How to Fill Out and Submit the Texas Child Support Complaint Form (1600)

To file a service complaint against the Texas Attorney General’s Child Support Division, complete Child Support Complaint Form 1600, describe the problem in writing, and submit the signed form to your local field office, the state office in Austin, or the online complaint portal. A Field Ombudsman is then assigned to investigate. The complaint must be in writing, and the form is the standard vehicle for it.¹

Information You Need to Complete the Form

Form 1600 asks for a short set of identifying details. Have these ready before you sit down:

Your full name and mailing address, which the Ombudsman uses to send status updates and the final resolution notice.
A daytime phone number where an investigator can reach you.
Your Social Security number, which links the complaint to your record in the OAG’s system.
Your child support case number, found on any correspondence from the OAG or in your online child support account.

The form has one blank line for the case number and does not require a court cause number or a specific digit count.¹ If you have the court cause number, working it into the written description can help the Ombudsman pull related records.

Writing the Complaint Description

The description section is where most complaints either succeed or stall. Write a chronological account: date by date, interaction by interaction. Name any staff members involved. Include the dates and approximate times of phone calls or office visits and what was said or promised.

Concrete service failures are what the Ombudsman can actually investigate. Calls that went unreturned for weeks. Payments posted incorrectly. Appointments canceled without notice. Staff who were unprofessional during a specific interaction. A complaint reading “nobody is helping me” gives the investigator nothing to work with. A complaint reading “I called the Dallas field office on March 3 and spoke to [name], who said my employer’s payment had been received, but my account still shows no payment posted as of March 20” gives them a thread to pull.

Sign and date the form when you finish. An unsigned complaint may not be processed, because the agency requires written complaints to be attributable.¹

What the Form Covers and What It Does Not

Form 1600 addresses service-related grievances against the OAG’s Child Support Division. It does not address disagreements with a judge’s ruling. If your problem is that the monthly support amount is too high or too low, or that you want to change custody, the complaint form cannot help. Those issues require a judicial modification filed under the Texas Family Code.²

Complaints that do fall within the Ombudsman’s scope include errors in payment accounting, processing delays, unanswered inquiries, failure to enforce an existing order, and disrespectful treatment by staff. The line between “the agency made a mistake” and “I disagree with the court order” is the line the Ombudsman works within.

How to Submit the Form

You have three ways to get the completed complaint to the OAG.

Return It to Your Local Field Office

The instructions on Form 1600 direct you to return the completed form to the Field Ombudsman at the field office handling your case. When the form is issued to you, the office address and Field Ombudsman’s name are filled in on the form itself.¹ This is the agency’s preferred route because it puts the complaint directly with the people who can review the local staff and records involved. Field office addresses are listed in the OAG’s office locator.

Mail It to the State Office in Austin

If you downloaded the form yourself or want to bypass the local office, mail it to the central Child Support Division: Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Division, P.O. Box 12017, Austin, Texas 78711-2017.³ The Chief Ombudsman in Austin oversees the program and routes the complaint to the appropriate field or regional office.

File Online

The OAG maintains an online complaint portal at childsupport.oag.texas.gov.⁴ You select a topic from a dropdown, type your complaint into a text box, and give your name and email if you want a response. After you submit, the system confirms the transmission was successful. Save or screenshot that confirmation. The online form does not have a separate case number field, so put your case number in the body of the description.

What Happens After You File

Once the OAG has your written complaint, the Ombudsman Program follows a documented process.¹ The agency documents the complaint, assigns it to an Ombudsman, and begins investigating. Investigation may involve discussing the issue further with you, researching the agency’s records, and interviewing staff or others connected to the complaint.

You receive a written update every 60 days until the complaint is resolved. When the investigation is complete, the agency sends a resolution notice to you and to any other individuals who were subjects of the complaint. That 60-day cycle sets a realistic expectation: this is not a fast-turnaround process, and complex complaints involving payment accounting or coordination across offices can take several months.

Internal Escalation

The program operates on three tiers. The agency tries to resolve complaints at the field office first. If the Field Ombudsman cannot resolve it, the complaint moves to the regional office. If it still isn’t resolved there, it goes to the State Office in Austin, where the Chief Ombudsman has oversight of the program.¹ You do not file separately at each level. The agency escalates internally if the lower tier cannot reach a satisfactory resolution.

What the Investigation Cannot Do

The Ombudsman investigation is strictly administrative. It can address how OAG staff handled your case, correct internal errors, and hold employees accountable for service failures. It cannot change, vacate, or override a court order signed by a Texas judge. Changing an order requires a separate proceeding in family court.

Attaching Payment Evidence

Payment disputes are among the most common reasons people file complaints. The OAG offers an online child support account where you can check your case status and view payment records.⁵ If you spot a discrepancy between what your employer withheld and what appears in the system, print or screenshot that record and reference it in your Form 1600 description.

When to Look Beyond the OAG

If you have exhausted the internal complaint process and your case involves specific enforcement difficulties, such as the other parent hiding income, working for cash, or frequently relocating, you can request a federal case review. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advises writing to both the state office and the federal regional office. Your written request should include both parents’ names, work and home addresses, case numbers, and Social Security numbers.⁶ The federal Office of Child Support Services partners with state agencies but does not operate as a direct appeals court for individual complaints.⁷ For routine service complaints, Form 1600 and the OAG Ombudsman remain the primary remedy.

1
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Child Support Complaint Form
2
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 156.401 – Grounds for Modification of Child Support
3
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Child Support Ombudsman Program
4
Office of the Attorney General. Compact with Texans
5
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. About Your Online Child Support Account
6
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I Am Not Satisfied With How My Child Support Case Is Being Handled. What Do I Do?
7
Office of Child Support Services. Office of Child Support Enforcement