• The person caring for the child
• The City of New York if the child is, or was, receiving public assistance (welfare)
• The child (although, this usually applies only to older children)

At your court appearance, a support magistrate (sup-PORT MAJ-is-trayt) will hear, or listen to, the case and make an order for child support. The order for child support is a piece of paper that tells you how much support you have to pay, how often you have to pay it, and where to send it. A support magistrate is similar to a judge and has the power to make decisions about child support and paternity (pa-TERN-i-tee) cases. A paternity case is about who the father of a child is.

If you miss a court date, a support magistrate can issue a default judgment (de-FALT JUDG-ment). A default judgment is an order that is made when someone does not show up for court. In child support cases, the default judgment is an order for child support against the non-custodial parent. The order is based on the information the custodial parent gave to the court.

If you want to cancel the order, you must file a motion to vacate a default judgment. This is a written request asking the court to cancel the order. You must give the court a good reason for not showing up.

The court can also order retroactive support (re-tro-ACK-tiv sup-PORT). This means you have to pay support from the time the petition was filed, even if that was long before you went to court. Retroactive support does not typically go back to when the child was born. It just goes back to when the custodial parent first filed the petition for child support.

If you do not pay child support, you will owe arrears (a-REERS). Arrears means unpaid child support. If you owe arrears, the court can add a set amount to your payment until you have paid all the money you owe.

• A carefully completed Financial Disclosure Affidavit.
• Documentation that proves your salary, such as a pay stub.
• Documentation that shows your Social Security or disability benefits, worker’s compensation, unemployment benefits, veteran’s benefits, pension or retirement funds investments, fellowships, or annuities.
• Information about any Medicaid, Home Relief, or Food Stamps you receive.
• Proof of expenses, such as FICA and New York City taxes. These expenses will be subtracted from your income before the court determines your support payments.
• Proof of expenses, such as utility bills, car payment bills, credit card statements, supermarket receipts, and others. These may be considered when the court determines your support payments.
• If you have been ordered to pay support for another child, bring a copy of the order and proof of the payments you have made. Some ways to prove that you have paid are receipts for money orders, canceled checks, or pay stubs showing that the support has been removed.

If someone brings a paternity case against you, and you cannot afford a lawyer, you can ask the support magistrate to appoint (give you) a lawyer for free. You can also hire your own lawyer. If you start a paternity case, the court may not give you a lawyer, even if you cannot afford one.

Go to the SCU office (located at 151 West Broadway, 4th floor, in Manhattan), and ask to speak with a customer service representative. You can also call the Office of Child Support Enforcement at (888) 208-4485.

You have the right to tell the court that you do not agree with the final order. This is called an objection (ob-JEKT-shun). If you receive a copy of the order in court the day it was made, you have 30 days to file an objection in writing. However, if the order was mailed, you have 35 days (from the day it was mailed) to file an objection in writing. You can file the objection with the clerk of the Family Court where the decision was made. A judge will decide the case. You may not have to come back to court for another hearing. But you must continue to pay the child support until the court changes the order. The decision will be mailed to you. For more information, see the LIFT guide “How to File an Objection or a Rebuttal to a Child Support Order.”

Once there is a court order to pay child support, you must pay. If you do not pay, you will have arrears. They WILL NOT go away, even after your child turns 21. Declaring bankruptcy will NOT get rid of arrears either.

SCU has different ways to get the money from you.

• SCU can have your employer take the child support directly from your paycheck. (By law, your employer must do this. But your employer cannot fire you because of it.) This is called garnishing your wages (GAR-nish-ing your WAYJ-es).
• SCU can take your state or federal tax refund before you get it. SCU can also take money directly from your bank account.
• If you owe more than a few months of support, SCU can suspend your driver’s license or professional licenses until you have paid the arrears.
• If you owe large amounts of money, and SCU or the custodial parent asks the court to find that you are willfully violating (WIL-ful-ee VY-o-lay-ting) the support order, you could be put in jail for up to six months. Willfully violating means not following the order on purpose.

If the custodial parent receives public assistance, SCU will automatically collect the support. If you do not owe arrears, $100 of your monthly payment will go directly to the custodial parent. This is $100 for the household, not for each child. If you do owe arrears, support will go toward the arrears first. The city will still collect support payments from you even if you give money directly to the custodial parent. The city may also reduce the child’s welfare budget to recover this “extra” money received by the family.

If your income is high enough, your children may receive more money by getting support from you instead of from public assistance. If you are the father of all the children in the home of the mother, and she can show that you will support them, taking them off public assistance should not be a problem. For example, if the mother has children by other fathers on her public assistance budget, taking your children off is more difficult. The state wants all children in a household to have the same income. So the mother might not be able to take only your children off of public assistance.

In most of New York State, non-custodial parents cannot start child support cases. Some courts in New York City allow non-custodial parents to start child support cases. However, custodial parents can refuse to accept the support, and the court cannot force them. If you want to support your children, but do not know where they are, you can put the money in a separate bank account for when you are able to find them.