Wage Garnishment for Unpaid Child Support

In New York, unpaid child support is most often collected directly from the paying parent's paycheck. The legal tool is called an income execution for support enforcement, governed by CPLR 5241. Once an income execution is served, the employer must deduct child support from wages and send it to the Support Collection Unit or the custodial parent before the employee ever sees the money. For parents owed support, it is the fastest and most reliable enforcement method available. For parents whose wages are being garnished, it comes with strict limits and a short window to object.

How an Income Execution Works Under CPLR 5241

An income execution can be issued in two ways:

• Administratively, by the Support Collection Unit (SCU): If the support order is payable through the SCU, the agency can issue an income execution on its own once the payor defaults. No new court appearance is required.
• Privately, by the creditor's attorney or a sheriff: If support is paid directly between the parents, the custodial parent's attorney may issue the income execution as an officer of the court.

Under CPLR 5241(a)(7), a payor is in "default" when he or she fails to make three payments, or when the arrears equal or exceed the amount of support due for one month. Once that threshold is met, the income execution may issue.

The payor must first be served with a copy of the execution, by personal delivery or by mail to the last known address. The execution states the amount of current support, the arrears claimed, and the deduction to be taken from each paycheck. If the payor does not assert a valid objection within fifteen days, the execution is then served on the employer, who must begin withholding.

Separately, Family Court Act § 440 requires that most new support orders include immediate income withholding from the start, unless the parties agree in writing to a different payment arrangement and the court approves it. So garnishment is not always a punishment for default; in many cases it is simply how New York support orders are paid. If you are unsure how your support amount was set in the first place, see our explanation of the New York child support calculation under the CSSA.

How Much Can Be Taken From a Paycheck

Child support garnishment reaches far deeper into a paycheck than ordinary creditor garnishment. The limits come from the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, which CPLR 5241(g) incorporates. The caps apply to "disposable earnings": gross pay minus deductions required by law, such as taxes and Social Security.

The deduction typically covers current support plus an additional amount applied to arrears, up to the applicable cap.

A Worked Example

Suppose a father's support order is $250 per week, he is $4,000 behind (more than 12 weeks of missed payments), and he has no other spouse or children he supports. His disposable earnings are $1,000 per week.

1. His cap is 65% of $1,000, or $650 per week.
2. The income execution first takes the current support of $250.
3. The SCU may add an arrears payment on top, commonly a percentage of the current order, so long as the combined deduction stays at or below $650.

If instead he earned $350 per week in disposable earnings, the cap would be $227.50 (65% of $350). The employer could not deduct the full $250 order; the shortfall would continue to accrue as arrears. A payor in that position should consider a downward modification of the support order rather than letting arrears build, because New York law sharply restricts the retroactive cancellation of accrued arrears.

Employer Deadlines and Obligations

CPLR 5241 sets firm deadlines for employers:

• Start of withholding: Deductions must begin no later than the first pay period that occurs fourteen days after service of the income execution.
• Remittance: The employer must forward the withheld amount within seven business days of the pay date.
• Liability for noncompliance: An employer who fails to withhold as directed becomes liable for the amounts that should have been deducted.
• No retaliation: Under CPLR 5252, an employer may not fire, refuse to hire, or discipline an employee because of a support-related income execution. Violations expose the employer to penalties and civil liability.

Child support withholding also takes priority over almost every other garnishment or wage assignment against the same paycheck.

Objecting to an Income Execution: The 15-Day "Mistake of Fact" Window

A payor served with an income execution has fifteen days to object, and the only ground is a "mistake of fact" under CPLR 5241(e). A mistake of fact means one of three things:

• The amount of current support or arrears stated in the execution is wrong;
• The person named is not the person who owes the support; or
• The order does not exist or has been vacated.

An objection to an SCU-issued execution goes to the agency; an objection to an attorney-issued execution goes to the court. A determination must be made within forty-five days, and if the objection is denied, withholding proceeds.

What a mistake-of-fact objection cannot do is attack the underlying support order. Arguments that the order is too high, that income has dropped, or that parenting time has changed belong in a modification petition, not in an objection to the execution. Filing for modification promptly matters because relief generally runs only from the filing date, not from the date circumstances changed.

When Garnishment Alone Is Not Enough

An income execution only works when the payor has wages to garnish. Payors who are self-employed, paid off the books, or frequently changing jobs can evade it. New York provides additional remedies for those situations, including seizure of bank accounts and other property under CPLR 5242 income deduction orders and related devices, interception of tax refunds and lottery winnings, suspension of driver's and professional licenses, and contempt proceedings under Family Court Act § 454 that can result in a money judgment or incarceration. We cover those tools in detail on our page about enforcing child support orders in New York.

Interest and penalties can also attach. Arrears reduced to a money judgment accrue interest, and unpaid support does not expire; a New York money judgment for support remains enforceable for twenty years under CPLR 211(e). Support obligations exist to cover the child's housing, food, education, and medical care, and courts treat nonpayment seriously. For background on what the payments are meant to cover, see what child support is for.

Practical Steps for Each Side

If you are owed support: Gather your order, a payment history, and the payor's employment information. If payments run through the SCU, confirm the agency has current employer data. If they do not, an attorney-issued income execution can often reach a paycheck within weeks.

If your wages are being garnished: Check the arrears figure against your own payment records immediately; the fifteen-day objection window is short. Verify that the deduction respects the CCPA percentage caps. If the underlying order no longer matches your income, file for modification now rather than waiting.

You can contact the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin by phone at 212-233-1233 or by email at [email protected].