Why Most Custodial Parents Collect a Fraction of What They’re Owed

The gap between what California’s child support system can do and what most custodial parents receive is substantial. It’s not a gap in the law. It’s a gap in how the law gets used — and who drives it.

Seven Tools, One Case

California’s DCSS can simultaneously pursue: an Earnings Withholding Order sent to the payer’s employer, a state and federal tax refund intercept, driver’s and professional license suspension, passport denial at $2,500 in arrears, a Financial Institution Data Match to locate and levy bank accounts, a referral for contempt of court proceedings, and a lien on any real property the payer owns. Most custodial parents have one or two of these active. Almost none have all seven running at once.

The difference between partial and full enforcement is usually one thing: the custodial parent knowing which tools exist, which apply to their case, and how to request each one in writing with the correct statute citation. That’s the knowledge the California Child Support Recovery System provides.

Educational use only. Not legal advice. Justice Foundation.