In an ideal world, parents would pay their child support payments on time and in full, and the parent receiving the payments would be able to count on a regular stream of funds to help support the children. However, child support doesn’t always work this way in practice. Whether the payments stop because the noncustodial parent loses his or her job or just quits making payments, it can have a devastating financial impact on the children’s lives.
In many cases, child support payments are deducted directly from the paying parents’ wages and processed through the Colorado Child Support Services before being paid out to the custodial parent. This ensures that the payments are taken care of without having to rely on the paying parent to save and submit the funds. This method can also be used to enforce past due support, with a percentage of the past due amount being added to the withholdings until the paying parent is caught back up.
In some situations, the paying parent may frequently change jobs, which can make garnishing wages difficult. However, employers must report new employees to the state’s directory of new hires. The Colorado Child Support Services is able to access this directory to ensure that the wage withholding process is started as quickly as possible after the paying parent finds new employment.
The child support agency also has various other means of collecting past due support, including intercepting tax returns or withholding unemployment or workers’ compensation benefits. You may also be able to pursue some legal avenues, such as filing contempt, and a family law attorney can provide more information.
Source: Colorado Department of Human Services, “Income Related Enforcement,” accessed Aug. 07, 2015