How Support is Paid Out Federal rules and state law control how support collections are paid out. Most payments received during a month are applied to the following kinds of debts, in this order: Current support, medical support, or alimony due in that month on all court orders; Any other court ordered payments on past-due amounts; Any remaining past-due amounts, such as interest; and Any court costs and fees. In certain situations and methods of collection, the support may be paid out in other ways, according to the rules. See below for examples of these exceptions. Support paid to two or more cases Under the most common payout process (outlined above) with a parent paying support for two or more families, current support due that month is paid to all families before any past-due support. The payment is divided in proportion to the current support owed to each family. Here are some examples: Example 1 The paying parent is ordered to pay $400 each month for current support to two families: $240 a month to Family A (or 60% of monthly payments) $160 a month to Family B (or 40% of monthly payments) The parent pays $100 every week. Based on the percentage listed in the order and outlined above, each weekly payment is paid out like this: Family A receives 60%, ($100 x 60%) = $60 a week Family B receives 40%, ($100 x 40%) = $40 a week Example 2 The paying parent is ordered to pay $400 each month for current support to two families: $240 a month to Family A (or 60% of monthly payments) $160 a month to Family B (or 40% of monthly payments) The paying parent also owes past-due support to Family B The parent pays $110 every week. Based on the percentage listed in the order and outlined above, each weekly payment is paid out like this: Family A receives 60%, ($110 x 60%) = $66 a week Family B receives 40%, ($110 x 40%) = $44 a week After Family A receives the $240 due for the month, any additional payments will go towards the past-due support owed to Family B for the month. Example 3 The paying parent is ordered to pay $400 each month for current support to two families: $240 a month to Family A (or 60% of monthly payments) $160 a month to Family B (or 40% of monthly payments) The paying parent also has an order to pay $40 a month to Family B for past-due support. The paying parent also owes birth costs. The parent pays $120 every week. Based on the percentage listed in the order and outlined above, each weekly payment is paid out like this: Family A receives 60%, ($120 x 60%) = $72 a week Family B receives 40%, ($120 x 40%) = $48 a week After Family A receives the $240 due for the month, any additional payments will go towards the past-due support owed to Family B for the month. The parent's payments will not be used to pay birth costs until all past-due support is paid to Family B, unless the paying parent uses a special coupon to make a payment to a specific case. (see below for instructions.) Making Payments to a Specific Case Do you have more than one child support case? Do you owe past-due support on one of them? Would you like to make an extra payment to JUST the one case you owe past-due support on? If the answer is yes, use a payment coupon and fill out the "designated payment" section of the coupon. See a sample payment coupon that shows how to designate a payment to a specific case.
