Child Support

SeamlessGutters

I know my employee needs to pay child support.

I really don't know how it all works but am not sure if this is my responsibility or his.

Do I need to be withholding and sending into the state? If so, I live in Minnesota and how would I go about setting this up?

I am sure many of you have dealt with this so some specific instructions would be great! Thank you.

-Ryan

SLSTech

You will receive a court order with all the info you require which should also state the maximum percentage of pay that can be sent in. (i.e. if X owes 2000 a month but only makes 500 a week, you may only withold 50% max & send it in)

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wizendwizard

From day 1 of child support the responsibility belongs to the employee.

Even if you are requested by your state to withhold this from his wages, it is still his ultimate responsibility to pay.

The court system would never involve you unless they request YOU take it out of his check.

Or if you withheld it from his check and did not send it in. This would be BAD!

The biggest problem with CS comes down to how responsible is he about paying. If he doesn't pay, he goes to court. If he doesn't pay then, he goes to jail. Ultimately, this will cost you lost time and production.

My advice, if he is judged to pay CS, convince him to let you withhold it from his payroll and you send it in immediately.

If he is in arrears, advance him the money with a signed note to authorize withholding percentage per week. NEVER DO THIS WITH NEW GUYS.

Good Luck!

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PGD

I lost one of my best installers over a court ordered wage garnishment a few years back, he requested that I pay cash, I didn't, and so he left to work with a company that would, making a few bucks less in cash I guess is better than owning your responsibilities. I don't miss that kind of employee, even if he was a great installer.

Chris Johnson

I have had this a few times, I am required by the state to withold from the employee and submit to the state on their behalf...these employees are usually new and you get the notice within 3 months of them starting work, they are usually gone with a check or two since their income dwindles to literally nothing and they can't survive that way.

You can't fire them for this issue either and it is a pain in the butt, no one is compensating me to be the responsible party for an irresponsible employee.

I did get one from Texas 6 or 8 weeks ago, guy hasn't worked for me since October last year, I had to reply to the State of Texas demand letter.

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Ed the Roofer

You are entitled to charge a certain percentage for the additional work required on your part, at least in Illinois, but why kick the guy when he is already down, as long as he is willing to keep up his end of the support agreement mandated by the judge or willingly made agreement.

Read the forms very carefully. They tell you what and how to do it.

Now, if theire is a 2nd garnishment, that party gets screwed, because the 1st child support gets their full share and there is a point where yu can not take any more out of a guys paycheck.

Ed

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pcplumber

we get to charge the employee $1 for each transaction. This $1 must include the cost of the check, bank charges, envelope we use to mail in the payment to the Child Support Department, stamp, and the labor cost for reporting and accounting to the employee and the Child Support collections department.

I get upset every week when I have to make child support payments on behalf of employees. This is a problem with society when we don't make the employees responsible for their personal obligations, and in fact pass someone else's obligation onto the business owner. In fact, if we (the business owner) refuse to make payments according to the court order, we can be forced to make all the child support payments and the employee would have to make no payments at all. I think I would let the government send me to jail before I make payments for someone else's brat(s).

I've had court orders to take as much as 40% of an employee's income after taxes, etc., and we have to pay monthly. I never paid the child support department monthly because it is easier to deduct and account for a smaller portion of the employee's check weekly. I mail the child support department a check every week for the employee.

I also always pay more than the court orders. For example, if the court asks for $386 per month, I will send $100 every week and this is about $450 per month because there are 4-1/2 weeks per month. This benefits the employee because he usually owes the child support department $7,000 to $12,000 in past costs and he is always paying an interest charge. Therefore, the additional money helps him to reduce his cost and the length of time he has to pay.

There are several advantages to paying weekly. As soon as I send the state $100 or $200 they write a check and mail it to the spouse. So, the spouse gets a check every week and this helps to even her cash flow. When you write a check every week you never have to look back through your records to see how much you have deducted and how much you paid in the past. Even though the court states you must pay a certain amount every month, I never saw a statement saying you must pay the entire amount in one payment and I have been paying child support for my employees as long as I can remember.

Why did you have to bring up this subject. I was already in a bad mood today.

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SLSTech

You can't blame all the employees for a garnishment being applied - most of the time it is required by the state that all CS will be automatically withheld from all current or future employers (I know it was in AZ). They send out the notices generally after they get the update from the unemployment tax records

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Jordy3738

The court orders how the victim will have to pay. If they don't pay CKeeeCK! The whole system is pretty messed up. It is the responsibility of the parent to pay unless you have been Court order to withdraw wages.

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pcplumber

His one-time stab did not say the baby was his as she lived in California and collected welfare. A few years later, she moved to Arizona and collected welfare in Arizona. When the kid was about 6 welfare cut her fat butt off and she needed to keep up her weight so she told my employee it was his and sued him for child support. My employee had to reimburse the welfare departments in California about $12,000 and Arizona $8,000, at the same time, for the money they paid in the past (or however those charges work). Now, I take $200 out of his check every week and the fat butt collects child support from two men. Her career is sitting her fat butt on the couch and watching American Idol while eating Costco-size bags of potato chips and boxes of Twinkies. Not a joke.

"Only In America" I love that song from the movie West Side Story.

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pcplumber

The court probably does send the order to the employer as soon as it is issued to insure the payments are made.

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Glasshousebltr

Not sure about now but many moons back when my kids were still young I had to pay the big CS. I was ordered to pay 900 every two weeks for my two youngest boys .Biz went bad one year and I got behind quick. Knuckled under for a bigger outfit and a supers job for 28hr plus bennies ......Illinois thought it was more than fair to grab 64% before taxes then not allow the exemptions.

Just for those who don't feel like math ......the leaves about 14%

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Glasshousebltr

oh yea ....and as mentioned a few posts above ....I also had to quit

Although gas gets me to work it's food that keeps me alive and I had to choose.

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Ed the Roofer

In Illinois, 28% is the Maximum that can be withheld out of the employees check.

It is supposed to taken out of each check and the employer is responsible for getting the funds payed by the end of the month, whether done in one or multiple payments.

If wife/girlfriend number one gets the maximum for one child, which is 18%, then wife/girlfriend number two can only collect the remaining 10%.

Thats how it worked when I read the forms and inquired with the garnishment department from the county courts I had to deal with.

Ed

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Astrix

Side issue to withholding wages from employees re Child Support payments:

In Ontario, failure to pay child support can result in a driver's license suspension. A check on-line seems to indicate that Minnesota does this as well. Many Canadian provinces and U.S. states will impose every means possible to make the non-payor's life difficult.

Why am I bringing this up? As a business owner, if you are supplying company trucks to your employees and they drive without a valid license, then your insurance company can deny paying any claims. One of the standard rules in insurance (and this is standard for all U.S. and Canada - not just for my province) is that the driver has to have a valid license. For business owners, you have to be able to show that you had a procedure in place to check that your employee drivers have valid licenses. For example, can you show that every six months you obtained a Driver's Abstract from the Dept. of Transportation.

Whether or not you end up being court-ordered to withhold wages for CS or not, if there is suspicion that this worker is having issues in this regard and he drives your vehicles (or even drives his own vehicle but on company business), then you are best to check his driver's license status. Otherwise, as the business owner, you could be left holding the bag.