Collecting Child Support In Okmulgee County: Statute Of Limitations

We all want our children to thrive. We love and nurture them. Along with the loving feelings we have toward our children, we also have moral, legal, and ethical responsibilities toward them. Supporting our children is chief among those responsibilities. The obligation to support your child continues whether the parents are married or divorced. Collecting child support is part of this process when parents are divorced.

There Is No Statute Of Limitations For Collecting Child Support

When a couple divorces, the court will order child support based on a number of factors. That obligation continues until the child turns 18 or the court modifies that original child support order.

There is no statute of limitations on past due child support that is the subject of a court’s order. Once ordered, it must be paid. The court’s order remains enforceable and cannot be erased. Okla. Stat. tit. 12 § 95

Oklahoma Courts Will Enforce Past Due Child Support

Courts dislike it when their orders are not followed. This is especially true for child support payments. Courts have a number of tools at their disposal to make sure that child support is paid. Some of these tools make it easier to pay, some are deterrents, and some provide a strong incentive to pay.

Oklahoma uses garnishment of wages for the most part in collecting child support. This includes collecting past due child support payments.

This is a simple way to pay both what you currently owe and the past due amount. The normal monthly amount, plus some arrearage is withheld from the paying parent’s wages until the past due amount is paid. The monthly payment then reverts to the normal amount owed each month. This can leave a person with little money until the arrearage is paid.

There are other ways for a parent to collect back child support. The parent to whom the payment is owed may bring a motion before the court asking the court to hold the delinquent parent in contempt of court for non-payment. This can result in additional fines and even jail time until the delinquent parent pays the past due amounts. A lien can be placed on property, tax returns may be intercepted, and licenses and passports can be withheld.

Collecting child support can be a difficult process. You don’t want to try to tackle this on your own. You will need the help of an Okmulgee child support attorney.

Collecting Child Support Across State Lines

Parents need to know that moving out of state will not alter their responsibility to pay child support. Oklahoma has adopted the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFAS). All child support orders, wage garnishments, and other methods of collection are enforceable across state lines.

There are things a person can do to change child support if the payments are burdensome. However, any modification of child support will be prospective only. That means that it will affect the future, but not the past. Past due child support cannot be erased.

These issues can feel overwhelming sometimes. An experienced Okmulgee family lawyer can provide information that is relevant to your case and can help you handle back child support.