Collecting basic support payments and enforcing medical and childcare support.
If you have a court order for child support, and apply for enforcement services, the child support agency will assign a child support worker for your case. The assigned worker will help in the collection of support and the enforcement of the court order. All efforts will be made to locate the parent and to have the court ordered support paid.
What is My Responsibility if I Apply for Services?
Keep your caseworker informed of name or address changes for yourself, your child, or the other parent. If you find out the other parent has changed jobs let your worker know. Inform us of any court action you are taking. The success in collecting support depends on you taking an active role in your case. Supply your worker with any information you think might be helpful.
The child support agency will:
- collect current and past due basic support amounts
- collect current and past due medical support amounts or enforce medical language that requires one or both parents to provide insurance for the child
- collect court-ordered uninsured medical expenses
- collect set dollar amounts of court ordered childcare support
- and in some situations, will collect spousal maintenance amounts
Support payments must be sent to the State of MN Payment Center to be credited to the case. Most child support payments are collected through income withholding through a payor of funds. The payment center will send the payment to the custodial parent through direct deposit of funds into a checking or savings account, or add the amount to a stored value card. You may be charged a 1% fee if money is collected. If you have an open child support case you must report any direct payments you get from the other parent to your worker.
If a non-custodial parent is paying child support the county will monitor the case for payments and compliance with the court order. Income withholding orders will be sent to employers or payors of funds. Cost-of–living-adjustments (COLA) will be implemented by the child support agency on Minnesota court orders when possible.
When a non-custodial parent is not paying child support, the county may be able to use enforcement remedies to encourage the parent to pay their support. Each enforcement remedy has criteria that must be met before an action can be taken. Contact your assigned worker for possible enforcement actions on your case.
Enforcement remedies include:
- Judgment entry
- Interest charging
- Civil contempt court action
- Criminal nonsupport court action
- Financial Institution Data Matching
- Denying a student grant or passport
- Starting an interstate collection action
- Intercepting tax refunds and lottery winnings
- Reporting unpaid balances to credit bureaus
- Suspending driver’s, recreational, and occupational license
For more information on enforcement remedies go to the State of MN or contact your assigned worker.