If you need to start, change, or collect child support in Tulare County, the Department of Child Support Services in Visalia opens cases for free and handles most of the work for you, from locating the other parent to appearing in court. The office is at 8040 W. Doe Ave., Visalia, CA 93291, and the phone number is (866) 901-3212.1Tulare County DCSS. Contact Us – Tulare County You can book a time through the DCSS appointment portal.2Tulare County Department of Child Support Services. TCDCSS Appointments The agency establishes parentage, secures medical coverage, and sets up and enforces support orders.3California Legislative Information. California Family Code 17400
Opening a Case: DCSS or Filing on Your Own
You have two routes. Through DCSS, there is no fee to establish parentage, set up a support order, modify it, or collect unpaid support, and the responding parent pays nothing to file a response.4Superior Court of California, County of Tulare. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Agency staff prepare the paperwork, locate the other parent if needed, and represent the case in court through staff attorneys.
Filing on your own through the Family Law Division of the Tulare County Superior Court costs $435 for the initial petition, $435 for the other parent’s response, and $60 for a later motion to modify.4Superior Court of California, County of Tulare. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule A fee waiver is available if you can’t afford it. For most families without a private attorney, the DCSS route is cheaper and easier.
Whichever path you take, the Tulare County Superior Court’s Self-Help Resource Center, also called the Family Law Facilitator, gives free help with forms and procedure to anyone without their own lawyer, regardless of income.5Superior Court of California, County of Tulare. Self-Help Resource Center
What to Bring When You File
Gather full names, addresses, and dates of birth for both parents and every child. If parentage hasn’t been legally established, bring the child’s birth certificate or a signed Voluntary Declaration of Paternity. If you don’t know where the other parent lives, bring whatever you have: employer, relatives, last known address.
California requires both parents to disclose finances on an Income and Expense Declaration (Form FL-150), or a Financial Statement (Simplified) (Form FL-155) in simpler cases, completed within the last three months.6Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 5.260 – General Provisions Regarding Support Cases To fill it out, bring your three most recent pay stubs, your latest tax return, childcare cost documentation, health insurance premium records, and any existing support orders from prior cases.
How the Amount Is Calculated
California uses a statewide formula set out in Family Code Section 4055, and courts run it through software rather than by hand. Two numbers do most of the work: each parent’s net monthly disposable income, and the percentage of overnight time each parent has with the children, called the time-share.7California Legislative Information. California Family Code 4055 – Statewide Uniform Guideline Higher income pushes the obligation up. More overnight time with the children generally pushes it down, because the formula assumes you’re spending on them directly during that time. A shift of a few overnights per month can meaningfully change the result.
What Counts as Income
Gross income is defined broadly: wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, rental income, dividends, pensions, Social Security, unemployment, disability, workers’ compensation, severance, and spousal support from outside the current case. Self-employment income counts as gross receipts minus legitimate business expenses.8California Legislative Information. California Family Code 4058 – Annual Gross Income Child support received for children from another relationship does not count, and neither does need-based public assistance.
Deductions
Gross income is reduced by federal and state income taxes actually owed (not just withheld), Social Security and Medicare, mandatory union dues, health insurance premiums for you and the children you support, state disability insurance, and any child or spousal support already being paid under another order. The court can also allow a hardship deduction for things like extraordinary medical expenses or supporting other children who live with you.
More Than One Child
The base formula covers one child. For additional children a multiplier is applied: 1.6 for two, 2.0 for three, and so on.7California Legislative Information. California Family Code 4055 – Statewide Uniform Guideline It doesn’t simply double, because household expenses per child drop when siblings share a home.
What Happens After You File
The other parent has to be formally served; telling them yourself doesn’t count. Service means delivery by a third party or another method the court approves.9Superior Court of California, County of Tulare. About the Family Law Division DCSS typically schedules a meet-and-confer where both parents go over the financial information and try to agree on an amount. If they agree, the stipulation goes to the court. If they don’t, a judicial officer hears the case and issues an order based on the guideline formula. If custody is also disputed, the court may require mediation on custody and visitation.
Agreeing on an Amount Yourselves
Parents who can cooperate may negotiate a figure and submit it as a stipulated agreement. The court will approve it as long as it meets or exceeds the guideline. If the agreed amount is below the guideline, both parents must declare under penalty of perjury that they understand their rights, no one is being pressured, the children’s needs will still be met, and the agreement serves the children’s best interests.10California Legislative Information. California Family Code 4065 – Stipulated Agreement
Two things to know. If DCSS is involved, the agency itself must co-sign the stipulation, and it will not sign a below-guideline amount when the children receive public assistance or when an application for assistance is pending. And once a below-guideline amount is in place, either parent can later ask to raise it to the full guideline without having to show that anything changed.
Changing an Order Later
Either parent can ask DCSS or the court to modify an order when circumstances change.11California Legislative Information. California Family Code 3651 – Modification or Termination of Support Typical reasons: a meaningful income change for either parent, a job loss, a change in time-share, or a new disability.
File as soon as the change happens. A modification can only take effect back to the date you filed, not before.12California Legislative Information. California Family Code 3603 – Modification Effective Date If your income dropped six months ago and you file today, you still owe the full original amount for those six months. This is one of the most common and costly mistakes parents make.
How Payments Move
Most California payments go through the State Disbursement Unit (SDU). The usual setup is an income withholding order sent to the paying parent’s employer, which deducts the support from each paycheck and sends it to the SDU, which then pays the receiving parent. Receiving parents can take payment on a Way2Go prepaid debit card issued by Comerica Bank for California Child Support Services, or by direct deposit to a bank account.13California Child Support Services. California State Disbursement Unit Routing payments through the SDU creates an official record, which protects both sides if a dispute comes up later.
What DCSS Can Do If Payments Stop
If a paying parent falls behind, DCSS has several collection tools and does not need the receiving parent to initiate anything. The most common is the income withholding order. The agency can also intercept federal and state tax refunds, levy bank accounts, and record liens against real property such as a home.
When arrears reach $2,500, DCSS can submit the parent’s name to the federal Passport Denial Program; the State Department then rejects any passport application until the balance is handled.14Administration for Children and Families. Passport Denial Program 101
California can also suspend a driver’s license, professional license, or business license when a parent is more than 30 days behind. The licensing board issues a 150-day temporary license and a notice; if the parent doesn’t comply or arrange a payment plan in that window, the license is suspended.15California Legislative Information. California Family Code 17520 – Suspension of License
When administrative tools aren’t enough, DCSS or the other parent can ask the court to hold the non-paying parent in contempt. Contempt is treated as a quasi-criminal proceeding and can carry community service, jail time, or both, with heavier penalties for repeat convictions and a right to a jury trial when potential sentences get long enough.16Judicial Branch of California. Contempt – California Courts
Interest on What’s Owed
Unpaid child support in California accrues interest at 10% a year, starting the first day of the month after a payment was due. The rate is set by statute. The receiving parent doesn’t have to ask for it, and the court can’t waive it. On a $10,000 arrearage, that’s $1,000 in interest each year on top of any new support owed. If your income drops, file for a modification right away rather than simply stopping payments.
Taxes
Child support is not deductible for the parent who pays, and it is not taxable income for the parent who receives it, regardless of the amount.17Internal Revenue Service. Dependents 6 People sometimes mix this up with alimony rules, which changed in 2019. One related point: if a parent owes back child support and is due a federal refund, the Treasury can intercept the refund and send it to the other parent or the state.
When the Other Parent Lives Out of State
If one parent is in Tulare County and the other is in a different state, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act governs which state can modify the order. In general, the state that issued the original order keeps exclusive authority to change it as long as a party or the child still lives there, and jurisdiction can shift to the child’s home state once no one is left in the issuing state. A receiving parent can send an income withholding order directly to an out-of-state employer. DCSS can coordinate with the agency in the other state to register and enforce your order; you don’t need to hire a lawyer in that state to begin.
When the Obligation Ends
Child support in California generally ends when the child turns 18. There is one extension: if the child is a full-time high school student and not self-supporting at 18, support continues until the child finishes twelfth grade or turns 19, whichever comes first. A documented medical condition that prevents full-time attendance can excuse the enrollment requirement during that extension.
Support does not stop automatically on the birthday. The paying parent should either file a motion to terminate the order or confirm with DCSS that the case is closed. Paying past the end date can create real trouble when you later try to recover the overpayment, so track the dates and act on them.