My children's father owes me about $50000 in back child support payments. He just won a social security disability case and will get a lump sum. I was told that no one can make him pay child support with his lump sum. Can anyone tell me how I can make him pay?
Pam from Georgia
It is my understanding that when a parent collects disability, each of that person's children is also eligible to collect SS disability payments, too. You may already know this. But I'm not sure about the catching up part. Good luck.
Editor's Note: It might be worth calling the SS office to check, but his children should be getting their own benefit, as well as, possible back pay and if you are their guardian, you will be the trustee. (03/25/2007)
By Ariela
I would check with the attorney general in your state. Many states will attach the bread winner's pay. Or maybe you could check with a legal service. Most states have such a service for folks who can not pay an attorney. (03/26/2007)
By Deanj
The child support bureau, the court system in your area needs to be made aware of his lump sum, and the SS office needs to be made aware that he is behind in child support. ASAP. Your kids are entitled to their portion. I went thru a similar situation and my childrens' portion was taken out before my ex ever received his. Unbeknown to him (not a happy camper was he, but oh well). Good luck with this and hang in there and be persistent. You might also try Legal Aid in your area for help. (03/26/2007)
By Jule
You need to contact the district attorney in your county because they have a unit for child support recovery. They will know what to do. I would act quickly.
(03/27/2007)
By clh
There is a mix up in what kind of payments being received by the other parent. If he/she is collecting SSI disability then child support will not enforce payments to the other parent, not saying that is is not still owed.
Now if the parents had worked, and had started collecting Social Security for whatever reason then yes, the child(ren) would be granted a portion monthly. (05/16/2008)
By Lamb
No, No and No. If your ex is due a lump sum amount of monies from Social Security the local CSEA can place a holder on that money and it will be sent directly to the CSEA for the children. I know this because in Butler County, Ohio I have this holder on my childrens' father.
(01/14/2009)
By Angela
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How can Social Security deduct child support from your check when the child is 34 years old? Isn't there a limit of time even if you owe some back child support?
By Terry
My guess is that happens when you are extremely far behind on your support payments. It doesn't matter how old the child is he/she is still entitled to the support.
Depends on the state where you live and the location where the order for support was filed. Some states have NO statue of limitation on collection.
My son's father lives in Marion South Carolina and I live in Maryland. He is on SSI so he sends me a letter saying that he no longer has to pay child support because he's on SSI now. This is not fair to me because he never paid when he was not on it. Please help.
By RB
Go to the Social Security Administration in your area or see your social worker. They will help since he is right he doesn't have to pay child support but it will be withdrawn from his SSI check.
My ex is on Social Security Disability. I receive a monthly payment from Social Security for back child support. He recently went to jail. I need to know if I will stop getting those payments because his check will be suspended while he is in jail.
By H. Brown
Most likely you will still receive your benefits - but - please check with your SS office so you will know for sure. Why worry when the answer is so easy to obtain?
I recently got back pay from SSD for a closed period {March 2008-July 2009}, $16,900. When I filed for SSD we were married. We broke up in September of 2008.
I have paid child support and have never been late. Is my ex entitled to any of this back pay for child support? It is a one time lump sum payment and I'm currently unemployed and had to go to court this past July to reduce my support from $600 to $200 a month. This all was done through the court. Please help me, I am not a dead beat dad and have a lot of IOUs out there that will take a big chunk of the money.
By kev from Concord, NH
Kev, it's wonderful that you actually want to see to your children's financial welfare. Very few "men" have your stand-up attitude. Deeli and Lilac are right: you should ask the SSA office to be sure. However, since you're not in arrears, none of your lump sum should be garnished for child support. And yes, if you're permanently or long-term disabled, your children should receive checks of their own as your dependents. My children received checks as my husband's stepchildren when we got married. His disability was permanent, congestive heart failure. It rolled over to SSR from SSD when he turned 65. Their checks ceased when they turned 18 and weren't enrolled in college. Best to you as you travel this difficult road.
I'm owed $46,000 in child support. My ex was approved for SSDI and backpay. He just started receiving checks.There was a judgement made for so much to be paid to me for back child support out of each check. He will also get back pay for 3 years, will I receive that also to pay off what he owes?
By Charlene
Call your local Social Security Office and ask them. They can give you the right answer. Something you should consider is your "ex" also has back bills to pay too.
My ex-husband (the non-custodial parent) was recently approved to receive SSDI. Our son will receive a lump-sum payment and monthly payments. My ex has filed a petition not only to stop paying child support, but also to force me to turn over our son's lump-sum payment to him, stating that the lump-sum is meant to repay him for child support he paid during the SSDI application period.
I'm hiring an attorney. Does anyone know of a similar case? If so, what was the outcome? Thank you very much.
By Rachel
If you can afford to pay an attorney then you should try to find one that specializes in this type of case. Every case is different as well as state laws so you may wish to check as many places as possible (SS office, child support offices, etc).
According to your income, you may be able to get free legal services for something like this. Be sure to keep copies of all communication concerning this matter.
I am owed over $17,000.00 in back child support from a mother who gets official mental disability and benefits from SS administration. She is also receiving 1400.00 a month for her 3 year old because the man she lived with died; it's call survivors benefits. Can I get back child support from her disability payments and her survivors benefits?
And no, the man who died is not the parent of the child. The benefits are paid to her because she was living in same house but a different room. She gets 2000+ a month and I want my support arrears. Can I get those from the SS office?By Mike W
Call your local Social Security Office and talk to them. As far as the mother of your child collecting money from different sources, that isn't so unusual. I have a friend that collects a quite large some in disability from the state that she lived in when she got injured on the job, more than 20 years ago. She moved back to her home state because she couldn't afford to live in the state where she was injured on what she was drawing. She is still collecting that money, plus US Government disability/ plus retirement Social Security, and drawing off her ex husbands retirement social security. At the time she moved back here she was getting $1,000 a month from the state where she was injured and I'm sure it has increased a fair amount over the years.
That being said you have to talk to the Social Security Office to get the right answer to your question.
My husband just got back a lump sum payment from SSA, but he is behind 10,000 or more in child support. Will child support take out what is owed for child support and give him what's left?
It may be garnished. I would make an appointment with Social Security with all the documentation necessary to prove your case.
You should be asking your questions at your local Social Security office as well as whatever office is handling your child support as they are the only people who can give you the true answers.
Talk to the Social Security Administration and ask for help. Their contact info is here:
If they are not helpful or you need more help cutting through the red tape or figuring out what they are telling you, talk to your state senator. Go in person! If yours is like mine, they are amazing!
I found ours by putting in Google search my town name and the phrase state senator. His name came right up. Their services are free paid for by our tax dollars, so may this can help you!!
Good luck!
according to this site, "Under federal law, SSI benefits cannot be garnished to pay child support. ... It is considered to be a welfare benefit rather than an earned benefit like other SSA benefits."
however other ssa benefits like those earned after a life of working and paying into the system can be garnished
you have to send the income withholding order issued by the judge to your local Social Security office to collect
From your question your main interest seems to be in getting payment for back support but, as I stated before, if he already has his back payment check then you most likely will not be able to get any payment from that check (this type of payment for back support has to be arranged/filed through Social Security BEFORE the check is ever issued). The only way you may be able to get any of the money from his back payment check is: If he has not already spent the money, the court may be able to put a hold on part of that money (if he has it in a bank) until it is proven that he does or does not owe back support. Only the court can do this; either through your attorney or if support payments were paid through the court you can talk with them and they may help you.
No matter what, you will only be able to get a certain percentage of the check and that will not be the full amount he is in arrears.
Your main focus right now should be on what you will receive in the future as you have not stated how many children or their ages so his disability will affect your whole future support for these children.
Most likely, he has already filed for a change in support payments.
If he is on SSI he will no longer be legally obligated to pay ANY SUPPORT and you or the court cannot force him to and SS cannot hold any money from that benefit check no matter how much you and your children may need it. This is very serious.
If he is on SSDI (benefits from previous earnings) he WILL still be obligated to pay support and you can file with SS to have a portion of his benefit check paid to you for the back support as well as filing for SS benefit checks for your children (under age 19).
You MUST go to the SSA to find out what YOUR options are as you probably do not know whether he is getting SSI or SSDI and may not really understand the difference.
The difference in SSI and SSDI benefits can change your world.
Go to the SSA soon.
My husband is currently having child arrears garnished out of his paychecks. His children are in their mid 20s and he's been paying off arrears for 5 years now and only owes 3k more. He put off retirement a year after he was old enough to start collecting retirement benefits. We just found out he will get a lump sum for working till 67 instead of 66. Even though he's been paying $500 a month regularly will child support take his lump sum?
We also have a minor teen child of our own that will get benefits of approximately $500 a month based off her father's retirement. He has no issue continuing to pay the court ordered amount of $500 a month out of his monthly retirement amount so would they still take the lump sum just to pay it off sooner?
I do not believe they will be able to take the full check but some amount may be possible.
He can talk with SS but they may not have the final information available until just before the check is cut.
Since Payment is being paid by a court order - garnishment from his paychecks - you should see a family attorney to set up monthly payments out of his retirement check and maybe the attorney can help you with the lump sum payment.
This will cost attorney fees but it will probably have to be done at some time so it would be best to do it right away so there will be no missed months.
Arrears are paid to the mother because she made do when regular payments were not made so it has nothing to do with how old the children.
An attorney will have everything arranged through the court so you will know where you stand at all times.
You should know what her plans are as she is probably making arrangements to have his retirement set up for regular payments to continue and has probably asked for payment from this lump sum.
An attorney can get this information and address the issue in court.
Start with the Social Security office:
1 (800) 772-1213
You may want to talk to your lawyer also.
Post back with an update!
Hope everything works out well. Prayers!
I am about to retire. I owe back child support. Will my Social Security retirement be garnished? How much of it can be taken?
It is my understanding that your social security cannot be garnished. You can go to socialsecurity.gov. and double check with their site.
It can be garnished depending upon your other assets. Every case is different. You need to contact Social Security.
Social Security has laws/rules that have to be followed but states have rules and these can differ with each state so you should start with a personal visit to your SSA but you will then have to discuss this with whatever agency is responsible for collecting the child support.
States can have different rules about how long ago the child support was due as well the ages of the children and also the percentage that can be collected/withheld/garnished.
You can go to your local family services office and ask for legal assistance so you will know how your state handles this type of payment.
If your SS monthly payment is mixed with other funds in a bank account, you may have trouble keeping your other money safe from garnishment so you should check with an attorney so you will know where you stand.
Back payment/arrears in child support rarely just 'go away' so you need to talk with an attorney especially if you have other assets that can be seized for payment.
My dad is about to get SSI and owes back child support from when I was younger. My mama stopped it, but he still owes something. Will Social Security take that from his pay and if so will I receive anything? I'm 18.
By K. Michelle
You will have to talk to your local Social Security Office and the Office of Child Support Enforcement. The way I look at is you are an adult, why would you get anything? I would think something should go to your mother being she spent hard earned money raising you.
Talk to Social Security.
My daughter's father hasn't been in her life for years. The courts ordered him to pay $165 a month, but he couldn't keep a job for whatever excuse he wants to give. I have been disabled myself since 2010 and I receive a check for her as well. Her father smoked like a chimney and ended up with COPD and congestive heart failure. Now he has to be on oxygen 24/7 and is applying for disability. I understand that there are 2 kinds, SSI (for those who haven't earned enough through working) and SSDI (for those who have worked a legitimate job and made money over the table.) Unfortunately her father worked a lot of "under the table" jobs so I doubt he will qualify for SSDI.
I've heard that if he gets the SSI, all of his back child support (he owes roughly $10,000) will be forgiven. Please someone tell me I'm wrong! That would be so unfair to the children of these deadbeat dads!Only the Social Security Administration can answer your questions. You can make an appointment at your local SSA office to address your questions.
In 2011 my ex-husband received a lump sum payment from SSA for SSD. He owed $28,360 in back child support and an active garnishment was in place. The back support was collected from his lump sum payment. At the same time my son received a lump sum payment from SSA as well. The payments were similar. SSA processed the benefit lump sum payment and sent 3360.80 of the back support. For almost 4 years they had not paid the rest of the back support. Will I receive the rest of my payment plus interest?
By Shannon J
You may be able to get answers through your local SS office but your best bet would be an attorney who specializes in this area. This is a complicated area and not easily answered.
An attorney may want a lump sum payment or a percentage of whatever they collect so be careful and ask a lot of questions about payment.
My ex died owing 20,000+ in back child support. My son was 19 at the time of his death. He was 62 and was not drawing Social Security, but living with his parents and not working. There was literally nothing in his estate.
Is there a way that his Social Security would be required to meet the arrears for child support? This is in the state of Texas.
By CD
Have you been working with Child Support Enforcement? If so, I would have had him arrested for non-payment of child support. As long as he wasn't working, you wouldn't have been out anything, and it might have taught him a lesson, if he had to spend a little time in jail. That being said, talk to your local office of Child Support Enforcement(it might have a different name where you live) and call your local Social Security Office and make an appointment to talk to them.
My son receives SSI because he is disabled. His father and I had shared parenting, they had stopped his child support because he has heart problems and was getting disability, but he is now in prison for 3 years. I have tried to apply to receive benefits for our son and Social Security tells me he isn't eligible at this time. Keep in mind my ex was behind on support before it stopped.
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My ex-husband owes over $16,000 in back child support. He lives in GA and currently receives SSDI. Does anyone know what percentage they can take for child support? Also, why can't SSI checks be garnished for child support?
