Establishing Child Support

Mom On A Tablet With Her Daughter

To establish support, a noncustodial parent must be located. This must occur before establishing paternity, support or enforcement can take place. We access location information from both state and national computer databases to assist.

First, a noncustodial parent is served with a complaint and civil summons. They can respond to these documents in the following ways:

  • Filing an answer to the complaint
  • Providing the necessary information to the child support office. This must occur before the court date and they must sign a voluntary support order.
  • Appearing at a hearing
  • Contacting an attorney for legal representation

The noncustodial parent may fail to appear following the complaint and criminal summons. If this occurs, the court may enter a child support order. The court would base this order on information provided in the complaint.