California Child Support Blog
Enforcement tools. Statute citations. Real strategies that collect.
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Passport Denial: The 2,500-Dollar Threshold That Grounds International Deadbeats
Owe 2,500 dollars in certified support arrears and the State Department will not issue or renew a passport. For payors with cross-border lives, it is the tool that finally gets attention.
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License Suspension: Driver’s, Contractor’s, Medical — All Hostage to Support
California links every license it issues to child support compliance. Fall behind, and the driver’s license, the contractor’s license, and the professional ticket all come under threat — leverage that produces payment plans overnight.
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Tax Refund Intercepts: The April Payment Deadbeats Never See
Every spring, arrears cases collect automatically: federal and state refunds intercepted before the payor touches them. It is DCSS’s most reliable tool — if your case is positioned for it.
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Bank Levies for Support: Taking the Arrears Where They Sit
Wages catch future money; levies catch the pile that already exists. Support judgments levy bank accounts like any judgment — with fewer exemptions protecting the payor.
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Support Garnishment Takes Half the Paycheck: The Priority No Other Debt Has
Ordinary creditors nibble at wages; child support takes real bites. Federal law allows support withholding up to half of disposable earnings or more — ahead of every other garnishment in line.
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Ten Percent Interest: How Arrears Grow While Deadbeats Wait
Every unpaid support installment starts earning 10 percent simple interest the day it is missed. Time, for once, works for the custodial parent — and the compounding total is your settlement leverage.
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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.
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Support Past 18: The High School Rule and Adult Disabled Children
Eighteen is not always the finish line. California extends support through high school completion, and for adult children unable to support themselves, the duty can continue indefinitely.
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Modifying Support: Changed Circumstances Cut Both Ways
Support orders are living numbers. His raise is your motion; and knowing how modification works also tells you how to defend the order when he cries poverty.
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Childcare and Health Costs: The Mandatory Add-Ons Payors Skip
Base support is not the whole order. Work-related childcare and health costs are mandatory add-ons — usually split — and unreimbursed shares are collectible arrears like any other.
California Child Support Recovery System 