As any parent raising a child alone can attest, every bit of financial support helps. For parents who are owed child support payments but aren't receiving them, the Colorado Division of Child Support Enforcement has many ways of ensuring that child support payments are made. Here are just a few of them:

1. Income-related enforcement: If you're behind on making child support payments, CSE could arrange to have current and past-due payments garnished from your paycheck. If you've just gotten a new job, your employer is required to notify the state that you've been hired. This is one way CSE tracks down parents who fail to make payments on their own. If you don't have a job, the payments may be deducted from your unemployment or workers' compensation benefits.

2. Suspensions and denials: The state has the authority to suspend your driver's license if you haven't been paying child support. If that happens, you'll need to obtain a Notice of Compliance and meet the Division of Motor Vehicles' requirements in order to get your license reinstated. This also extends to other licenses you might hold, such as a professional or occupational license, or even the recreational license you need for hunting and fishing. Even your passport request could be denied if you fail to make payments.

3. Intercepts: These are blockades to tax refunds or other payments that are owed to you by the government. You may be denied your federal or state tax refund if you have a past-due child support balance, whether or not you're making payments. The same holds true of state vendor payments. If you're in a contract with the state to provide goods or services for a fee, the state can withhold those fees and apply them to your child support balance. Did you get lucky with a scratch-off lottery ticket recently? The state may use your winnings to pay what you owe your child's other parent. The same goes for gambling winnings and unclaimed property.

4. Judicial actions: Don't forget that you can still be taken to court for lack of payment. CSE could issue a judgment, put a lien on your property, or charge you with a misdemeanor or felony resulting in fines or jail time.

These actions are taken regularly and can have far-reaching consequences. If you need to request a modification of your payments, an experienced family law attorney may be able to help.

Source: Colorado Department of Human Services, "Enforcement Remedies"