If you’re a parent who’s no longer with your partner, you want to maintain the best possible quality of life for your children. Child support payments serve your children’s interests by ensuring both parents contribute to the child’s care. But what if your ex-spouse is not making their child support payments? Or what if you have been ordered to pay child support and have concerns about missing payments?
Lauren Taylor Law is here for you. Keep reading for help navigating the consequences of not paying child support in South Carolina.
What Happens If Parents Miss Child Support Payments in South Carolina?
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Failure to pay court-ordered child support in full can lead to serious legal consequences. In South Carolina, a parent who misses, underpays or refuses a child support payment may be charged with contempt of court.
First, the parent must attend a Rule to Show Cause hearing to show the judge why they missed the payment. The court will notify the parent of the date and time for this hearing. If the judge finds the parent in contempt of court, possible sentences include:
- Jail time up to a year.
- A fine of up to $1500
- Community service up to 300 hours.
- A combination of these penalties.
Further potential consequences of not paying child support in South Carolina include:
- Seizing the parent’s wages (wage garnishment) or benefits.
- Disqualification from receiving some government benefits.
- Impact on the parent’s military standing, if applicable.
- Impairment of the parent’s credit record.
- Ineligibility for many kinds of loans.
- Suspension or revocation of licenses.
- Denial of a United States passport.
Whether this is a first-time or repeat offense can influence the severity of the consequences.
How Do I Enforce Child Support in South Carolina?
If your child’s parent is not paying child support, it’s crucial to understand your legal rights and resources. Child support is a legal obligation when a court or the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) has mandated a parent to pay the other parent to support their children. The payments may be made either directly or via the court.
This legal obligation does not happen automatically when parents divorce. Your first step is to confirm that you have a court-ordered or DCSS-mandated child support arrangement.
If your ex-partner has a legal obligation to pay child support and fail to pay, how the enforcement process starts depends on your arrangement:
- If your ex arranges to make payments via the Clerk of Court’s office, the clerk will automatically issue a Rule to Show Cause and schedule a hearing.
- If the arrangement is for your ex-partner to pay you directly, you or your attorney will need to file a child support enforcement action. This will start the legal process to hold the non-paying parent accountable and ensure you receive the support you are due.
If you need help opening a child support case and recovering funds due to you, an expert family law attorney can guide you through each step and represent you in court. You can also approach South Carolina’s DCSS for help if you cannot afford an attorney.
What If a Parent Moves Away From South Carolina to Avoid Child Support?
Court-ordered child support agreements are enforceable in South Carolina even if a parent moves out of state. States will cooperate to enforce child support if necessary.
If your ex-partner moves away from South Carolina to avoid paying child support, you have legal recourse. Likewise, if you are obligated to pay child support and are considering moving out of state, you should be aware of the legal consequences of failing to pay.
Every state in the U.S., including South Carolina, has adopted a version of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). This law recognizes that states can enforce child support payments and penalties for failing to pay even if a parent moves out of state. If the parent obligated to pay moves out of South Carolina while the parent with custody remains, South Carolina will still enforce child support.
There will always be a court to enforce the child support agreement no matter where in the U.S. the parents reside. As long as the agreement remains in force, the parent with custody will always have recourse to recover support funds owed to them.
A parent moving out of state to avoid paying child support may also be subject to consequences under federal law as defined in the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 (DPPA). The DPPA applies to parents who:
- Willfully fail to pay child support for a child who lives in another state for over a year or the unpaid amount exceeds $5,000, or
- Travel in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to avoid paying if they fail to pay for over a year or the unpaid amount exceeds $5,000, or
- Willfully fail to pay child support for a child who lives in another state for over two years or the unpaid amount exceeds $10,000
If a judge finds a parent guilty under this law, they must pay all the child support they owe. They can also be punished by up to six months in jail if this is their first offense or two years for repeat offenders.
Can a Parent in South Carolina Stop Visitation for Failure to Pay Child Support?
No. Failure to pay child support does not disqualify a parent from exercising their right to visit their children. Child support obligations are a separate legal issue from visitation rights in South Carolina.
If your ex-partner has visitation rights, you may not use missed payments as a justification to prevent them from visiting their children. If you have failed to make child support payments but have visitation rights, you may arrange to visit your children unless there is another legal impediment.
The separation between visitation rights and child support also applies in the other direction. A parent obligated to pay child support may not stop paying to punish the other parent for not allowing them access to their children.
If you have legal concerns about child support or visitation rights, seek professional legal advice about your options.
Legal Advice and Representation for Child Support in South Carolina
If you haven’t received your child support payments or have legal concerns about missing payments yourself, you need expert advice to navigate South Carolina’s child support laws. You need an advocate you can trust to fight for you every step of the way.
Contact Lauren Taylor Law for legal advice and representation you can rely on. Lauren Taylor is an experienced South Carolina child support attorney with offices in Charleston and Greenville. Trust Lauren Taylor Law for compassion when hearing you and tenacity, expertise and skill when fighting for you.
Call us today at 843–790–9009 to book your consultation.
South Carolina divorce attorney Lauren Taylor practices family law in Charleston and Greenville. She graduated from the Charlotte School of Law, and has been practicing for more than ten years.
Since the firm’s inception in 2012, Mrs. Taylor has helped hundreds of people navigate the uncertainties surrounding the family and criminal court process.
She has cultivated a team that ensures each case has a strategy crafted specifically to the clients needs and desires.
Her commitment to top notch service has led her to open two additional offices in the low country where she now resides with her husband Michael and her golden retriever, Buster.