Paying child support

You can ask a judge when they are ordering child support to put an Income Withholding Order on hold. This is called a stay of service. This means that the judge will not have the order sent to your employer now. But, they can have it sent if you miss payments.

The judge can only put the Order on hold in a few situations. You can ask the judge to do this, for example, if the other parent agrees you can pay them directly, you have a history of making payments on time, or paying support through your employer would cause a hardship. 

How to ask to stay an earnings assignment

1. Fill out a Stay of Service of Earnings Assignment Order (form FL-455)
2. Make at least 2 copies of the form
3. File the form. The clerk will write a court date on your copies.
4. Have someone 18 or over (a server) mail a copy of the filed form to the other parent. The server complete the Proof of Service by mail on the 2nd page of the form. 
5.  Go to the hearing and take the form with you to court so the judge can complete the order section on page 2. 

6. Have someone mail (serve) a copy of the filed order to the other parent.

If the judge agrees with your request, they will sign the order to stay service. This stops the Order from taking effect because it will not be served on your employer.

If you later stop making payments, your child's other parent can ask the judge to cancel the stay. If the judge agrees, the earnings assignment will get sent to your employer. 

It's possible for a judge to cancel an Income Withholding Order after it gets sent to your employer. Usually, your child's other parent would need to agree. If the Local Child Support Agency is part of the case, they'll need to agree to this as well.

If your child's other parent does not agree, you would need to show that each of these are true:

• You have a long history of paying support on time
• You don't have any past due payments
• Paying by earnings assignment is a hardship 
• It's in your child's best interest for support to not be taken directly from your pay

How to ask to cancel an earnings assignment

You need to ask to cancel the Order as soon as find out about it. Once your employer receives the earnings assignment order, they should give you a copy of a blank Request for Hearing Regarding Earnings Assignment (form FL-450). You have 10 days from when you receive this form to fill it out and file it with the court. Page 3 of the form has more instructions and resources.

Fill out and file Request for Hearing Regarding Earnings Assignment (form FL-450). On the form, you can explain why you do not want the money taken directly from your pay. 

When you file the form, the clerk will give you a court date and send a copy to your child's other parent. On your court date, a judge will decide whether to cancel the order.

You can ask to change support if your financial situation or time-share (parenting time) changed

You can ask for a judge to change the amount of child support you pay. 

Find out more about how to ask the judge to change the amount of child support you pay. 

If you also owe back support, you can ask to lower the amount you pay towards your back support

If you missed support payments (have arrearages) and payments for past-due support are also taken by earnings assignment, you may be able to have the amount taken out lowered. 

If the LCSA is part of the case

If the LCSA is collecting the support, contact your Local Child Support Agency first to see if they can change the amount. If they can't or they are not involved, you can file papers in court to ask a judge to change the amount.

Ask a judge to lower the amount

Fill out and file a Request for Order (form FL-300) and an Income and Expense Declaration (form FL-150). On your Form FL-300, check the box at item 8 (Other orders requested) and write in “Set monthly arrears payment of $ (write in a reasonable amount).” 

Then, you need to have someone mail a copy of your papers to the other parent and to the LCSA if they are part of our case (serve your papers). A judge will decide on your court date whether to change the amount. Get step-by-step instructions on how to file and serve your forms, and prepare for your court date.

You can ask for an accounting or a judge to determine the amount

Ask the LCSA for an accounting

If you think the amount of back support (arrears) that the LCSA says you owe is not correct, you can ask them for an "accounting." The LCSA is required by law to give you an accounting of what's been collected and paid out in your case.

If, after the accounting, you don't agree with what the LCSA claims you owe in back child support, you can go to court to ask for a "determination of arrearages." You will need to prove what you've paid so far.

Ask a judge to determine the amount

Fill out and file a 

• Request for Order (form FL-300)
• Application to Determine Arrearages (form FL-490)
• Declaration of Payment History (form FL-420)
• Payment History Attachment (form FL-421) 

On your Form FL-300, check the box at item 8 (Other orders requested) and write in “Determination of arrearages.” If you agree you do owe something and want the court to set up a monthly payment, add "set monthly payment of $ (write in an amount you can afford)" and also fill out an Income and Expense Declaration (form–FL-150). 

Then, you need to have someone mail a copy of your papers to the other parent and to the LCSA if they are part of our case (serve your papers). A judge will decide on your court date whether to change the amount. Get step-by-step instructions on how to file and serve your forms, and prepare for your court date.