Child Support Arrears Never Expire in California: The Debt That Waits

There is no statute of limitations on collecting California child support. The arrears from 2009 are as enforceable today as the day they accrued — with seventeen years of interest attached.

What California Law Says

Family Code section 291 makes support judgments enforceable until paid in full, exempt from the renewal requirements that limit ordinary judgments. Arrears cannot be retroactively forgiven or modified for periods before a modification filing, and every enforcement tool remains available regardless of the debt’s age.

How to Collect, Step by Step

1. Reconstruct the full history: every ordered amount versus every payment, from the first missed month.
2. Compute interest — the accumulated total often multiplies the principal.
3. Do not be embarrassed by the debt’s age; the law explicitly contemplates decades-later collection.
4. Deploy the tools against present assets: today’s wages, today’s bank accounts, today’s property all answer for old arrears.
5. Watch for his retirement — support arrears collect from most retirement income streams too.

Common Questions

He told me arrears vanish after ten years like other judgments. True?

False — support judgments are exempt from renewal and never lapse; the ten-year rule he is thinking of governs ordinary civil judgments.

The kids are grown. Can I still collect what he never paid?

Yes — the arrears belong to the years he skipped, and adult children’s ages do not erase the parent’s debt to you.