Child Support Basics

• If you and your ex-husband cannot come to a mutual agreement on child support, it is best to involve the state courts. Most states have a division dedicated to child support cases, such as Arizona's Division of Child Support Enforcement. Contact your state to find out where to complete and submit a child support order. This will begin the process of establishing child support requirements for your ex-husband. You and your child's father will likely have to submit financial statements so that the court can establish a fair amount of child support.
  
  

Court Order

• Once the court establishes the amount of child support that your husband owes, it will issue a court order that dictates this amount. In many states, such as Alaska, the court submits a wage-withholding order within two days of the child support order to the father's employer, and the employer will start withholding wages from his paycheck for child support. Thus, you can often start seeing money shortly after the court order is filed, though exact timing varies by the state you live in and your personal circumstances.
  
  

Timing

• State courts have some flexibility when determining how quickly the father must begin paying child support. Often, there is a gap between the time the couple separates and the time a child support order is issued. This gap does not mean that the father is exempt from child support payment during this period, however. In Maryland, for example, the court reserves the right to begin child support payments from the date that the mother files the child support information or from any other previous date.
  
  

Paternal Obligation

• The New York State Division of Child Support Enforcement explains that the father's obligation to support his child begins when that child is born. In a situation when the couple separates or divorces before the child's birth, the father's obligation to provide support begins on the child's birthday. When a couple divorces after a child is born, the father's obligation begins when the couple divorces. However, the state court will determine exactly when child support payments must begin and how many payments in arrears, if any, the father must make.