New York State Child Support Website

The New York State Child Support website contains detailed information about the services available from the Division of Child Support Enforcement. Visitors to the site will learn about services offered to both custodial and non-custodial parents. A special section of the site is devoted to teen parents.

Parents have a legal responsibility to support their children.

New York parents will find a variety of information online.

This section of the site explains what child support is and lists a number of forms this support may take. Child support can be made up of:

• Payments made in cash, by direct deposit to the custodial parent's bank account, or by debit card
• Health insurance payments
• Payments made to cover child care costs
• Moneys paid for health care expenses not covered by insurance

The Division of Child Support Enforcement can also provide assistance to custodial parents in the following areas:

• Establishing paternity or arranging for paternity testing
• Locating the non-custodial parent
• Implementing cost-of-living increases for child support payments
• Assistance with filing court documents to vary a child support order
• Collecting child support payments

The percentages used to calculate the amount of child support payable are listed on the New York State child support website. In a situation where the non-custodial parent makes in excess of $80,000 per year, a judge may choose to use the table or some other means of calculating the amount of child support to be paid.

The Division of Support and Custody Enforcement can also collect child support (both currently owing and in arrears) through a number of methods, including:

• Automatic deduction from wages or Unemployment Insurance benefits
• Interception of income tax refund or lottery winnings
• Seizure of bank account or other financial assets
• Filing a lien against real estate owned by the non-custodial parent

The New York State child support website also provides valuable information for non-custodial parents, including:

• Acknowledging legal paternity
• Procedures for determining paternity
• Paying child support
• Going to court for child support issues

With respect to paternity, the New York State child support website advises men who are not certain they are a child's father not to sign the Acknowledgment of Paternity form. An action will be brought before the Court to establish legal paternity.

The Court has the power to order all parties involved (the mother, alleged father, and the child) to submit to DNA testing). Once the results of the tests are received, the Court will make a ruling about paternity. If the man named in the court action is found to be the father of the child, he will be ordered to pay child support.

Being young does not absolve parents from the responsibility to support their child or children. If the parents are not married, there is no assumption of paternity. Teenage parents are advised to sign an Acknowledgment of Paternity form to legally give the child a father.

If there is any doubt about paternity, the procedures are the same for older parents wishing to establish paternity. (An action is brought before the Court and genetic tests will be ordered. If the tests show that the young man is the father, he will be ordered to pay child support until the child is 21 years old.)

Teen parents need to note that this obligation to pay child support does not change simply because they have moved on another relationship or married someone else. Being young does not absolve them of their legal responsibility to support their child..

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