Nevada child support arrears forgiveness is not a single program you apply for. The state has no blanket write-off, and every missed installment automatically becomes a court judgment the day it comes due under NRS 125B.140, which a judge cannot retroactively erase.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 125B – Obligation of Support What you actually have are three paths: an Offer in Compromise for arrears owed to the state, a private settlement with the other parent that gets approved by the court, and a modification of your ongoing order to stop new arrears from piling up. Which one fits depends on who the debt is owed to.
Who Does the Debt Belong To?
This is the first question to answer, because it decides which path is open to you. When a child has received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or similar public benefits, the state paid those benefits up front and took over the right to collect the matching support. That portion of your arrears is owed to Nevada. Anything above and beyond is still owed to the custodial parent. Many cases are a mix of both.
Only the state can forgive the state’s share. Only the other parent can forgive theirs. No single filing resolves both at once.
Offer in Compromise for Arrears Owed to the State
Nevada’s Division of Welfare and Supportive Services runs an Offer in Compromise program that lets you propose paying less than the full balance on state-owed arrears.2Administration for Children and Families. State Child Support Agencies With Debt Compromise Policies The eligibility rules are strict.
Your case must be a recovery-only case, meaning there is no current support obligation and no remaining arrears owed to the custodial parent. The custodial parent’s share has to be paid in full before the state will consider reducing its own. You also have to wait at least one year after the debt was incurred before submitting an offer.3Division of Welfare and Supportive Services. Child Support Enforcement Manual Chapter VI
How the State Sets the Number
Your offer has to meet or exceed your “collection potential.” The state calculates that by projecting your income over the next 36 months, subtracting necessary living expenses, and adding the net value of your assets. If the full debt is unlikely to be collected within that 36-month window and your offer clears the collection-potential floor, the DWSS Administrator has authority to accept it. The required amount is bumped up by 10 percent if you historically had the ability to pay and largely didn’t.3Division of Welfare and Supportive Services. Child Support Enforcement Manual Chapter VI
How to Apply
Submit a written offer through the enforcing authority, usually the district attorney’s child support office or the DWSS office handling your case. Review takes up to 45 days. One detail catches people off guard: submitting the offer does not pause anything. Wage withholding, tax refund interception, and license holds all keep running while the compromise is being evaluated.3Division of Welfare and Supportive Services. Child Support Enforcement Manual Chapter VI
Settling Arrears Owed to the Other Parent
The Offer in Compromise program does not apply to debt owed directly to the custodial parent. For that portion, your option is to negotiate a private settlement and put it in front of the court as a Stipulation and Order.
A custodial parent who has been unable to collect for years sometimes prefers a guaranteed lump sum over the possibility of never seeing the full balance. The terms are entirely up to the two of you. The state cannot force a custodial parent to take less than they are owed, and it cannot stop them from doing so either.
Once you agree, both parents sign the stipulation in front of a notary and submit it to the assigned family court department for the judge’s review. After the judge signs, whoever receives the filed order completes a Notice of Entry of Order and serves it on the other parent.4Family Law Self-Help Center. Submit a Stipulation and Order if the Other Party Agrees Do not skip the court step. A handshake deal leaves the original judgments fully enforceable, and the enforcement agency will keep collecting on the old numbers until a signed order tells it otherwise.
Why a Judge Alone Cannot Wipe Out Past-Due Support
Nevada’s vested judgment rule is the reason there is no shortcut. Each unpaid installment becomes a judgment by operation of law on the date it is due, and the custodial parent holds that judgment the same way they would hold any other court-awarded debt.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 125B – Obligation of Support
When a judge reviews a stipulated settlement between two parents, the checks are narrow: the agreement cannot violate public policy, and the child’s current needs still have to be met through ongoing support. If both are satisfied, judges generally approve. Acting without the custodial parent’s consent, however, a judge has extremely limited power to reduce arrears that have already vested. The narrow exceptions involve clerical errors or fundamental legal defects in the original order.
Stopping New Arrears: Modifying the Underlying Order
Reducing what you already owe is one problem. Stopping the pile from growing is a separate one, and it is often the more important move. Under NRS 125B.145, you can file a motion to modify your ongoing child support if your financial circumstances have changed significantly.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 125B – Obligation of Support
A change of 20 percent or more in your gross monthly income automatically qualifies as a changed circumstance. Job loss, disability, and significant pay cuts all potentially justify a lower order. But a modification only applies from the date you file the motion forward. It will not erase anything already owed. Every month you wait while unable to pay the current order adds to your arrears, so filing fast matters more than filing perfectly.
Interest Keeps Running the Whole Time
Nevada courts must add interest to past-due child support at the rate set by NRS 99.040, which is tied to the prime rate at Nevada’s largest bank plus two percent. The rate adjusts every January 1 and July 1.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 125B – Obligation of Support Interest runs on the entire unpaid balance until you pay it off, and the court can also add attorney’s fees for the enforcement proceeding unless paying them would cause undue hardship. A judge has discretion to waive interest for genuine hardship, but that is the exception, not the default. A $10,000 balance ignored for several years can grow by thousands in interest alone, which is why the Offer in Compromise, a stipulated settlement, or a modification is almost always worth pursuing instead of waiting.
What Will Not Work
Two assumptions trip people up, and both are wrong in Nevada.
Bankruptcy will not discharge child support arrears. Federal law classifies child support as a domestic support obligation and excludes it from discharge in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge In Chapter 7, anything left after the trustee liquidates your non-exempt assets survives the bankruptcy. In Chapter 13, your plan must pay 100 percent of your arrears over three to five years, and you must stay current on ongoing monthly support the whole time or risk dismissal. The automatic stay does not stop child support collection either; wage withholding, tax refund interception, license actions, and credit reporting all continue while your bankruptcy case is open.
Waiting it out does not work. NRS 125B.050 sets no limitation on the time in which an action may be brought to collect child support arrears or to seek reimbursement of public assistance paid for a child.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 125B – Obligation of Support A debt from 15 years ago is just as enforceable as one from last month, and the enforcement tools behind it (wage garnishment, tax refund interception, license suspension, passport denial once arrears exceed $2,500, credit reporting at $1,000, and civil contempt) do not expire with the calendar.
Where to Start
Pull your most recent account statement from the enforcement office and figure out how much of the balance is owed to the state and how much to the other parent. If any of the debt is state-owed and you otherwise meet the Offer in Compromise rules, that is a direct path through DWSS. For anything owed to the other parent, open a conversation about a stipulated settlement and get any agreement notarized and submitted to the court. If your income has dropped by 20 percent or more since the current order was entered, file a motion to modify now rather than later, because arrears accrued before the filing date stay on the books.