When a Maryland court issues a child support order, it is not a request. You must pay the required support each month. If you fail to pay or fall behind on your payments for any reason, you may face a number of serious financial and legal consequences.

Child Support Enforcement

Every Maryland county has a Child Support Enforcement Agency. These offices assist parents who are entitled to receive support payments to collect what they are owed by the other parent. The agency is authorized by law to take a number of actions to collect any current or back-owed child support, including but not limited to the following:

• Withholding support payments from your wages, unemployment benefits, and workers’ compensation benefits;
• Intercept any lottery winnings or refunds that you are owed on your federal or Maryland income tax returns;
• Report your unpaid child support debts to your employer or credit bureaus;
• Garnish your bank accounts;
• Place an administrative lien on your real or personal property (such as your car), which can lead to seizure of those assets.

Affecting Your Legal Rights

In addition to enforcement actions to collect a child support debt, the government can also suspend or limit your legal privileges in other areas, as well. For example, the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration can suspend your driver’s license if you are more than 60 days behind on child support payments. You can only get your license back by petitioning the court that issued the original child support order.

Additionally, if you require any sort of professional license for your occupation, that license can also be suspended for failure to pay child support. The federal government may also deny your request to issue or renew a passport.

Criminal Prosecution

In some cases, failure to pay child support can even lead to criminal charges. This typically occurs for one of two reasons. First, the parent required to pay support intentionally moves out of the state of Maryland to avoid their obligations. This can be prosecuted as a federal crime if the amount of support owed is over $5,000. Second, a Maryland court holds the parent in civil contempt for failing to pay child support. The court can then order the parent jailed until they pay enough of what they owe to “purge” the contempt charge.

Failure to pay child support is also considered a misdemeanor under Maryland law. While that may not sound too serious, a conviction actually carries a potential prison term of up to three years. In many cases, however, the court will order probation instead and allow the parent to make up their missed payments over a three-year period.

Contact Clinton, Maryland, Family Law Attorney Robert Castro Today

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions contact our office to speak to an experienced lawyer at (301) 870-1200.