Overview of Wisconsin Child Support Services for Parents

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All families paying and receiving child or family support or alimony (maintenance) get "financial management" services, which include:

• entering the information about the court case and support orders into KIDS,
• working with employers to withhold income
• processing payments,
• collecting, recording, and disbursing payments,
• collecting, recording, and disbursing fees,
• providing monthly account statements,
• providing payment coupons,
• providing payment information by phone and online
• providing a pay-by-phone option to payers,
• providing a direct-deposit option to payees, and
• correcting errors in account balances.

Some fees might be required.

If you are a parent or guardian of children and you need financial support from the other parent(s), the Wisconsin Child Support Program can help you with the following "case management" services:

• working with parents referred to child support by a public-assistance agency,
• accepting an application for services from a parent or guardian who does not receive public assistance,
• entering family data in the Wisconsin Kids Information Data System (KIDS) to create a child support case.

After the application or referral information has been entered in KIDS, the child support agency determines which of the following services are needed on your case:

• locating the other parent and his or her financial assets,
• scheduling genetic tests for the child and the man or men who might be the child's father),
• preparing the papers and taking the case to court to legally identify the father and to set a support order,
• ensuring that one or both parents provide health insurance for the child if possible,
• using all available and appropriate tools to collect the support owed, including setting up income withholding with the payer's employer,
• reviewing the support order periodically in case it needs to be changed, and
• ending the support order when appropriate.

Note: Child support agencies do not handle child-custody issues. Contact your local family court commissioner or a private attorney for help settling custody and placement disputes.

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