When child support is not paid

This page is written for both sides of it. If you are owed money, you have probably been told that enforcement is toothless. If you cannot pay, you have probably been told you are going to jail. Neither is quite true, and the gap between the threat and the machinery is where people make the decisions that cost them most.

The short version10 points · tap one to jump to it

1. Two different things are called contempt — Civil contempt is coercive.
2. Ability to pay, and who has to prove it — You cannot be jailed on civil contempt if you genuinely cannot pay.
3. What actually happens, which is mostly not jail — Contempt is the visible end of enforcement and the rarest.
4. There is also a federal crime, and it is narrower than people think
5. Does jail actually get the money paid? — We are not going to answer it with a statistic we cannot source.
6. The thing to know before anything else: arrears are permanent — Support that has come due is a judgment.
7. Interest on arrears, in the eight states we have verified — Interest is the part of this that surprises people most, because the arrears balance keeps growing after the wages stop.
8. If you cannot pay
9. If you are owed money
10. What we could not verify — Every statute, regulation, rule preamble and opinion cited here was read on the issuing body’s own site on 15 September 2026.

In this subject 10

1. Two different things are called contempt

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The deeper version of this is on another page. Filing for contempt when support is not paid works through Turner v. Rogers — when the Constitution does and does not require a lawyer, the four substitute safeguards a court must use instead, and why the label a state puts on a contempt proceeding does not decide what it actually is. Read this section for the shape of it, and that page before a hearing.

Civil contempt is coercive. Its job is to make you do what the court already ordered. The jail term is conditional: you leave when you comply. The old phrase for it is that the person holds the keys to his own prison.

Criminal contempt is punitive. It punishes a past act of defiance with a fixed sentence. You cannot buy your way out by paying, and because it is criminal, the full criminal protections apply, including an appointed lawyer.

The practical consequence is the one nobody expects: in a civil contempt hearing for unpaid child support, an indigent parent facing jail generally does not get a free lawyer. The Supreme Court decided that in 2011.

Because it is civil, the floor is lower: the Fourteenth Amendment “allows a State to provide fewer procedural protections than in a criminal case,” including placing the burden of proving inability to pay on you.

What you get instead of a lawyer

The Court did not leave nothing in its place. It required four substitute safeguards, and they are worth knowing by number, because they are what you insist on if you walk into that hearing alone:

And Turner himself won, because South Carolina gave him neither a lawyer nor the substitutes. He got no clear notice that ability to pay was the question, no financial form, and the judge “left the relevant ‘finding’ section of the contempt order blank” while jailing him anyway. On those facts, the Court held, “Turner’s incarceration violated the Due Process Clause.”

If a contempt order is entered against you with that finding left blank, that is not a technicality. That is the case.

Authority: Turner v. Rogers, 564 U.S. 431 (2011), read in full, including Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co., 221 U.S. 418 (1911) and Hicks v. Feiock, 485 U.S. 624 (1988) as quoted there. Note two limits the Court expressly reserved: where the support is owed to the State rather than to a parent, and where the case is unusually complex. Checked 15 Sep 2026.

2. Ability to pay, and who has to prove it

You cannot be jailed on civil contempt if you genuinely cannot pay. That is not mercy, it is definitional — coercion only works on something possible, and jailing someone for the impossible is punishment, which requires criminal procedure.

But in most states the burden of proving you could not pay is on you. The existing order is treated as proof you could pay when it was made; the state then only has to show you did not. Everything after that is yours to establish.

There is also a federal rule that binds every state child support agency, and it is useful to know exists. Agencies must “[s]creen the case for information regarding the noncustodial parent’s ability to pay,” give the court that information, and “[p]rovide clear notice to the noncustodial parent that his or her ability to pay constitutes the critical question in the civil contempt action.”

Authority: Turner v. Rogers, 564 U.S. 431 (2011); Fla. Stat. § 61.14(5)(a); Wash. Rev. Code § 26.18.050(4); 45 C.F.R. § 303.6(c)(4). Checked 15 Sep 2026.

3. What actually happens, which is mostly not jail

Contempt is the visible end of enforcement and the rarest. What actually runs is a set of automated administrative levers, most of them imposed on the states by federal law as a condition of funding. They operate without a hearing, without a judge, and in most cases without anyone deciding anything about you personally.

Wage withholding is the default, not the punishment

Since 1994 essentially every new support order carries wage withholding from day one, “regardless of whether support payments by such parent are in arrears, on the effective date of the order.” The employer deducts it before the money is ever yours. It is not a sanction and it does not mean anyone thinks you will not pay.

And the rest of the machinery

Two things follow from that table. If you are owed money, most of this happens without you doing anything and without anyone going to court. And if you cannot pay, the tool most likely to take your livelihood is not jail — it is the suspension of the professional license you earn with.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1), (a)(3), (a)(7), (a)(8)(B)(i), (a)(16) and § 666(b)(1); 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) and (b); 42 U.S.C. § 664 and 45 C.F.R. § 303.72 for tax offset; 42 U.S.C. § 652(k) for passports — note the threshold was lowered from $5,000 to $2,500 by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, so older material citing $5,000 is out of date. Checked 15 Sep 2026.

4. There is also a federal crime, and it is narrower than people think

Separate from contempt, 18 U.S.C. § 228 makes non-payment a federal offense. It is prosecuted by the Department of Justice, it is rare relative to the size of the caseload, and it requires an interstate element — either the child lives in another state, or you traveled across a state line intending to evade.

Read the thresholds carefully. They are disjunctive. You cross the line on time unpaid or on amount owed, whichever arrives first.

On conviction the court “shall order restitution… in an amount equal to the total unpaid support obligation as it exists at the time of sentencing.” Mandatory, in every case.

Two things are commonly got wrong. “Willfully” is an element of the offense, so genuine inability is a defense rather than a mitigating factor. And subsection (b) creates a rebuttable presumption that you could pay, simply because an order existed. Rebuttable — but it means the posture mirrors civil contempt, and the person who could not pay is again the one who has to prove it.

Authority: 18 U.S.C. § 228, quoted in full from the US Code. Enacted as the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-521), amended by Pub. L. 104-294 (1996) and amended generally by the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-187). Checked 15 Sep 2026.

5. Does jail actually get the money paid?

This is the question everyone asks and almost nothing written for parents answers. We are not going to answer it with a statistic we cannot source. We are going to answer it with what the federal agency that runs the child support program said in its own rulemaking, which is a good deal more damning than anything we would have written ourselves.

That is not advocacy. That is the preamble to a federal rule, published in the Federal Register.

And it produced binding regulation. Federal rules now require that state guidelines “[p]rovide that incarceration may not be treated as voluntary unemployment in establishing or modifying support orders” — closing the loop that used to let an order keep accruing at full rate against someone in prison earning nothing. The same rules require guidelines to consider “the basic subsistence needs of the noncustodial parent… who has a limited ability to pay,” and, where income is imputed, to consider “assets, residence, employment and earnings history, job skills, educational attainment, literacy, age, health, criminal record and other employment barriers, and record of seeking work, as well as the local job market.”

There is also machinery for it. Where a state has elected the option, an agency may begin a review on learning that a parent will be incarcerated for more than 180 days, without waiting for anyone to ask. Where it has not, it must notify both parents of the right to request one within 15 business days.

Authority: Flexibility, Efficiency, and Modernization in Child Support Enforcement Programs, 81 Fed. Reg. 93492 (20 Dec. 2016); 45 C.F.R. §§ 302.56(c)(1) and (c)(3), 303.8(b)(2), (b)(7)(ii) and (c). Read on eCFR and the Federal Register. Checked 15 Sep 2026.

6. The thing to know before anything else: arrears are permanent

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The statute behind this has its own page. Support arrears: the Bradley Amendment, licenses and passports sets out why each unpaid installment becomes a final judgment the day it is due, why a modification can only run forward from the date you file, and the collection tools that need no hearing at all. If you are behind, the date you file is the whole of it.

If you read one section, read this one. It is the most consequential fact here and the one people learn too late to act on.

Support that has come due is a judgment. Not a bill, not a balance — a judgment, automatically, the moment each installment goes unpaid. And no court in any state may reduce it afterwards. Not if you were laid off. Not if you were in hospital. Not if you were in prison. Not if the child came to live with you. Not if both parents agree it should be reduced.

So: a parent who loses their job in January and files for modification in October has created nine months of arrears that no judge can ever erase, plus interest in most states. The job loss was not the mistake. The nine months were.

You do not have to wait for a review cycle to ask. Federal rules require states to review an order on request where the parent shows a substantial change in circumstances, and to complete that review within 180 days. The agency’s own words: “all parents facing a substantial change of circumstances such as a substantial drop in income, through a loss of employment or otherwise, are entitled to request a review, and if appropriate, adjustment of their support orders.”

Authority: 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(9), added by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-509) and commonly called the Bradley Amendment; Fla. Stat. § 61.14(6)(a)3. as a state example; 45 C.F.R. § 303.8(b)(1), (b)(6) and (e); 81 Fed. Reg. 93492. Checked 15 Sep 2026.

7. Interest on arrears, in the eight states we have verified

Interest is the part of this that surprises people most, because the arrears balance keeps growing after the wages stop. It is also the part where published summaries are least reliable, and where the differences between states are not small. Eight states are set out below because we read the statute for each one. The other forty-three are not here. There is a list in section 10 of what we still have not done.

State	Rate	Simple or compound	Is it automatic?
Washington RCW § 4.56.110(2)	12%	Statute does not say; we are not going to assume	Yes. Judgments for unpaid support “shall bear interest,” and it reaches both superior court orders and orders entered under the administrative procedure act
Missouri § 454.520.3–.4	1% per month (12% a year) for orders entered on or after 1 September 1982	Simple. Said expressly	Yes. Delinquent payments “shall draw interest”
Colorado C.R.S. § 14-14-106(1)	12% on arrears due before 1 July 2021; 10% on and after. The statute writes these as the legal rate at § 5-12-101, which is 8%, plus four points and plus two points respectively	Compound — and the frequency changed with the rate. Monthly on the pre-2021 balance, annually on the rest	No, and this is the unusual part. Both subsections say interest may be compounded and may be collected, the creditor may waive it, and the creditor is not required to keep interest-balance accounts at all
Texas Tex. Fam. Code § 157.265	6%	Simple. Said three times, for delinquencies, for confirmed money judgments and for retroactive or lump-sum judgments	Yes, but with a carve-out nobody writes about — see below
West Virginia W. Va. Code § 48-1-302(a)	5%, the lowest of the eight	Simple only. The statute says compound interest may not be awarded, and that interest accrues only on outstanding principal	Yes, where an interest obligation arises under the chapter
Ohio R.C. § 3123.17(A)	The rate set for that year under R.C. § 5703.47	Not specified in § 3123.17	No — twice over. The court may assess interest only if it determines the default was willful, and even then the statute says the court may, not shall
Minnesota Minn. Stat. § 548.091	Zero. “Beginning August 1, 2022, interest does not accrue on a past, current, or future judgment for child support…”	Not applicable	Not applicable — but see the trap below
California CCP § 685.010(a)(1)	10%	Not specified in this section	Yes. On the 2023 amendment, see below

Four things in that table that are not in the summaries

And the California question we had left open

California cut its judgment interest rate from 10% to 5% for judgments entered on or after 1 January 2023 — but only in two listed categories: medical-expense judgments under $200,000, and judgments under $50,000 on a “personal debt.” The statute defines personal debt as money owing from a natural person “arising out of a transaction” in which the money, property, insurance or services were primarily for the debtor’s personal, family or household purposes.

Our reading is that child support does not qualify, and so stays at 10%. A support obligation does not arise out of a transaction; it arises from a court order imposing a statutory duty, and there is no transaction and nothing bargained for. This is our reading of the statutory text and not a holding — we have not found a California decision applying § 685.010(a)(2) to a support judgment, and if you find one we would like to see it.

Authority, each read from the state’s own official publication: Wash. Rev. Code § 4.56.110(2). Mo. Rev. Stat. § 454.520, effective 1 July 1999. C.R.S. § 14-14-106 and § 5-12-101, from the Colorado Revised Statutes 2024 printout of the Office of Legislative Legal Services. Tex. Fam. Code § 157.265. W. Va. Code § 48-1-302. Ohio Rev. Code § 3123.17, and § 5703.47 for the rate mechanism — the federal short-term rate for July, determined by the tax commissioner on 15 October, rounded to the nearest whole percent, plus three percent. Minn. Stat. § 548.091. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 685.010, as amended by Stats. 2023, ch. 131, § 21 (AB 1754). Checked 16 Sep 2026.

8. If you cannot pay

• File for modification the week the income stops. Not when you have found new work, not when you have a plan. The clock that matters is the filing date, and every week you wait becomes permanent debt.
• Keep paying something. Partial payment does not reduce what is owed, but it is the difference between a record that shows effort and one that shows nothing, and effort is what the ability-to-pay question turns on.
• Build the file before the hearing. Pay stubs, termination letter, bank statements, medical records, and a written log of every job applied for with dates. Washington requires proof of diligence, not just poverty, and other states look for the same thing whether or not their statute says so.
• At a contempt hearing, insist on the four things. Notice that ability to pay is the question, a financial form, a chance to answer questions about your finances, and an express written finding. If the finding box is left blank and you are jailed anyway, that is what happened in Turner, and Turner won.
• If you are going to prison, ask for a review. Incarceration can no longer be treated as voluntary unemployment, and depending on the state the agency may start the review itself once it knows you will be inside more than 180 days.
• Do not move to another state thinking it helps. It adds the interstate element that turns a state problem into a federal crime.

9. If you are owed money

• Open a case with your state child support agency if you have not. Almost every tool on this page — withholding, tax offset, passport denial, license action, credit reporting — runs through that agency, not through your lawyer, and most of it is automatic once the case exists.
• Expect the administrative levers to do the work. Contempt is slow, expensive and, on the federal government’s own account, frequently counterproductive.
• Know that the debt does not expire or shrink. Every unpaid installment is a judgment entitled to full faith and credit in every state. Time does not erase it and a later court cannot reduce it.
• Understand what jail actually does for you, which is usually nothing. The other parent loses whatever work they had, and the arrears keep accruing against someone now less able to pay them. If the goal is money rather than consequence, the administrative route is the one that produces it.
• Watch the modification filing date. If the other parent files, relief for them runs only from the date you were given notice — so the date that notice arrived is worth recording.

10. What we could not verify

• Any figure for how much contempt actually collects. The federal preamble says one state found contempt to be its least cost-effective enforcement tool. We have not seen that state’s underlying data and are not going to publish a percentage we cannot trace. Where a number belongs and we do not have one, there is no number.
• State-level thresholds for license suspension and credit reporting. Federal law sets none, and we have not done a fifty-state pass. Yours will differ.
• How often § 228 is actually charged. We have the statute, not the prosecution figures.
• Interest on arrears in the other forty-three jurisdictions. Section 7 covers the eight we have read the statute for. The remaining states, the District of Columbia and the territories are not done. We had previously written on this page that we had verified none of them, which was accurate; a working note then credited us with fifteen, which was not. Eight is the number, and it is eight because eight statutes were read.
• Whether California’s 2023 rate cut reaches support judgments. Section 7 gives our reading of § 685.010(a)(2) and says plainly that it is a reading. We have not found a decision either way.

This page describes federal law and uses two states as worked examples. Your state’s procedure, thresholds and interest rate will differ, and nothing here is a substitute for advice from someone licensed where you live. The Cusp is not a law firm and does not provide legal, financial or clinical advice. Every statute, regulation, rule preamble and opinion cited here was read on the issuing body’s own site on 15 September 2026. Where we could not verify something, it is listed above rather than left out.