Child Support Enforcement - How to Collect Unpaid Child Support

Child support issues have risen considerably in the United States almost bottoming out several parents (especially women) and children to poverty. According to statistics more than $41 billion are owed to thirty million children in the US in child support fees according to ACES (Association for the Enforcement of Child Support.

What should be done to protect yourself from bankruptcy and other hardships as a single parent? Why should your children go without the things they need just because one parent refuses to live up too their financial responsibilities to that child.

With the rising cases of divorce, unhappy marriages, and infidelity, it is very important to file for child support as soon as you and your husband/spouse separate. However if you are unmarried, you should file for child support as soon as your child is born.

You may also have to establish paternity if the father did not voluntarily place his name on the child's birth certificate or otherwise admit to paternity. This can be voluntary or if necessary compelled by the court through an order by a judge.

All parents, both biological and adoptive as the case may be are required to support their children (adopted and otherwise) until they reach the age of majority which is usually 18 years old; even longer if they have certain disabilities. If the child has been adopted or is in active duty for the military then the parents' obligations to pay child support end.

Mothers and Fathers have every right to get child support only if they have custody of the child. Step-parents on the other hand are not obligated to support their spouse's child which is the fruit of a previous marriage or relationship. However a father who never married the mom of his child is still obligated to pay child support but of course there can be disputes as to whether the child is really his.

In order to collect child support, you have to get a court order based on a divorce, marriage dissolution, etc. This order is a binding order by the judge and without this either parent has no obligation to pay child support.

It can be impossible to collect child support if until you can locate the parents current employment. Once you have located the dead beat parents current employer you can get a subpoena duces tucem to obtain his payroll records. Every state has a formula based on the parents earning to determine the amount of child support they must pay.

The future payments can then be deducted automatically from the dead beats parent's pay check.

If you hire an investigator be sure that they are qualified to conduct this type of information and return the correct information you need to locate their place of employment so you can collect the money owed to you. You can start by doing a Google search to see what companies offer current employment locates and they do a search of all the various investigation services and see if they are recognized as experts.Also check to see if they have any unhappy customers and if their pricing is competitive.

As long as they are qualified, licensed and seem to have a clean history of complaints there should be no reason not to proceed since the average cost of this type of investigation is less that the average dinner at a family restaurant.