If a non-custodial parent (NCP) has the ability to pay child support and chooses willfully not to, DCSS may ask a Family Court Judge to find the NCP in contempt of court for failing to comply with a child support order. If the court finds the NCP in contempt, the judge may order a purge payment, impose a sanction and even put the NCP in jail.

DCSS’s authorized enforcement measures include:

• Consumer credit reporting of NCP’s verified past due child support (arrears) as unpaid debt.
• Criminal non-support prosecution.
• Intercepting monies due to NCP including: Benefit checks such as worker’s and/or unemployment compensation, lottery winnings, state and/or federal tax returns.
• Filing lawsuits to recover assets that are transferred from the NCP to another individual, so the NCP can avoid paying child support.
• License suspension, including: Driver’s, Business, Occupational, Professional or Recreational (fishing, hunting, trapping).
• Passport denial.
• Third party collections, including: Banks holding money belonging to NCP, or from someone who owes money to NCP.