One enforcement mechanism that states, including Texas, sometimes use to try to collect child support from parents who are supposed to be paying child support but have failed to make payments is wage garnishment. This is when some of a person’s wages are deducted to cover a debt. As a recent study demonstrates, child-support-related garnishments make up a rather large percentage of wage garnishments in America.
The study, done by the research arm of the business services company ADP, reviewed aggregated payroll data from 2013. The study found that the percentage of U.S. workers who are subject to wage garnishments is around 7.2 percent. According to the study, child-support-related garnishments make up around 40 percent of U.S. wage garnishments.
The study also found that it is more common for men to have a child-support-related wage garnishment than it is for women to have such a garnishment. This may reflect differences between the genders when it comes to the assignment of child custody and the assignment of child support obligations.
State child support enforcement mechanisms, such as child-support-related wage garnishments, can play an important role in helping parents who have not received child support payments that they were supposed to. Having an ex-spouse or ex-partner fail to comply with a child support order can be a very scary thing for a parent to face; it can leave them seriously concerned over whether they will have sufficient resources to properly care for their children. Child support enforcement mechanisms may be able to help rectify these sorts of situations.
Texas child support attorneys can assist in answering questions parents have about child support enforcement mechanisms and processes in the state.