During a child custody or child support proceeding, child support may be ordered for one party to pay the other an amount calculated by the court. This amount is meant for the party to assist the other parent in the financial responsibilities that are intermixed with child care. Child support collection is binding on the noncustodial parent. Such an order can be carried out through a wage garnishment. The most common instance is when payment is past due.

This means that a portion of your wages is removed from your paycheck and ultimately delivered to the custodial payment before you even see it. The employer will be served with the order, and then must enforce the wage garnishment on the employee. This even includes an employer of an independent contractor. A child support order must be complied with by both the employee and employer until the date on the order, or until the issuing agency notifies the parties involved. Thus, the employer is bound by Georgia law to enforce the order by garnishing the wages of the noncustodial parent.

After being served with a child support order, the employer must make the first payment no more than 14 days after the date listed on the order. Then, the employer should withhold and send payments to the Georgia Family Support Registry within two days of the employee’s payday.  The employer must send in a payment for every payday. An employer may not accumulate deductions to make one large payment. If an amount to withhold each pay period is not listed on the order then the employer must calculate one to ensure that payment is made. For instance, the employer should multiply the monthly amount ordered by 12 to represent the 12 months of the year and then divide that amount by the total pay periods in a year.

Even if a child support order is made by an out-of-state court, a Georgia employer must honor the out-of-state support order. This is because Georgia follows the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. Thus, an employer must follow the out of state laws when determining how much to deduct from the pay period, where to send the payment, and for how long to make these payments.  

The employer must also follow the laws of the employee’s work state for certain items. This situation occurs when you have an employer located in one state and an employee working in a different state. Here, the employer must follow the laws of the employee’s work state when determining when to begin and end withholding, how disposable earnings are defined, withholding limits, and how to allocate payments if the employee is subject to more than one type of order of support or multiple child support order.  

If you are due child support, please contact the attorneys at Vayman & Teitelbaum. Our skilled attorneys will advocate for your rights and ensure that you receive any child support that you are due.