My spouse stopped paying me, how do I legally enforce the current or modified Child Support Order?

You have a few options such as filing a petition, or you can request an assignment order under A.R.S. § 25-323 and § 12-2454.

If you take the petition route, you will file a Petition to Enforce Child Support, Child Support Arrears and Medical Expense Reimbursement. All three of these issues should go in the one petition because you want the Court to enforce the current order in effect, have the Court enforce the amounts not paid by your former spouse, along with any medical expenses. Ask for attorney’s fees in the petition if you choose to hire an attorney to draft your petition.

If you take the assignment order route, you will request an Income Withholding Order for Support. The court form is available on the Superior Court website to be filled out and filed with the Court. This will require your former spouse’s employer or other payor to withhold the amount from his or her wages or money owed to you and to send that amount through the Arizona Clearinghouse to get to you.

We always recommend using the Arizona Clearinghouse for support payments to ensure tracking is available in the future if needing to provide a timeline of payments or lack thereof.