Most parents want to support their children regardless of their income or financial circumstances. Tough financial times, however, can lead to difficult choices. There may be months when you have to choose between paying your child support and paying your rent. Past due child support starts to add up, and before long your child support is substantially in arrears. Whether you can settle a judgment for back child support for less than you actually owe requires the consent of the person who has the right to collect the arrearage.
Settling With Your Child
In some states, your child has the right to bring legal action against you to obtain a child support arrearage. If your child is under age, he must file the action through a guardian ad litem, or guardian for the lawsuit. If you child is an adult, he may file the action on his own. If your child sues you to collect back child support, you can resolve the case by negotiating a settlement with your child or his guardian ad litem.
Settling With Your Ex
In other states, only the child support recipient -- your child's other parent -- can file an action to collect back child support and has authority to settle back support for less than you owe. You don't have to wait until you get sued to try to settle. You can approach your ex at any time and offer to pay cents on the dollar to retire your past due child support balance. If he or she agrees, you can settle the debt for less than you owe.
Settling With the State
In most states, your child support payments belong to the person or agency who provided the support. If a state agency supported your child, the other parent may have assigned the right to collect all or part of the child support arrearage to the state in exchange for receiving welfare. If your child received state aid, the other parent will probably have to obtain the state's approval to settle the arrearage.
Document the Settlement
If you successfully negotiate a settlement for child support arrearages, prepare the paperwork necessary to document the agreement. You will typically need to prepare a document called a "satisfaction of judgment" for the support recipient to sign. A satisfaction of judgment form is readily available on many courts' websites. Fill out the form so it says that you have paid all child support due, and you do not owe any additional child support. Have the recipient sign it, and then give him or her a cashier's check or money order for the settlement amount. File the satisfaction of judgment with the court in the county that ordered you to pay child support.
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