To enforce child support in Texas, you have two main paths: file a Motion for Enforcement yourself in the court that issued the original order, or ask the Attorney General’s Child Support Division to pursue the case at no cost. Texas treats missed child support as a violation of a court order, not a private debt, so the available remedies run from automatic wage deductions and license suspension all the way to jail time. Interest accrues on every missed payment, and strict deadlines limit how long certain tools stay available, so moving quickly matters.
Pull Your Documents First
Before you file anything, get a certified copy of the court order that set child support. That’s the order the judge signed in your divorce decree or your Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPCR). The District Clerk’s office in the county where the order was issued will produce the certified copy; you’ll need the cause number and the signing date, and expect a small per-page fee that varies by county.
Next, build a payment ledger. List every payment that was due, the date it was due, the amount owed, and whatever partial amount was actually received. The gap between what was owed and what was paid is your total arrears. Download the official payment history by logging into your account through the Attorney General’s Child Support Interactive portal, which tracks payments processed through the State Disbursement Unit.1Office of the Attorney General. About Your Online Child Support Account Those official records carry more weight at a hearing than a spreadsheet you put together, so pull them before you file.
Choose Your Path: File Yourself or Use the Attorney General
You can hire your own lawyer (or self-represent) and file a Motion for Enforcement directly, or you can apply for free enforcement services from the Texas Attorney General, the state’s designated Title IV-D agency for child support.2State of Texas. Texas Code FAM 231.001 – Title IV-D Agency Apply through the portal at childsupport.oag.texas.gov or at a local field office. The agency handles the investigation, files motions, and represents the state’s interest at hearings.
The trade-off is control and speed. The AG’s office manages an enormous volume of cases, so yours won’t get the individual attention a private attorney gives, and you don’t drive strategy or timing. In exchange, you pay nothing and still access every enforcement tool a private filing would, including contempt, license suspension, and federal remedies like tax refund intercepts and passport denial.
Enforcement Tools a Court or the AG Can Use
Texas law layers enforcement from administrative measures up to incarceration, and a judge or the Attorney General can stack several of them at once.
Income Withholding
Income withholding is the most common tool, and it’s mandatory in every case where child support is ordered. The court or the Title IV-D agency must order support deducted directly from the paying parent’s disposable earnings.3State of Texas. Texas Family Code 158.001 – Income Withholding The employer has no choice but to comply, and the order follows the parent to a new job. Unemployment benefits can be garnished too, with the Texas Workforce Commission withholding up to 50 percent of unemployment payments toward current support.4Office of the Attorney General. Employment Changes
License Suspension
When a parent falls behind by an amount equal to or greater than three months of total support due, the Attorney General can move to suspend their licenses: driver’s licenses, professional and occupational licenses, and recreational permits like hunting and fishing. The parent gets a chance to enter a repayment plan first; suspension kicks in only if they fail to follow through.5Office of the Attorney General. License Suspension
Liens and Asset Seizure
You can place a lien on the non-paying parent’s real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, and other personal property. Once attached, the parent cannot sell or transfer that property without first paying down the arrearage. Courts can also order funds in bank accounts frozen or seized.
Contempt of Court
The sharpest remedy is contempt. A judge who finds that a parent willfully failed to pay can impose up to six months in jail for each separate violation, and each missed payment can be treated as its own count. The court can also use community supervision instead of or alongside jail.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code 157.001 – Motion for Enforcement A finding against the parent also triggers mandatory reimbursement of your reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs. The judge can waive that fee-shifting only for good cause, and if the parent owes $20,000 or more, waiver is essentially unavailable unless they’re involuntarily unemployed or disabled and genuinely lack the resources to pay.7Texas.Public.Law. Texas Family Code 157.167 – Respondent to Pay Attorney Fees and Costs
Federal Tools
When arrears exceed $2,500, the state can certify the case to the U.S. Department of State, which will deny, revoke, or restrict the parent’s passport.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 652 – Duties of Secretary The IRS can also intercept the parent’s federal tax refund and apply it to the debt.9Office of the Attorney General. Your Child Support, Federal Stimulus Payments and Tax Returns
Filing a Motion for Enforcement
A Motion for Enforcement must be filed in the court of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction, meaning the court that issued the original order.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code 157.001 – Motion for Enforcement You submit it to the District Clerk in that county. Most counties now use e-filing; some still accept paper filings in person. Filing fees vary.
The motion has to lay out every specific violation. Include full names and identifying information for both parents, the cause number and date of the original order, and then list each missed or short payment one at a time: date due, amount ordered, amount paid, running arrears total. Attach your certified copy of the order and the payment records from the AG’s portal. Precise documentation makes it harder for the other parent to dispute the numbers.
After filing, arrange for service of process. A private process server or county constable personally delivers the motion and citation to the non-paying parent; you cannot serve the papers yourself. Once service is complete, the court schedules a hearing where you present evidence, both sides testify, and the judge decides which remedies to impose.
When the Other Parent Lives in Another State
If the non-paying parent has moved out of state, enforcement gets more complicated but doesn’t stop. Texas follows the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), which keeps only one active child support order in effect at a time. You can register the Texas order in the state where the other parent now lives, and that state’s enforcement agency can pursue collection using its own tools, including wage withholding, license suspension, and contempt.10Office of the Attorney General of Texas. The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act
You don’t always have to involve the other state’s agency. UIFSA lets you send an income withholding order directly to an out-of-state employer without registering the order first. For enforcement that requires court hearings, you’ll need to register the Texas order in the responding state. Once registration is filed, the other parent has 20 days to object; if they don’t, enforcement moves forward under that state’s procedures.
What the Other Parent Can Argue
Contempt is the enforcement tool with real teeth, and it also carries the highest burden. The court must find willful failure to pay, so the most common defense is financial inability. To succeed, the parent must prove all four of these: they lacked the ability to pay the ordered amount, they had no property they could sell or pledge to raise the money, they tried and failed to borrow the funds, and they knew of no other source from which the money could have been legally obtained.11State of Texas. Texas Code FAM 157.008 – Affirmative Defense
That’s a high bar. A parent who quit a job voluntarily, turned down work, or has hidden assets won’t clear it. Your evidence of their income or resources during the nonpayment period directly undermines this defense: bank records, social media posts showing vacations or large purchases, and employment records obtained in discovery all help.
One point worth keeping in mind: even if the parent beats contempt, the unpaid support doesn’t go away. The arrears remain a money judgment collectible through liens, garnishment, and other non-contempt remedies. An inability-to-pay defense only prevents jail, not collection.
Interest and Deadlines
Every missed child support payment automatically becomes a final judgment for the amount due, with interest, by operation of law. You don’t need to go back to court to convert each missed payment into a debt.12State of Texas. Texas Code FAM 157.261 – Arrears as Judgment
For payments that become due on or after January 1, 2026, the interest rate is 3 percent simple interest per year. Arrears that accrued earlier were subject to 6 percent, though the cumulative balance of those older arrears also shifts to 3 percent going forward from January 1, 2026. Money judgments for child support that a court rendered before January 2026 continue under the old 6 percent rate.13Texas Legislature Online. 89R HB 4213 – Introduced Version Because the interest is simple rather than compounding, it applies only to the principal arrearage, but on a large balance it still adds up quickly.
Watch the deadlines. You have two years after the child support obligation ends (typically when the child turns 18 or graduates high school, whichever the order specifies) to file for contempt. After that window closes, contempt is off the table. But you have a full ten years after the obligation ends to file a motion asking the court to confirm the total arrears and render a cumulative money judgment.14State of Texas. Texas Family Code 157.005 – Time Limitations, Enforcement of Child Support That judgment can then be collected like any other civil judgment. Don’t wait until the child ages out to start enforcement, but know the debt doesn’t evaporate if you do.
Visitation and Support Are Separate
Texas law prohibits a court from making visitation contingent on child support payments.15State of Texas. Texas Family Code 154.011 – Reporting of Child Support Payments A parent who isn’t paying still has the right to see their child as ordered, and a parent being denied visitation cannot legally withhold support in retaliation. These are two independent court orders. If visitation is being denied, file a separate enforcement action on the possession order rather than stopping your support payments. Judges see self-help retaliation constantly, and it almost always makes the retaliating parent’s position worse.