order also takes priority over nearly every other garnishment, with the narrow exception of a pre-existing IRS tax levy.
Other Ways the Government Can Collect
Wage garnishment works well when your ex has a steady paycheck. When they don’t, or when arrears have grown large, state and federal agencies have more tools.
Tax Refunds and Government Benefits
If your ex is owed a federal income tax refund, the government can seize it and redirect it toward arrears. The federal offset kicks in once past-due support reaches $500 in non-assistance cases, with a lower threshold when public assistance is involved.5eCFR. 31 CFR 285.3 – Offset of Tax Refund Payments to Collect Past-Due Support States can also intercept state tax refunds, lottery winnings, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation, and other government payments.
Social Security retirement and disability benefits paid under Title II can be garnished for child support. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is exempt because it is a means-tested program.6Administration for Children and Families. Garnishment of Supplemental Security Income Benefits
Liens and Bank Account Seizures
Federal law requires every state to have procedures that place liens on real and personal property when a parent falls behind. A lien on a house means your ex cannot sell or refinance without first paying the arrears. States also run automated data matches with financial institutions to identify bank and investment accounts held by delinquent parents, and can freeze or seize funds in those accounts.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures to Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement In appropriate cases, the state can force a sale and apply the proceeds to the debt.
License Suspensions
All 50 states have authority to suspend or restrict a delinquent parent’s driver’s license, professional and occupational licenses, and recreational licenses like hunting and fishing permits. The delinquency threshold and process vary by state, but losing a professional license is often what finally moves a reluctant payer. A nurse, contractor, or attorney who cannot work without a license has a powerful incentive to catch up.
Passport Denial
Once arrears exceed $2,500, the federal Office of Child Support Services forwards the parent’s name to the U.S. Department of State, which will deny any new passport application.8U.S. Department of State. Pay Child Support Before Applying for a Passport The State Department can revoke an existing passport, but only when the parent voluntarily surrenders it for routine service, such as adding pages, changing a name, or replacing a damaged document.9Administration for Children and Families. Passport Denial Program 101 Your ex will not have a passport taken at the airport, but they will hit a wall at the next renewal.
Credit Reporting
Federal law requires states to report the names and overdue amounts of delinquent parents to consumer reporting agencies. A delinquency on a credit report can make it harder for your ex to qualify for a mortgage, car loan, or apartment rental. Negative information generally stays on a report for up to seven years.
Taking Your Ex to Court
State agencies handle most enforcement administratively. Sometimes you need to go to court directly, especially if administrative tools haven’t worked. That means filing a motion, often called a Motion to Enforce or an Order to Show Cause, asking the court to compel payment.
To file, you will need a copy of the original support order and a detailed record of payments made and missed, showing the date each payment was due, the amount actually received, and the running arrears balance. You will also need your ex’s last known address and employer. If you cannot find your ex, the Federal Parent Locator Service can search federal databases, including Social Security, IRS, and employer records, to track down an address or workplace.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 653 – Federal Parent Locator Service Your state agency can tap this service for you.
After filing, your ex must be served with notice of the hearing. The judge reviews the payment history and listens to your ex’s explanation. If the judge finds the non-payment was willful, your ex can be held in contempt. Remedies include a lump-sum payment order, a structured repayment plan, an order to cover your attorney fees and court costs, and, as a last resort, jail.
Jail is reserved for parents who have the ability to pay but choose not to. When a judge imposes a jail sentence for contempt, the order typically includes a “purge condition,” a specific amount the parent can pay to be released. The purge is not the full balance; it is a partial figure meant to coerce compliance. The central question in every contempt case is whether the parent genuinely has the present ability to pay. A parent who truly cannot afford the ordered amount, because of job loss, disability, or incarceration, should not be jailed, though the arrears still accumulate.
If Your Ex Moved to Another State
A support order does not lose its teeth when your ex crosses a state line. Federal law requires every state to enforce a valid support order issued by another state’s court.11GovInfo. 28 USC 1738B – Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, adopted in all 50 states, your state’s child support agency can send a wage withholding order directly to your ex’s employer in the new state, and that employer must treat it as if a local court issued it.
If administrative enforcement is not enough, your state agency can register the order in your ex’s new state and pursue enforcement through that state’s courts. The logistics can be slow, but the legal framework is built so that moving buys a delinquent parent nothing.
Federal Criminal Charges in Extreme Cases
When a parent willfully fails to pay support for a child living in a different state, federal prosecutors can bring criminal charges under the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act. A first offense, where the parent has owed more than $5,000 or has gone more than a year without paying, is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison. If the amount tops $10,000 or the non-payment stretches beyond two years, or if the parent crossed state lines to dodge the obligation, the charge becomes a felony carrying up to two years.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 228 – Failure to Pay Legal Child Support Obligations Federal prosecution is rare and reserved for the most egregious cases, but it exists.
Bankruptcy Won’t Erase the Debt
Child support debt is virtually indestructible in bankruptcy. It falls into a category called domestic support obligations that cannot be discharged under any chapter of the Bankruptcy Code, not Chapter 7, not Chapter 13.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge In a Chapter 13 repayment plan, the debtor has to repay 100% of child support arrears over the life of the plan and stay current on ongoing support as a condition of discharging other debts. If your ex files bankruptcy hoping to shed support, it will not work.
The Debt Survives the Child’s 18th Birthday
Your ex does not escape unpaid support when the child turns 18. Arrears that built up while the child was a minor remain a legally enforceable debt into adulthood. Most states allow collection for years after the child ages out, commonly 10 years or longer, with some states imposing no time limit at all. Judgment renewal procedures in many states can extend the window further. If you are owed back support, do not assume you have missed your chance just because your child is now an adult.
If Your Ex Claims They Genuinely Cannot Pay
Enforcement is the right response when your ex can pay but won’t. If your ex has had a real, substantial change in circumstances, such as job loss, serious illness, or disability, their option is to ask the court to modify the support amount going forward. A modification only changes future payments, and it only takes effect from the date the petition is filed. Federal law blocks any reduction of arrears that have already accrued, even if a judge agrees the original amount is now too high. The incentive is to file quickly, because waiting just piles up debt that no judge can later undo.
What You Cannot Do: Withhold Visitation
Child support and visitation are legally separate in every state. Even if your ex has not paid a dime in months, you cannot withhold their court-ordered parenting time. Courts treat support obligations and custody rights as independent, and blocking visitation because of unpaid support can put you in contempt yourself and expose you to fines or other penalties. The remedy for unpaid support is the enforcement process above, not holding the child back. Judges take a dim view of self-help here, and the fastest way to lose credibility in your own enforcement case is to give your ex grounds to file a motion against you for denying visitation.