Child Support - Keeping Your Account Straight
When a family court sets child support, the parties’ and their attorneys are responsible for establishing an account with either the local child support registry or Texas Child Support State Disbursement Unit (SDU) in San Antonio, Texas. A central purpose is to provide a neutral third party to monitor the obligor’s payments and report arrearages to the Office of the Attorney General. While many of my clients groan about paying child support through the SDU (or through wage withholding) rather than directly paying the custodial parent, I remind them that the account eliminates future disputes between the parents, if used properly.
Child support registries and the SDU are run by humans, and as we know, humans are subject to making mistakes. Whether you are the child support obligor or obligee, I highly encourage you to request an audit of your child support account at least every two years. This is as important as checking the accuracy of your credit report on a regular basis.
If an error is made in the account, it is far better to clear it up sooner rather than later. Little is as frustrating as pouring over pages of child support history and trying to reconcile obligations, credits, missed payments, and interest charges.
Another quick check is to review your pay stub deductions. If you are the obligor parent, verify that your employer is deducting the correct amount from each check. If the employer is not deducting enough, it is ultimately the obligor’s responsibility to make sure the proper amount is paid.