These are orders to employers, banks and others who may owe money to the absent parent to pay the delinquent child support instead of the absent parent. Other methods of enforcement include real estate liens, personal property liens and attachments. These methods are usually more time consuming and, in the case of attachments, may involve large cash deposits to cover sheriff's fees, storage and court costs. A civil contempt order is one way that a judge can enforce a child support order. In certain circumstances an absent parent may be sent to jail until he or she pays off the child support arrearage.
Civil contempt is a very complicated area of law.
It is recommended that you consult an attorney or the D.C.S.E. rather than trying to obtain a civil contempt order on your own. The fact that an absent parent does not live in this state may make child support collection more difficult. However, all fifty states have passed laws which increase interstate cooperation. You may wish to contact your attorney to discuss the possibility of registering your child support order in the absent parent's state. D.C.S.E. has the ability to cooperate with IVD agencies in other states through administrative procedures.