Enforcing Child Support Orders
Enforcing Child Support Orders
Child Support Guidelines
In Wisconsin, most family law cases with children involve child support to help with the cost of raising a child, such as food, housing, clothing, and daycare. In fact, Wisconsin is a leader collecting support far above the national average. Courts determine child support using the rules of the Wisconsin Support Standards (often called “guidelines.”) The legislature created these guidelines so that most people in a similar situation would pay the same amount of support. Courts can order support in divorce, paternity or even a guardianship. Once that order is in effect, parties must follow it. If they do not, the child support agency has many methods of enforcing child support orders. The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families has excellent information on this and other topics. The same site also provides this information in Spanish and Hmong.
Enforcement Actions
Wage Assignment
There are numerous ways that a child support agency can enforce child support to be paid. The most obvious is a wage assignment. People do not think of wage assignments as enforcement. But it is one of the most effective tools to ensure the parent pays the amount due. Courts establish a wage assignment order so that child support is taken directly out of the payer’s wages. Many people stay up to date because of wage assignments.
Charging Interest
If the payer isn’t paying what they are supposed to pay, it is past-due support. If the amount past-due equals or is greater than the amount due in one month, then the state of Wisconsin charges 5% per month or 6% per year on any past-due support. For example, assume that a parent’s obligation is $500 per month and the parent owes $800. In that case, the child support office will charge interest on the past-due amount of $300.
Increasing Support Withheld
As another option for enforcing child support orders, the court can increase the amount withheld up to 50% of the original support ordered. However, in the majority of counties, commissioners and judges rarely order such a significant increase. Courts more often order increases of 10% to 25% of the original order.
Child Support Agency Can Certify Denial or Suspension of a professional or driver’s license
Four requirements must be met for this significant enforcement action. First, a court didn’t previously prohibit license suspension. Second, there isn’t a different payment plan in effect. Third, the payer is listed on the Child support Lien Docket or there is a child support lien which is 300% or more of the monthly amount due or $1,000, whichever is greater.
If the agency notifies a parent that they will certify a denial of a license, the parent has several options. They can email or write the child support agency. They can ask for a hearing on the matter if something is incorrect. The parent could agree to an alternative payment plan. The best method would be to pay all the past-due support owed. The child support agency will stop the process if the parent takes one of these steps.
Lien Docket
The lien docket is an electronic list of all parents who have child support liens in Wisconsin. If the agency places a parent on the lien docket, it places a lien on their land or vehicles. In addition, because it is public, the child support agency will report the lien to credit bureaus. This could affect the parent’s ability to get loans.
Due to the financial crisis caused by COVID-19, Emergency Rule EmR2009 was created in May of 2020. This rule prohibited certifying new child support debts to the lien docket. Once the agency certified the debt to the lien docket, the agency had many more serious enforcement options available. However, on June 25, 2020, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules suspended that emergency rule. It did not comply with legislative intent which was to collect child support. They also found it imposed an undue hardship on custodial parents who still had children to clothe and feed.
In sum, in enforcing child support orders, the agency has significant enforcement tools. We didn’t even cover the agency intercepting (or taking) a tax refund. Therefore, it is much better to stay current in support. If a parent loses their job, most will immediately tell the other parent. But it is critical to also notify the child support agency and the court in writing including that the payer is requesting a change in the order. Without a change, that support will continue to accrue.
Lisa Derr
Lisa Derr is an experienced Divorce and Family Mediator with three offices in east central Wisconsin. She started the family mediation practice in 1995. Lisa earned her BA in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1984 in four years despite a serious car accident that involved a 2-month hospital stay. She began practicing law in 1987. For the first 8 years of her career, Lisa litigated personal injury and divorce cases. But she was frustrated with the tremendous financial and emotional cost of divorce trials. Contested hearings inhibited reconciliation and healing for thewhole family. She started the Beaver Dam divorce mediation practice in 1995 and with her partner, Cassel Villarreal, expanded to Oshkosh and West Bend ten years later.