Can Child Support Be Taken From Your Checking Account?

Child support is an important monthly bill. If you forget to pay it, you could face serious consequences. Even with the best intentions, a payment can easily fall through the cracks. As with other bills, you may be able to set your child support up to automatically come out of your checking account each month for convenience. However, there may be another very important instance where your child support can be taken out of your account, and that happens if you deliberately fail to pay.

If you’re still getting a bill each month and manually paying it, you may want an easier way. If you’re like many Americans your age, you’ve likely ditched paper checks in favor of paying your bills online. Whether you go to your online banking app or set up a withdrawal with each creditor, you probably want to bring the same convenience to your child support payments.

You can, of course, set up your monthly bill to be paid automatically through your online banking service, but state child support divisions also can handle this for you. You’ll need to contact your child support caseworker and ask the procedure for setting up automatic payments. You may be able to find this on the website in your state that addresses child support. You’ll need to have your child support account information along with your bank account routing and account numbers.

A less-desirable situation happens if you fail to pay your child support at all. The funds can be taken from your account, but this isn’t an easy process. You’ll likely receive notice that you’re behind, and if you ignore that, your state child support enforcement office will seek a court order to freeze your bank account for the amount due. The laws on how this is done vary from one state to the next, but you should receive a notice in the mail of the court order, as well as communication from your bank that the order has been placed.

Once it receives the request, your bank will freeze the amount due in your account for a short period of time. This is designed to give you a chance to protest the levy if there’s been an error. You’ll have the use of other funds in that account during that time, assuming you owe less than your balance. After that time period has passed, the amount will be sent to the appropriate government department, and the freeze will be lifted.

Of course, the best way to avoid a bank levy is to stay current on your child support. That isn’t always possible, especially if you unexpectedly lose your job. However, failing to pay your child support can lead to criminal penalties, including jail time, so it’s worth trying to work it out if you can.

If your circumstances don’t allow you to pay, contact your caseworker as soon as possible and be honest about your situation. You might find that paying what you can will be enough to stave off court action. If it does make its way to court, show up and bring documentation of your situation. You might qualify for a hardship exemption that helps you get through your crisis. If you can show that you’re working and bringing in some money, even if you can’t get a job at your full regular salary at the moment, you’ll be more likely to get the court’s sympathy.