Enforcement of Support Orders
District Court Trustee enforces support ordered to be paid through the Kansas Payment Center and most orders authorize income withholding. Partial payments or missed paychecks can require you to make payments to the Kansas Payment Center.
Payments made that do not follow the court order often require a Satisfaction of Judgment or Court Order for credit, which may require a Motion and $62 filing fee paid to the clerk. Please contact our office if you have questions about payments, including past due balance, if any. The Kansas Payment Center is a State Disbursement Unit (SDU) as required by federal law to process support payments.
Frequent Questions
My ex-spouse has stopped paying child support. Will a warrant be issued for his/her arrest?
When an individual who is court-ordered to pay child support does not comply with that court order, a citation for contempt will be issued by this office, and the obligor parent will be ordered to appear for a hearing. If that individual was personally served and they fail to appear for court, a warrant may be issued at that time.
What is the difference between an "income withholding order" and a "garnishment"?
Income withholding is an ongoing order requiring an employer/payor of income to withhold and remit a periodic payment for support (typically weekly, biweekly, semimonthly or monthly). The periodic payment is capped pursuant to the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA), and further restricted by KSA 23-3104(f), at 50% of disposable income (gross income less mandatory withholdings for taxes). A garnishment, however, is a ‘one-time’ process, such as a bank account garnishment, where the order of garnishment only allows a ‘one-time’ seizure of the garnishee’s funds at a specific point in time. Subsequent garnishments require subsequent orders, unlike an income withholding order which requires the periodic withholding until further order of the court.