Employers in Arizona and throughout the country may have access to a more efficient system for processing child support documents in 2017. Known as the Child Support Portal, the system will provide information shared by employers to the federal child support office including contact information for the employer, health insurance availability and details about the type of insurance offered, and more.
The system is a robust one that can perform a number of other functions as well. For example, it will make the exchange of forms and correspondence easier. Every six months, the employer will be asked to confirm whether information is still current.
Functions that were available in the previous version of the portal are still available with this newest version. Agencies can be notified of bonuses and other lump sum amounts that are due to employees, and it also allows employers to announce when a parent paying child support is terminated. Employers can also notify the state if they receive a child support order for someone who does not work for them.
While basic child support is determined using a formula that looks at income and other factors such as medical insurance, parents might want to negotiate support for additional expenses. For example, if their child participates in extracurricular activities, they might need to decide who will pay these costs. In some cases, parents may want to include this agreement in their parenting plan. A parent who is not receiving child support payments as ordered has a number of options including having the child support agency go through the other parent’s employer to collect payments. Parents who have been terminated from their job or who experience another material change in circumstances that prevents them from meeting their child support obligations may want to have legal assistance in seeking a modification.