Florida Court-Ordered Payments: Support, Fines, and Judgments

Florida court-ordered payments fall into three categories, and each one runs on its own track: family support (child support and alimony) flows through a central state clearinghouse, criminal fines and restitution go through the Clerk of Court, and civil money judgments are handled directly between the parties. Where you send the money, how it gets tracked, and what happens if you fall behind all depend on which category your obligation belongs to.

Family Support Payments Go Through the FSDU

Nearly all child support and alimony payments in Florida pass through the Florida State Disbursement Unit (FSDU), a single clearinghouse created under Florida Statutes 61.1824 and run by the Department of Revenue or a contractor it oversees. The FSDU handles every support case the Department enforces under the federal Title IV-D program, plus non-IV-D child support cases where the original order was issued in Florida on or after January 1, 1994, and the obligation is collected through income deduction.¹

Having one central unit means every payment is logged in one place, which matters if an enforcement dispute ever arises. The FSDU also processes money captured through intercept programs, including federal and state tax refund offsets, lottery winnings, and unemployment compensation.¹ Paying the other parent directly in cash, even with the best intentions, creates no official record and can leave you exposed to enforcement action for amounts the system shows as unpaid.

How to Pay

If you pay support yourself rather than through wage withholding, you have three options:

Electronic check through the FSDU’s online portal, using your bank account. No fee. You’ll need your Social Security number and case number or depository number to register, and payments process within two business days.²
Debit or credit card through the same portal, with a 2.5 percent processing fee. On a $1,000 monthly payment, that’s $25 per month, or $300 a year, just in fees.²
Check or money order by mail. A bounced check costs you this option; after that you must use a cashier’s check, money order, or cash.

Always include your case number or depository number. A payment the FSDU can’t match to a case may not post, and from an enforcement standpoint an unposted payment looks identical to a missed one.

How Recipients Get Paid

Florida law requires the FSDU to send payments electronically. Paper checks are no longer available. Recipients choose between direct deposit and a smiONE Visa prepaid card. Direct deposit requires a paper application mailed to the FSDU along with a voided check or bank letter, and activates within five business days once processed. If you don’t enroll in direct deposit, the FSDU automatically issues the prepaid card. Under either method, payments typically arrive about two business days after the FSDU processes them.³ Direct deposit is usually the better choice because prepaid cards sometimes carry ATM withdrawal fees or inactivity charges from the card provider.

Wage Withholding and the Federal Cap

In most Florida support cases the payer doesn’t handle payments personally. When a court enters a permanent order establishing or modifying a child support or alimony obligation, it must also enter a separate income deduction order unless one already exists.⁴ That order goes to the employer, who deducts the amount from each paycheck and sends it to the FSDU.

Deduction starts immediately unless the court finds good cause to delay. A delay requires written findings explaining why immediate withholding isn’t in the child’s best interest, plus proof the payer has reliably paid on time without wage withholding. If the payer falls behind, the income deduction order automatically increases by an additional 20 percent of the current support amount until the arrearage is paid in full.⁴ Employers cannot fire or discipline a worker because of an income deduction order.

Federal law under the Consumer Credit Protection Act caps total deductions. For support, an employer may withhold up to 50 percent of disposable earnings if the payer is also supporting another spouse or child, or up to 60 percent if not. An extra 5 percent applies if the arrearage is more than 12 weeks old, pushing the caps to 55 and 65 percent. For ordinary civil debts, the ceiling is the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour, or $217.50 per week).⁵ Florida’s income deduction statute incorporates these caps.⁴ If your employer is withholding more than the applicable percentage, raise the issue with the court or the Department of Revenue promptly.

What Happens When Support Goes Unpaid

Florida’s enforcement system moves quickly, and much of it runs without a judge once the process starts.

When a support payment is more than 15 days late and the unpaid amount exceeds one periodic payment, the Clerk of Court’s depository serves a Notice of Delinquency on the payer. The payer then has 15 days after service to either pay the full delinquency or file a motion to contest. If neither happens, all unpaid amounts automatically become a final judgment by operation of law, creating a lien against any real property the payer owns in Florida. Interest accrues on the delinquent balance at the statutory rate under Florida Statutes 55.03.⁶

Beyond the automatic judgment, the Department of Revenue and the Clerk of Court can impose administrative penalties without returning to court. These include suspension of the payer’s driver’s license, motor vehicle registration, and professional licenses, interception of federal and state tax refunds, and seizure of lottery winnings and other state-issued payments.¹ At the federal level, a parent who owes $2,500 or more in past-due support can be denied a U.S. passport.⁷

When a payer willfully refuses to pay despite having the ability to do so, the recipient can file a motion for contempt. Civil contempt is coercive: the court can order incarceration until the payer makes a specific “purge” payment, but only after finding that the payer has the present ability to pay that amount from an identified source. Criminal contempt is punitive and can carry a fixed jail sentence. Either form requires a hearing with proper notice, and the payer has the right to present evidence about their finances.

How to Change a Support Order When Your Finances Change

This is where people make the most consequential mistake. They lose a job or take a pay cut and simply stop paying, assuming the court will understand. It won’t. A support order remains fully enforceable at the original amount until a judge officially modifies it, and every missed payment at the old amount accrues as arrearage that cannot be retroactively reduced.

To get a modification, you file a petition in the circuit court where the order was entered (or where either party lives) and show a substantial change in circumstances or a change in either party’s financial ability. Common grounds include job loss, a significant income decrease, a serious medical condition, or the child reaching the age of majority. For cases reviewed by the Department of Revenue, a modification can proceed without proving changed circumstances if the current order differs by at least 10 percent (and no less than $25) from what the child support guidelines would produce today. Temporary orders can be modified on a lower showing of good cause.⁶

File immediately when your situation changes. The process can take weeks or months, but the court can adjust the obligation back to the date you filed. Every day you delay is a day the old obligation keeps running.

Criminal Fines and Restitution

Criminal fines, costs, and restitution do not go through the FSDU. The Clerk of Court collects and disburses the money in most cases.⁸

When a defendant’s crime causes damage or loss, the court must order restitution to the victim unless it finds clear and compelling reasons not to. The court can allow installment payments, but if no schedule is specified, restitution is due immediately. The court can also enter an income deduction order directing the defendant’s employer to withhold restitution and forward it to the clerk.⁸

Courts impose prosecution and investigation costs regardless of your current ability to pay, usually with a payment plan and a deadline. If you’re on probation or community control, paying these costs is a condition of supervision, and failing to pay can lead to revocation. If you genuinely cannot afford the payments, you can ask the court to examine your finances and convert the obligation to community service hours. Ignoring the bill is the worst option: amounts unpaid for 90 days or more can be sent to a private collection agency, and the collection fee can add up to 40 percent on top of what you already owe.⁹

Civil Judgment Payments

Civil money judgments from lawsuits (debt collection, personal injury, breach of contract) are handled directly between the parties. There’s no central state tracking, so both sides need to be proactive about documentation.

Once you pay a civil judgment in full, including accrued interest and any execution costs, you can pay the total into the court registry where the judgment was rendered. The clerk then executes and records a Satisfaction of Judgment in the official records, which discharges any lien the judgment created against your real property.¹⁰ A recording charge applies. Getting the satisfaction recorded promptly matters. Until it hits the official records, the judgment lien remains visible on title searches and can complicate any sale or refinancing of your property.

Tax Treatment Differs by Payment Type

Child support payments are neither deductible by the payer nor taxable income to the recipient.¹¹

Alimony taxation depends entirely on when the divorce or separation agreement was finalized. For agreements executed after December 31, 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the federal deduction for the payer and removed the inclusion requirement for the recipient. The payer gets no tax break and the recipient owes no federal income tax on the payments. Agreements finalized on or before December 31, 2018, still follow the old rules (deductible for the payer, taxable to the recipient) unless the parties later modified the agreement and specifically opted into the new treatment.

Amounts paid to a government entity because of a legal violation are generally not tax-deductible. An exception exists for restitution payments that compensate for actual damage or harm, but only if the court order specifically identifies the amount as restitution and the taxpayer can independently establish that the payment qualifies.¹² Labeling a payment as restitution in the order is not enough by itself.

Bankruptcy Will Not Erase Most of These Debts

Filing for bankruptcy does not eliminate most court-ordered obligations. Child support and alimony (classified as “domestic support obligations” in the Bankruptcy Code) are explicitly non-dischargeable and survive any type of bankruptcy filing.¹³ The automatic stay that halts most collection activity during bankruptcy does not stop child support enforcement proceedings.

Government fines and penalties are also generally non-dischargeable, provided they are payable to a government entity and are not compensation for actual financial loss.¹³ Ordinary civil judgment debts from private lawsuits can often be discharged in Chapter 7 bankruptcy unless they fall into another exception category, such as debts arising from fraud or willful injury.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 61.1824 – State Disbursement Unit
2
Florida Department of Revenue. Child Support Program – Make Payments
3
Florida Department of Revenue. Receive Child Support Payments
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.1301 – Income Deduction Orders
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
6
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.14 – Enforcement and Modification of Support
7
Administration for Children and Families. Passport Denial Program 101
8
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 775.089 – Restitution
9
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes Chapter 938 – Costs and Fines
10
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 55.141 – Satisfaction of Judgments
11
Internal Revenue Service. Dependents 6
12
Internal Revenue Service. Transitional Guidance Under Sections 162(f) and 6050X
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge