Parents will typically do whatever they can to provide for their children and they want to make sure kids are safe and have the things they need. Many parents take their responsibility to support and care for their kids very seriously. However, many parents are limited in these abilities by their income.
Being unable to afford things for a child can be enormously stressful and frustrating. However, if one of things a parent can’t afford or refuses to pay is child support, he or she could be facing some very serious penalties if action is not taken to address the situation.
Parents who fail to pay child support in California, whether they are avoiding it or it has become financially impossible to keep up with payments, are violating a court order. Because of this, they could be facing:
- Criminal charges and jail time
- Loss of professional and driver’s licenses
- Steep financial penalties
- Wage garnishment.
- The appearance of their name and picture on websites that publicly identify so-called deadbeat parents
However, the truth is that not every parent is willfully failing in the requirement to pay child support. In fact, many parents would certainly accept support and resources to help them stay current with payments, but they may be embarrassed or they may not understand their options. Unfortunately, when push comes to shove, delinquency is delinquency and there are serious consequences for failing to pay child support for any reason.
If you are a parent who is at risk of falling behind on child support payments or have already missed payments, you should know that you can limit the damage that can be done as a result of a failure to pay child support by seeking legal support. Identifying an appropriate resolution sooner, rather than later, such as requesting the court to modify or change the amount of child support, can keep the situation from getting worse.