How Do I Enforce Child Support Payments If My Ex Moves Out Of State?

If your ex moves into another state, you can still collect child support. The process is called interstate child support and it is available in Illinois and other states as well. You can also use it to modify a child support order.

Enforcing Child Support in Another State

If a parent who was supposed to be paying for child support moves to a different state where the order was not established and refuses to pay for it, you can ask the Department of Revenue or the Office of Child Support Enforcement to enforce payments. In this case, they can ask the child support obligation to be withheld from the paying parent’s paycheck.

Besides this, they can also place a lien on property the parent owns in the state i.e. in Illinois where the child support order was placed. It can also be placed as a foreign order which seeks enforcement of payments from the state where the parent lives, works, or owns property.

Once you make the request, the state the paying parent moved to can use measures to enforce payments. Each state has its own protocols for dealing with parents who withhold child support.

Determining Interstate Child Support

Before an order can be placed for interstate child support enforcement, the paternity of the child has to be established. If it has not been established, the first thing you should do is order a paternity test as soon as possible to determine if you are obligated to receive the support or not.

Courts do not hold people responsible for child support unless they are the biological parents of the child. In rare cases, non-biological parents can be held responsible if there is a presumption of paternity. This can happen if say a man was married to the mother and the child was conceived during marriage. Whether the child is his or not, he will have to pay child support in this case.

Illinois may assert jurisdiction in child support cases over an individual who does not live in the state if he/she:

• Personally served in the state.
• Consents to the jurisdiction of the state.
• Lived in the state with the child.
• Lived in the state with the child and also took care of prenatal expenses.
• The child lives in the state because of the individual.
• The individual maintained parentage in the state using an appropriate agency.

Keep in mind that only one state order can be effective at one time and the state in which the order was issued has complete and continuous jurisdiction to modify the child support obligation as well.

Contact An Experienced Child Support Lawyer

If you are going through a divorce and need child support payments to take care of your family, you shouldn’t have to struggle. So what if the other parent is moving out of state? At the Law Office of Fedor Kozlov, we can help you ensure that they do not renege on payments. In times like these, you need a skilled Chicago child support lawyer and someone who is capable of understanding your unique needs. Get in touch with us in Schaumburg, IL today for a free consultation.