Where Do I Pay My Child Support Payment Too?
Is it important to pay child support and spousal maintenance through the Child Support Payment Clearinghouse?
Once the court has issued an order for child support, the court will also order that the payments be made through the Support Payment Clearinghouse. The court will do the same for spousal maintenance payments. The court will also issue an Income Withholding Order that will be sent to the paying party’s employer to take the child support directly from their paychecks. If there is a new order for support, it may take a few weeks for the Income Withholding Order to take effect. During this time, the paying party must pay directly to the clearinghouse.
There are many reasons it is important to pay directly to the support payment clearinghouse. The clearinghouse will be able to keep track of all money paid for support. This is helpful to track arrears payments and any over-payments of support. The clearinghouse will also calculate the interest on any child support that is not paid.
The biggest reason to pay the Support Payment Clearinghouse directly is to ensure you receive credit for your support payments. If you pay your ex-spouse directly for support, that payment could be considered a gift, especially if the court specifically ordered the payments to be made through the clearinghouse. The last thing anyone wants to do is pay a significant amount of money for child support and/or spousal maintenance, and then receive no credit for the payments. In that case, that paying party will have to repay the support payments with interest on the missed payments, and face serious sanctions from the court, including incarceration.
If, for any reason, a party makes a direct payment to the other party, it is crucial to request the party receiving the money sign an affidavit of direct payment. This document will be signed in front of a notary acknowledging the party paid and the other party received the money. Once the document has been signed and notarized, it should be filed with the court so the party paying will receive credit for that payment.
Both parties have to call the Support Payment Clearinghouse to set up an account to pay and receive the support payments. If the receiving party does not call to set up his/her account, then there is no way for him/her to receive support payments.
The bottom line: pay the Support Payment Clearinghouse for any and all court-ordered support payments to avoid any problems in the future. If you need help with a child support problem, call me at (480) 833-2341 to discuss your case.
