Can One State Garnish Wages For A Child Support Order Entered In Another State?

Wage garnishment issues for child support can get a bit more complex when the parent is required to pay child support lives in a different state. The good news is that states consistently cooperate with one another to make sure that appropriate child support is paid.

In addition, by federal law all companies are required to comply with wage garnishment judgments regardless of the state in which the order originated. Legislation known as the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) has been passed in all states to assist.

In other words, let’s say you live in State A with your child. The other parent lives in State B and works for Company C. If you go to court and get a wage garnishment order, that order will be sent to company C. The federal law mandates that the company send the garnishment amount to the court that passed the judgment, and the garnished wages will then be made available to you. If Company C refuses to comply with the wage garnishment order, then you can appeal to your state, State A, to request that State B get involved to enforce the garnishment judgment. This is rarely needed. Companies that don’t comply are in violation of federal law and face stiff penalties. Most companies with more than a few employees are well-versed in the law, and they readily comply with wage garnishments.

If you are having trouble determining the whereabouts of the child’s other parent, your local child support office will have locator resources that can help. Every state has a locator service, and your local office will assist in locating the other parent. Information about the person’s address is obtained by the locator service from DMV records, court records involving criminal or civil cases or state/federal hiring data. Using this information, the location and employment information for the other parent will be obtained.

Once this has been done, the court will likely make an official inquiry to confirm the person’s work status and how much income they make. The court will use that information to formulate a garnishment order that suits the circumstances of the situation. It will be sent to the employer, and the employer will more than likely readily comply with the order.

Please visit our helpful articles for more information on: child visitation, child support, child custody issues, how to get legal advice or answers on your state laws,