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Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Michael Mantell with another Family Law Matters. Joined as always with the owner and managing partner of Primus Family Law Group, Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel. Hi Bonnie.

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Hi Michael, how are you doing today? Okay dear, thank you very much for asking. How are you doing? I’m okay. Good.

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Bonnie, today I’d like to cover an area regarding child support. You work it out with your attorney, the other side works it out with their attorney, the court agrees, now what? When do I get child support? How does it work? Well, you know what Michael, that’s a really good question because a lot of people have been asking, you know, how long does it take to get it? And it really depends what path you’re going in. If you’re going to family court or like you say, you have an agreement and you stipulate it to the amount.

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Normally the orders will say the effective date, either the first of the coming month. And so the person who’s supposed to be paying support will write you a check or send you Venmo or Zelle or whatever you are working out and agreeing to or the court says you, the court doesn’t say the method, the court will say the date. So usually it’s the first of the month.

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Sometimes you can request and the court will grant you pay half on the first and half on the 15th because you have your own bills to pay. There’s also another way you can deal with child support, Michael, and that’s through the state, through the Department of Child Support Services. In those situations, somebody’s wages will be garnished.

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Now everybody gets, oh my God, my wages are garnished. That’s a bad thing. It’s not a bad thing.

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It used to be back in the day, back when you and I were young, that if your wages were garnished, it’s because you were a naughty person and you didn’t pay what you were owed. The way it is today is some people just don’t wanna have to deal with it. I don’t wanna have to deal with waiting for your check and what if it comes late and what if… So the state just takes the money direct from your wages and the recipient gets a handy-dandy credit card and the money loads on the credit card.

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So it seems like it’s seamless to say, to use that word. That- It can be. There are, I mean, it’s a lot more seamless when you’re paid directly.

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So I owe you child support, Michael. I write you a check. You know when you’re gonna get it.

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I know I’ve written it. When the state gets involved, now you have a government agency and what government agency ever moves quickly? None that I know of. So unfortunately in the beginning, the recipient ends up waiting a couple of months before they can get it, but then the state will collect the arrears and you will get that as well.

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And so you’re gonna probably get a little bit more in the beginning, but you have to wait for them to get it started. Now I have clients who say, I wish it was that easy. He owes me back for the kids’ camp and school and medical expenses and I’m not getting it.

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How does that enter into this? Well, medical expenses and agreed upon extracurricular activities or childcare are mandatory add-ons to child support. So if somebody has a court order, be it by a stipulation or a judge told them, you can enforce that court order. And what’s nice about enforcing an already existing court order is you can ask the court to make the other side pay all of your fees.

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You should not have to go to court to enforce what is already a court order. So if you do, the court will bank the other side by making them pay more fees than they would in other circumstances. I have a feeling this is a real stumbling block for many couples.

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I hear it a lot. If people have questions and they want to talk with you about this, how can they get your time and speak with you? Well, you can reach us directly at 619-574-8000 and my people will put you on my calendar for a free 30 minute phone consultation or you can reach us on the website at www.PrimusFamilyLaw.com.