What happens if you don't pay child support?

Children have the right to receive care and support from their parents. People who have children must appropriate emotional and financial provisions for their kids. Oregon's divorce and custody cases set child support orders because it is the public policy that dependent children should be taken care of from the resources of both of their parents. Even when parents are not in a relationship, they still must take care of their children. If a parent does not provide willingly for their child, getting a child support order forces them to do so.

If the paying parent does not pay child support according to the support order, they may be found in contempt of the court. The Oregon Child Support Program, the Oregon Department of Justice and the District Attorney can take legal action to enforce the child support obligation. The Oregon court system may give the owing parent jail time for not paying child support. Alternatively, the parent may be given a deadline to pay the delinquent child support to avoid going to jail. The Oregon Child Support Program may also implement enforcement actions on a parent for failure to pay child support, including:

• Collecting tax refunds
• Garnishing wages
• Suspending driver's,occupational, and recreational licenses
• Reporting the parent to credit reporting agencies
• Placing a lien on the owing parent's property located in Oregon