Arizona Child Support Laws
The Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) governs the regulations of child support for the state of Arizona. It provides help to both custodial and non-custodial parents in establishing and enforcing child support payments if a court order does not exist. The DCSE can also help locate missing non-custodial parents and establish paternity of a child. Child support guidelines apply to all children whether they were born in wedlock or out and also to all adopted children. Once an order is issued, it can only be terminated on the last day of the birth month of a child once they reach age 18 unless the court find they won’t complete high school by the age of 18. In cases such as this, the child support will continue until the last day of the birth month of a child once they reach 19 or once they graduate from high school, whichever occurs first.
If you are receiving state assistance from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, federal assistance from the Foster Care program, or a medial assistance program, such as Medicaid, you will be provided the services of DCSE automatically. If you are not a recipient of any type of state or federal assistance, DCSE will still provide you their child support enforcement services for free if you fill out a complete application. Applications are available at your local child support enforcement office or it can be downloaded online here.
Providing as much accurate information as you can about the non-custodial parent will help expedite your payments. Please be prepared to provide the non-custodial parent’s full name, address, social security number, employer information, and any income or asset information you know. Also, have your child or children’s birth certificates and a copy of the court order for child support. If the non-custodial parent has already made some child support payments, please provide a copy of that information as well.
Guidelines for determining child support can be viewed online at the Arizona Child Support Guidelines page. You can try to estimate child support payments by filling in information at the Arizona Child Support Calculator page. In addition to child support payments, court orders also usually establish who is responsible for medical coverage of the child. Several things are taken into consideration including parent’s income, resources, the needs of the child, and the amount of visitation with the children.
All child support payments are made through the Arizona Centralized State Disbursement Unit (SDU). They both collect the payments from the non-custodial parent and distribute them to the custodial parent. Most payments are processed the day they are received and available the next business day. You can obtain information about your child support case through the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system by dialing 602-252-4045 or 1-800-882-4151.
The DCSE has the authority to enforce court ordered child support payments. Failure to make proper payments can result in lose of income, new hire reporting, liens against real estate and personal property, withholding of unemployment or worker’s comp insurance, driver’s license or passport denial, seizure of lottery winnings or tax refunds, credit bureau reporting, and judicial procedures.
Whether you are the custodial or non-custodial parent, you can ask that DCSE review your case to reassess payments. This request must be made in writing and it must contain a valid reason for review, such as change in income or visitation. It can take up to six months for DCSE to enact any changes determined needed during the review.