If you are confused about the laws regarding child support, you are not alone. Many people have questions about child support establishment, modification, and enforcement. This flyer explains the role of the state in helping you get child support.

Who Are the Obligor and the Obligee?
In the child support process, the obligor is the person who must pay child support. The obligee is the person to whom the child support must be paid. The obligee is usually the parent with whom the child lives. However, the obligation to pay child support does not end simply because the child goes to live with the obligor. It is necessary to go to the court or administrative agency to get the child support order modified. Until the order is modified or changed, the obligor must continue to pay child support to the obligee.
Where Do I Go to Get Child Support Establishment, Modification, and Enforcement Services?
A court may issue a child support order as part of a divorce (dissolution of marriage), custody, or paternity case, or even when married parents are just living apart. The court may also issue a child support order if a child is in SCF (Services to Children and Families) custody. In cases other than divorces or custody suits, the setting and enforcement of child support will be handled by either the Support Enforcement Division of the Department of Justice (SED) or the County District Attorney (DA) through an administrative process or by going to court. Who handles the child support services and whether it is done through court or administratively depends on the circumstances in the individual case.

SED must help you get child support if one of the following applies:

  • Your family or child receives ADC, medical assistance, SCF, or foster care.
  • Your child received such assistance within the last five months.
  • Your child received such assistance in the past and arrearages are still owing the state ("state debt").
The DA must help you with child support when:
  • None of the situations above applies to you, and
  • You request it, and
  • You let the Department of Human Resources (DHR) handle the payments.
It is important to note that even if SED or the DA establishes the support order, neither agency represents the obligee or obligor. The represent only the interests of the state. They will get involved only in child support issues, and not in custody or visitation.

What Services Does the Child Support Agency Provide?

When SED and the DA handle support cases, they have the obligation to:

  • Establish paternity,
  • Establish child support,
  • Modify child support, if
    • there has been a substantial change in circumstances since the last child support order, or
    • at least two years have passed since the last child support order was entered or formally reviewed. This is called a "periodic review." If the obligee's family does not receive ADC, the obligor or obligee must request a modification or periodic review for this process to begin. In ADC cases, there may be a periodic review and child support modification even if the obligor or obligee does not request it.
  • Enforce child support through income withholding, taking tax refunds, reporting to credit bureaus, placing liens on property, and pursuing contempt and criminal non-support charges.
  • Enforce spousal support (alimony) if there is also a child support order being enforced and the child lives with the obligee. Otherwise, enforcement must be done through a private attorney or you can represent yourself.
  • Suspend or modify child support to $0 if the obligor receives public assistance, and reestablish child support or begin collecting child support when the obligor's public assistance grant ends.
  • Establish and enforce medical support by seeking an order requiring the obligor to provide medical insurance for the children if it is available through the obligor's employer or union.
  • Locate a parent.
What Is The Interest of The State in My Child Support?
A family receiving ADC must automatically turn over to the state the right to all child support arrearage (back child support) which is owed at that point, and all current support. Out of the child support that the state collects, it can keep and amount equal to the amount of ADC that it pays your family.
How Much of The Child Support Collected Will I Receive?
If you are currently receiving ADC, and the child support does not make you ineligible for those benefits, you will be sent the first $50 of the child support received by DHR each month. If less than $50 is paid to DHR for any month, DHR will send you only the amount actually collected for that month. This is call the "pass-through." It will not count against your ADC benefits but will count against your food stamps. You will receive a pass-through for each month in which child support was paid in the month when it is due. DHR will mail the pass-through within 15 days of receiving the child support payment. There can only be one #50 pass-through each month, even if support is collected from more than one obligor.

If child support is collected through wage withholding, child support is considered to be paid on time if it was withheld from the employer in the month when it was due. Therefore, even if the employer does not get the payment to DHR until the next month, the family is still entitled to the pass-through.

As for the arrearage amount owe, DHR can keep an amount equal to the total amount of assistance that has been paid to the obligee family. This includes assistance that was paid to children that the obligor is not legally responsible to support. Once the assistance has been repaid, all arrearage amounts must go to the obligee.

When the family goes off of ADC, all current support received by DHR will usually be mailed to the obligee within four days. If more than the monthly support amount is received, then the excess amount is considered an arrearage and will go to DHR to repay assistance that the obligee family received. After the family goes off of ADC, the family can opt to have SED stop enforcing the child support owed to the family. The child support order will remain in effect. DHR will still try to collect the arrearage owed to the state.ChildSupport.wpd (7/00)

The statutes referred to can be found in the Eugene Public Library, and in the Lane County Courthouse located at 125 E. 8th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon, 97401.

Click here to view Oregon Revised Statutes online.

THIS PAMPHLET IS A GENERAL STATEMENT OF LAW AND PROCEDURE AND NOT ASUBSTITUTE FOR SPECIFIC LEGAL ADVICE.  IT MAY GIVE YOU SOME IDEA OF YOUR RIGHTS, BUT THE LAW IS ALWAYS CHANGING THROUGH ACTIONS OF THE COURTS
AND LEGISLATURE.

               So when a problem arises . . . SEE A LAWYER!

Don't know a lawyer?  Contact the OREGON STATE BAR REFERRAL SERVICE (Toll Free Number: 1-800-452-7636). 

Can't afford a lawyer?  If you live in Lane County, contact Lane County Legal Aid and Advocacy Center, 376 East 11th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541-485-1017).  In other Oregon counties, check the telephone yellow pages under the heading "attorneys" for the Legal Aid or Legal Services office closest to your city.

We do not accept applications by e-mail.  For assistance, please contact our office in person or by phone.

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