My ex-wife was a awarded child support and back child support for the year that we were separated. I have been paying the child support and back child support exactly as the judge prescribed. I send a check to the NC Child Support Agency in Raleigh by the end of every month. I have been paying this way for well over a year now. I have not missed a payment.
Yesterday, I received a certified letter from the local child support enforcement. It says that my back child support is “overdue” and that they will enter a requirement for withholding from my disposable income for payment of child support. How can this be when I have been paying it exactly as prescribed by the judge? I even get bills from the state child support agency. I pay them exactly as they tell me which is the same as what the judge said.
So in general, is back child support considered “overdue” or “past due?”
If you are paying pursuant to the terms of the Order, your back support should not be overdue and there may be some mistake. I suggest you contact centralized collections to get more information.
My child support case worker finally returned my call. She said that my child support payment for January was received late so it was posted as February’s payment. She wouldn’t tell me how late it was. I think it was late because of the New Year’s Holiday and it took longer to get from western NC to Raleigh than usual. My former attorney told me that child support is due on the 1st of the month but I had a 5 day grace period before it was late. I guess he lied about that too. My case worker said that I just need to send another payment in to cover January. This was not explained in any way, shape or form in the letter I received from my case worker. She said this is a standard letter that prints out if a payment is late. The letter was very confusing and threatening. This caused a lot of stress for nothing!!