Enforcing Child Support, Alimony, Custody, and Property Orders in North Carolina
A court order is only as good as the tools behind it. North Carolina gives a parent or former spouse who is not being paid, or whose custody time is being withheld, a set of remedies that range from automatic wage withholding to jail for contempt. This page covers what those tools are, which ones apply to your kind of order, and what to do when a separation agreement rather than a court order is being ignored.
Court Order or Contract: Know What You Are Enforcing
A court order
Child support, alimony, custody, and equitable distribution orders entered by a judge, including consent orders, are enforceable by the court’s contempt power. A parent who willfully violates one can be ordered to comply, made to pay the other side’s attorney’s fees, and jailed until they do. This is the strongest position to be in.
An incorporated separation agreement
If your separation agreement was incorporated into the divorce judgment, it became a court order and is enforced like one, through contempt. The word “incorporated” in the divorce decree is what matters; check the judgment if you are not sure.
An unincorporated separation agreement
A separation agreement that was never made part of a court order is a private contract. It cannot be enforced by contempt. The remedy is a civil action for breach of contract, asking for a money judgment for the unpaid amounts and, in most cases, specific performance ordering the other party to comply. Once a judgment for specific performance is entered, further violations can be punished as contempt of that judgment.
No agreement or order
Without either, there is nothing to enforce yet. The first step is to file for child support, alimony, or custody and get an order entered. Child support can be ordered retroactively to the date of filing, and in some cases for up to three years before it, so delay costs money.
Enforcing Child Support
Child support is the most heavily enforced obligation in North Carolina law, because the state and federal governments both have a stake in it. Each missed payment becomes a judgment against the paying parent on the date it was due, with no further court action required, and under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.10 past-due support cannot be modified or forgiven retroactively. A parent who stops paying in January and files to reduce support in June still owes every dollar from January through June.
Income withholding
Nearly every North Carolina child support order includes immediate income withholding: the employer deducts support from the paying parent’s wages and sends it to the state’s centralized collections unit, which forwards it to the receiving parent. Withholding follows the parent from job to job, applies to unemployment benefits and some retirement income, and can be increased to collect arrears. If your order does not include withholding, or the other parent is self-employed, the court can order withholding or require payment through the clerk so the record is kept by a neutral party.
Child Support Services
North Carolina Child Support Services, part of the Department of Health and Human Services and administered through county offices, enforces support for any parent who applies, for a small fee. The agency has tools private attorneys do not: it can intercept federal and state tax refunds and lottery winnings, report arrears to credit bureaus, revoke or deny a passport once arrears exceed the federal threshold, place liens on property, seize bank accounts, and suspend driver’s, professional, and hunting and fishing licenses for parents who are 90 days or more behind. It also handles interstate cases under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act when the paying parent has left North Carolina.
The trade-off is speed and attention. Agency caseloads are large, the process can take months, and the agency represents the state’s interest in collecting support, not you; it will not handle your custody, alimony, or property issues. Many parents use both, letting the agency run withholding and intercepts while a private attorney pursues contempt and the other claims.
Contempt
The fastest way to get a nonpaying parent’s attention is a motion for contempt. The court issues an order to show cause, the parent must appear and explain the nonpayment, and if the court finds the failure to pay was willful, meaning the parent had the ability to pay and chose not to, it can order immediate payment of a purge amount, award attorney’s fees, and jail the parent until the purge is paid. A parent who quit a job or took a lower-paying one to avoid support is treated as having the ability to pay at the earlier income. See our page on contempt in North Carolina family law cases for how the process works.
Criminal nonsupport
Willful failure to support a child is also a crime in North Carolina under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-322, a misdemeanor for a first offense. Criminal charges are rare and usually reserved for parents who have disappeared or evaded every civil remedy, but the possibility exists. Federal law adds felony charges for parents who cross state lines to avoid support obligations over a certain amount.
Collecting arrears
Because each missed payment is a judgment, arrears can be collected like any judgment: by execution against bank accounts and property, liens on real estate, and garnishment. Judgments bear interest at the legal rate, currently eight percent, from the date each payment was due. A judgment is enforceable for ten years and can be renewed. Support arrears cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, and they survive the child’s reaching adulthood; a parent can collect twenty-year-old arrears if the paying parent finally has assets.
Enforcing Alimony and Postseparation Support
Court-ordered alimony and postseparation support are enforced by contempt and by income withholding, which the court can order at the outset or after a missed payment. Like child support, each missed alimony payment becomes a judgment when due and accrues interest. Alimony arrears are also nondischargeable in bankruptcy.
The complication with alimony is that much of it is set by separation agreement rather than court order. If the agreement was incorporated into the divorce judgment, enforce it by contempt. If it was not, you sue for breach of contract and specific performance. The choice between incorporating and not incorporating is made when the agreement is signed, and it cuts both ways: an incorporated agreement is enforceable by contempt but can also be modified by the court, while an unincorporated agreement is harder to enforce but cannot be modified without both parties’ consent. See alimony modification.
Alimony can also be reduced or ended by a later court order for cohabitation, remarriage, or a substantial change in circumstances, but only from the date the motion is filed. A paying spouse who stops because the recipient moved in with someone owes every payment until a court says otherwise.
Enforcing an Equitable Distribution Judgment
An equitable distribution judgment typically requires specific acts: sign a deed, transfer a vehicle title, pay a distributive award by a date, split a retirement account through a qualified domestic relations order, refinance a mortgage to remove the other spouse’s name. A spouse who does not do what the judgment requires can be held in contempt, and the court can also enter orders that accomplish the transfer directly, such as authorizing the clerk to sign a deed on the noncomplying spouse’s behalf.
A distributive award, the cash payment that equalizes a division, is a money judgment. If unpaid it can be collected by execution, liens, and garnishment, and it bears interest. Because equitable distribution judgments are final and cannot be modified, the only question is enforcement, and courts are generally quick to act when a spouse simply refuses to carry out a property division.
If the property division was in an unincorporated separation agreement, enforcement is again by breach of contract and specific performance. And if the other spouse has hidden or dissipated property that the agreement or judgment was supposed to divide, a separate claim for fraud may be available. See hidden assets.
Enforcing a Custody Order
Custody orders are enforced by contempt, and the same standard applies: a willful violation, such as refusing to return the child at the end of a visit, repeatedly failing to make the child available for the other parent’s time, or moving the child without required notice, can result in a finding of contempt, make-up parenting time, attorney’s fees, and jail. Judges take custody violations seriously because they harm the child, and a pattern of them is also grounds to modify the order in the other parent’s favor.
Two things a parent cannot do. You cannot withhold the child because support is unpaid, and you cannot withhold support because the child is being kept from you. Custody and support are separate obligations with separate enforcement, and a parent who uses one to enforce the other ends up in contempt too.
In an emergency, when a parent has taken the child and will not return them or has left the state, the court can enter an order directing law enforcement to assist in recovering the child, and the UCCJEA allows a North Carolina custody order to be registered and enforced in any other state. Taking a child in violation of a custody order can also be prosecuted. See our custody page for emergency custody and interstate enforcement.
“I Can’t Pay” and Other Defenses
The only complete defense to a contempt motion for nonpayment is a real inability to pay: the paying parent lost a job through no fault of their own, became disabled, or otherwise could not have paid despite good-faith effort. The burden is on the paying parent to prove it, with evidence of income, expenses, and efforts to find work, and courts are skeptical of a parent who cannot pay support but has a new car, a vacation, or money for other things.
Voluntary unemployment or underemployment is not a defense. A parent who quits, gets fired for misconduct, or takes a lower-paying job to reduce support is treated as if they still earn what they could earn, and support can be enforced at that level. Nor is a private agreement to reduce support a defense: unless a court entered an order changing the amount, the original order controls, and a parent who relied on a handshake owes the difference.
The right response to a real change in circumstances is a motion to modify, filed promptly, because a reduction can only run from the date the motion is filed. Payments that came due before that date are locked in. See modifying a family court order.
Common Questions
Can I withhold visitation if child support isn’t paid?
No. Custody and child support are separate orders with separate enforcement. Withholding the child puts you in contempt, and it does not excuse the other parent’s nonpayment. Enforce the support order through withholding, the agency, or contempt instead.
What if my separation agreement was never made part of the divorce judgment?
Then it is a contract, and you enforce it by suing for breach of contract and specific performance in district court. You cannot use contempt until a court has ordered specific performance. The lawsuit is slower than a contempt motion but the outcome is the same: a judgment for what is owed and an order to comply going forward.
How far back can I collect missed payments?
All of them, in most cases. Each missed child support or alimony payment under a court order becomes a judgment when it comes due, enforceable for ten years and renewable, with interest. Arrears cannot be reduced retroactively. If you never had an order, child support can generally be ordered back to the date of filing and, with a showing of the child’s needs and the other parent’s ability, up to three years before filing.
Can unpaid child support affect a driver’s license?
Yes. Child Support Services can suspend a parent’s driver’s license, and the court can revoke driver’s, professional, and recreational licenses, for a parent 90 days or more behind. Licenses are reinstated once the parent pays or enters an approved payment plan.
Can my ex avoid paying by quitting their job?
No. A parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed is treated as earning what they could earn, both for setting support and for contempt. Quitting to avoid support is evidence of willfulness, not a defense.
Can I be jailed for not paying child support?
Yes, for civil contempt, if the court finds you had the ability to pay and willfully did not. The jail term is coercive: you are released when you pay the purge amount the court sets. Courts must find you have the present ability to pay the purge before jailing you, so a true inability to pay is a defense that has to be proven with evidence.
Should I go through Child Support Services or hire an attorney?
Often both. The agency’s tools for withholding, tax intercepts, and license suspension are free or nearly so and work without court hearings. An attorney can file for contempt quickly, pursue arrears as judgments, and handle the custody, alimony, and property issues the agency will not touch. If the other parent is self-employed, hides income, or lives out of state, an attorney’s involvement usually makes the difference.
What if the other parent lives in another state?
Your North Carolina order can be enforced there. Under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, the order is registered in the other state and enforced by its courts and agencies, and income withholding can be sent directly to an out-of-state employer. Custody orders are registered and enforced under the UCCJEA the same way.
Does unpaid support go away in bankruptcy?
No. Child support and alimony arrears are nondischargeable in every kind of bankruptcy, and collection of support is generally not stayed by a bankruptcy filing. Property settlement obligations are also nondischargeable in a Chapter 7 case.
Can support obligations be reduced instead of enforced?
Going forward, yes, through a motion to modify based on a substantial change in circumstances. But only from the date the motion is filed. Arrears that built up before then remain owed in full.
What does it cost to enforce an order?
The court can order the parent in contempt to pay your attorney’s fees, and often does. Child Support Services charges a nominal application fee. An attorney’s fee for a straightforward contempt motion is modest compared with the arrears typically at stake, and the fee award shifts much of it to the other side when you win.
Related Reading
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Managing Partner and Co-Founder, McIlveen Family Law Firm. Angela is a Board Certified Specialist in Family Law, certified by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, and an experienced family law trial attorney who represents clients across North Carolina. She personally reviewed this page for legal accuracy.