Nevada penalties for failure to pay child support

The state of Nevada takes failure to pay child support very seriously and provides several possible penalties in order to compel the delinquent parent to pay. Penalties can start as soon as a parent is one month behind on the court-ordered child support.

When a parent is delinquent by one month, the state will assess a 10 percent penalty and add it to the balance owed unless the delinquency was due to the fault of an employer who was supposed to send the child support payment to the state. If a delinquent parent dies, Nevada will make a claim against his or her estate for the amount that is in arrears.

The district attorney in the jurisdiction may prosecute the delinquent parent. A parent may be held in contempt of court, have liens placed against his or her property, have his or her wages garnished and, if held in contempt, may face a period of incarceration. It is thus very important for a court order regarding child support to be followed. Parents who have difficulty paying the court-ordered amount should instead file a motion to modify with the court instead of failing to make the payment.

A child support order is an obligation that needs to be taken seriously. A parent whose financial circumstances have changed significantly should continue making the payments and petition the court to modify the support amount. Until and unless the court does so, the child support payments should continue to be paid under the existing order. A parent who has fallen behind should try to catch up the payment as soon as possible in order to avoid potential consequences.

Source: Nevada State Legislative , “NRS 125B.095  Penalty for delinquent payment of installment of obligation of support.“, November 11, 2014