California Child Support Garnishment Legal Guidelines
Child support is the provision of money for the upkeep of children of separated or divorced parents. A mandate to pay child support legally binding. California's laws on child support are set forth in Family Codes 4050 to 4076. In California, the amount of a child support order is fixed by the Family Law Judge or Court Commissioner. Child support is normally given for a specific period of time, usually until the child is an adult or until the child completes education or finds employment. If a parent fails to pay the required child support, legal proceedings can be instituted to garnish his paycheck for back payments and current payments. This means that, if a judgment is entered against him for nonpayment of child support, the court can take money out of his paycheck directly from the employer in order to pay the required payments.
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California Garnishment Laws
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Californian laws assign the foremost priority to garnishment that is done for child support. This means that, if the employer has a court order to garnish wages for child support, any other garnishment can be put on hold; likewise, the same rule applies if the employee is already subject to wage garnishment for child support. The provisions of these rules are administered under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. Californian law states that child support garnishment takes precedence over garnishment of wages for spousal alimony as well.
When Does Garnishment Occur?
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Garnishment takes place when the court determines that child support is owed. The court determines what amount will be garnished, for how long and in what manner. This gives the employer complete rights to garnish employee wages. Garnishment starts immediately after the court order. If there is a delay in child support payments that was longer than 12 weeks, an additional 5 percent interest will be added to the amount owed in child support. In normal conditions, this garnishment will continue until back payments are made current. In some cases, California allows the garnishment to continue until the child reaches the age of 18 years if the court reasonably believes that child support payments will not remain current any other way. Garnishment generally is only suspended if the garnished parent is in jail or his income falls below state minimum poverty lines.
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How Much is Garnished?
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For child support, Californian laws stipulate that up to 50 percent of disposable income can be garnished if the employee is currently supporting the child or 60 percent if he is not supporting the child. Disposable income is the amount of pay brought home after legal deductions, such as taxes and social security.
How Does Garnishment Work?
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Garnishment begins when the employer is sent a Salary Garnishment Child Support form from the State Controller's Office. This procedure is established in California under Reference Payroll Procedures Manual Section H 300. Along with the original copy of this document, a copy and a copy of the court order has to be submitted to the State Controller's Garnishment Office. Child Support Enforcement Agency offices use this information to deliver the garnishment money to the beneficiary.
Benefits
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California law places a high premium on parental support of children, so children do not become wards of the state and/or to ensure that parents are responsible for the upkeep and support of their own kin. If child support payments are not made, California allows this garnishment to ensure that back payments are made current and that support continues for the duration of the child's youth.
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References
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Comments
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OK so I work 80 hours 4 2 weeks min wage, have my daughter taken at year 1 never to see or hear from her , and now they take most my money without even looking into the fact my support case was closed , shes almost 18 now and I always paid my support till they did not know were to send it so they sent it back and closed the case, now without even a hint they takin monthly support and some insurance wich so far been over $500 for first month having no clue for what to whom or even the name or nothing medical post tax that's all I know..my last check my part was $200 was told nothing was to be taken out of the 3rd check of the month which happens onlt twice a year , instead they took support and 3 ins payment of the month for a total of $570.00 insurance and $150 support and want me to go into a court room seeing the mother after 18 years of my hell and think I can contain what I've been dealing with for all this time still not having a clue of what my daughter even looks like , wishful thinking , I'm thinking Ill pass on that test.
