Paying Child Support Through The State Is Good For The Payor & Payee

When a family law case concludes and a child support obligation is ordered an income deduction is almost always entered at the same time. Once that income deduction order goes into effect, one person’s wages are garnished, that support payment is sent up to Tallahassee, and the State Disbursement Unit processes the payment and sends it down to the recipient. This process is cumbersome and many people do not like it.

Most child support payors are offended and embarrassed to learn that their wages will be garnished. Then insult is added to injury when they are required to pay fees to the state and possibly their employer for the garnishment. Likewise, the child support payee is often upset to learn that the money will not be paid directly. They are often counting on that first payment, and that money is now caught up in a process that is causing delay.

As genuine as those concerns are, the benefits of the Florida State Disbursement Unit make it a blessing. This system allows all child support payments to be tracked and accounted for. No longer does the payor have to worry that the payee will claim that they did not receive the money. Similarly, the payee does not have to worry about how they will show that they did not get money that the payor did not send. The state’s neutral accounting of these payments are recorded by the court’s clerk, and either party can get a reliable accounting. The small fees and short delay in the payment are small concerns in comparison to the lengthy, uncertain, and expensive legal battles that would occur if a reliable accounting of the payments did not exist.

If you are paying or receiving child support payments or alimony through the Florida State Disbursement Unit you should embrace the system that may save you from future litigation. The system has been refined and improved over the years, and now child support payments can even be made online at My County Florida. That same webpage can show you your payment history and detail your account. Plus the system now offers payment methods that are more convenient than direct payment.

Take it from someone who has seen payments made with the system and without the system, we are all better off with it in place.