California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation For paying parents who depend on a professional license to earn their living — contractors, real estate agents, attorneys, nurses, doctors, financial advisors, cosmetologists — the threat of license suspension is often the single most effective enforcement tool available. California’s license match program can suspend or deny…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation Subpoenas are one of the most powerful discovery tools available in child support proceedings — and most custodial parents don’t know they can issue them without an attorney. A properly issued subpoena requires banks, employers, businesses, and other third parties to produce documents or appear to give…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation The gig economy has created a new generation of income-concealment challenges in child support cases. Drivers, delivery workers, freelancers, and platform-based service providers often have income that doesn’t flow through a traditional employer payroll — making standard income withholding orders less effective and requiring adapted enforcement strategies.…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation California uses a mandatory statewide uniform guideline formula to calculate child support. The formula is not discretionary — courts are required to follow it in virtually all cases, and departures from guideline amounts require written findings of specific exceptional circumstances. Understanding how the formula works demystifies the…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation Child support is one of the most protected debts in the American legal system. Federal bankruptcy law specifically exempts child support obligations from discharge — meaning a parent cannot eliminate child support arrears through bankruptcy, regardless of which chapter they file. Understanding this protection ensures you don’t…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation A child support order set years ago may bear no relationship to current financial reality. Incomes change, custody arrangements shift, children develop new needs. California law provides a straightforward process for modifying child support when circumstances have materially changed — and knowing when and how to use…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation Federal law provides one of the most powerful pressure tools in the child support enforcement arsenal: passport denial and revocation for obligors owing more than $2,500 in arrears. If the paying parent needs a passport — for international travel, for work, for a planned trip — this…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation A bank levy is one of the fastest and most surprising enforcement tools available to a custodial parent owed arrears. Executed correctly, a bank levy freezes funds in the obligor’s account without advance warning — funds that can then be transferred to you after a brief objection…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation Self-employed obligors present the most common and most challenging income concealment problem in child support cases. Without a W-2 or pay stub, establishing actual income requires looking beyond what the paying parent chooses to report — into bank deposits, business revenue, lifestyle expenses, and the financial traces…

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California Child Support Recovery System | Justice Foundation If the parent who owes you child support owns real property in California — a home, a rental property, vacant land, a commercial building — that property is a collection target. A judgment lien recorded against that property must be satisfied before the property can be sold…

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