California Form FL-195, the Income Withholding for Support order, tells an employer to take child support, spousal support, or family support out of an employee’s paycheck and send it to the person owed. You can download it from courts.ca.gov or pick up a copy at the court clerk’s office. The form doubles as the federal Income Withholding Order, because California Family Code Section 5208 requires all child and family support earnings assignments to use the federally mandated format.
What to Gather Before You Start
The form has to match your court paperwork exactly, so pull everything together first:
- The support order or judgment, which sets the dollar amounts for current support, arrears, and any other obligations.
- The obligor’s full legal name, Social Security number, and date of birth. The employer needs all three to apply the withholding to the right person.
- The employer’s legal name, payroll mailing address, and Federal Employer Identification Number. If you don’t have the FEIN, you can still serve the order. California Family Code Section 5230 makes an earnings assignment enforceable even without the employer’s identifying information.
- The court case number from your support order.
Filling Out the Form
At the top, choose one of four checkboxes. Use Income Withholding Order/Notice for Support for a new order. Use Amended IWO when the support amount changes, for example after a modification hearing. Use One-Time Order/Notice for Lump Sum Payment when the employer owes the obligor a bonus or severance and a portion should go to support. Use Termination of IWO to stop withholding when the obligation ends.
Support Amounts
Copy the dollar figures from the court order into the fields for current child support, current spousal or domestic partner support, and any past-due amounts. The form has separate lines for medical support and other obligations if your order includes them. Every number has to trace back to the order. Don’t round, estimate, or combine categories.
Converting to the Employer’s Pay Schedule
Court orders usually state a monthly amount, but employers run payroll on different cycles. The form has fields for weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly withholding so the employer doesn’t have to do the math. If the order is monthly and payroll is weekly, multiply the monthly amount by 12 and divide by 52. For biweekly, multiply by 12 and divide by 26. For semimonthly, multiply by 12 and divide by 24. Fill in whichever pay-period line applies, or fill in all of them so the order works on any payroll schedule.
Where Payments Go
For child support and family support, payments go to the California State Disbursement Unit at CA SDU, P.O. Box 989067, West Sacramento, CA 95798-9067.1California Child Support Services. Contact Us The SDU tracks, receipts, and distributes the money. For spousal-support-only orders with no child support, payments may go directly to the supported spouse. Check the specific court order.
Federal Caps on Withholding
Even when the court orders a specific amount, the Consumer Credit Protection Act caps what an employer can actually take from any one paycheck:2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
- 50% of disposable earnings if the obligor is supporting another spouse or child.
- 55% in that same situation if the obligor is more than 12 weeks behind.
- 60% if the obligor is not supporting another spouse or dependent child.
- 65% if the obligor is not supporting another spouse or dependent child and is more than 12 weeks in arrears.
Disposable earnings means what’s left after mandatory deductions like income taxes and Social Security, not gross pay. If the ordered amount exceeds the applicable cap, the employer withholds only up to the cap and the shortfall accumulates as additional arrears.
Getting the Form Signed and Served
The completed form must be signed by a judge, a court clerk, or an authorized representative of the local child support agency before it becomes enforceable. Once signed, you serve it on the employer.
California Family Code Section 5232 allows service by first-class mail using the procedure in Code of Civil Procedure Section 1013.3California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 5232 You can also serve the payroll department in person. File a proof of service with the court afterward so there’s a record the employer was notified.
Within 10 days of service, the employer has to give the obligor a copy of the withholding order, a written explanation of the right to ask the court to quash, modify, or stay it, a blank request-for-hearing form, and filing instructions.4Justia. California Code Family Code 5230-5247
What the Employer Must Do
Under California Family Code Section 5235, withholding must begin no later than the first pay period that starts 10 days after service.5California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 5235 If the order specifies a later start date, the employer follows that instead.
Federal law then requires the withheld money to reach the State Disbursement Unit within seven business days of the date the employee would have been paid.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures The employer can deduct $1.50 from the employee’s earnings for each payment processed under the order.5California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 5235 That fee comes out of the obligor’s pay, not the support amount.
Child support has priority over other wage garnishments.7Administration for Children and Families. Processing an Income Withholding Order or Notice The only exception is an IRS tax levy that predates the underlying support order. When combined garnishments would exceed the CCPA caps, the employer satisfies the support order first.
If the obligor quits or is fired, the employer has to notify the court or the local child support agency and pass along the last known address and any new-employer information. The obligation itself doesn’t end. It follows the obligor to the next job once a new order is served on the new employer.
If the Obligor Wants to Contest
The person whose wages are being withheld can ask the court to quash, modify, or stay the order. Common grounds are identity errors, incorrect arrears totals, or a withholding rate above the federal caps. The court must schedule the hearing within 20 days.4Justia. California Code Family Code 5230-5247 Withholding continues during the process unless the court orders otherwise. Filing a request for hearing by itself does not pause the deductions.
If the Employer Ignores the Order
Under California Family Code Section 5241, an employer who deliberately ignores a valid withholding order becomes personally liable for every dollar that should have been withheld and forwarded, plus interest.4Justia. California Code Family Code 5230-5247 The court can also hold the employer in contempt under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1218.
Repeated failures cost more. If an employer fails to comply three times within a 12-month period, or willfully ignores the order, the court can order support paid by electronic transfer directly from the company’s bank account and impose a civil penalty of up to 50 percent of the unpaid support, payable directly to the person owed.