Income-withholding orders require employers to hold back money from an employee’s pay.

We issue income-withholding orders (or IWOs) soon after a child support order is final. We also issue them when the parent paying support takes a new job.

The law requires parents to pay child support by income withholding. Income-withholding orders are not a sign that someone is behind on their payments.

Income-withholding orders come with many requirements. Some important requirements include:

• Honoring income-withholding orders from child support programs. Orders from our office have the same legal status as a court order. Not honoring orders from us can lead to sanctions from the court.
• Respecting parents who pay support. By law, you cannot fire, punish, or refuse to hire someone because of a child support withholding order.
• Starting your withholding right away. You must start holding back money right away. The maximum you can wait is the first pay period that comes 10 days after the date of the order.
• Sending in payments just as quickly. Once you have held back the correct amount of money, you have 7 business days to send in the payment. Most payments go to the State Disbursement Unit but check each order to be sure. Put the paying parent’s participant ID and case number on each payment.
• Following the same order until you get a new one—or the employee leaves for good. Income-withholding orders last as long as that employee works for you. This applies to seasonal workers as well. You should honor the original order until you receive a new one or until the employee leaves permanently. Follow these directions to notify the state of any employee terminations.

The court considers the parent who pay support responsible for their payments.

We recommend monitoring your child support account after every pay period to make sure the payment went through.

Contact us. We answer questions from both parents, as well as employers of all sizes.