If you don’t pay child support in Colorado, enforcement starts automatically and gets worse the longer you wait. The state can pull money from your paycheck and bank accounts, intercept your tax refunds, suspend your driver’s and professional licenses, block your passport, put liens on your property, and ultimately send you to jail through either civil contempt or a class 5 felony prosecution. On top of all that, the unpaid balance keeps growing at roughly 10% interest per year, and no judge can erase arrears that built up before you asked the court for help.1
Money Comes Out of Your Paycheck and Accounts First
The usual starting point is an Income Withholding Order sent to your employer. Once it arrives, the employer must deduct the support amount from your check and send it to the state. You don’t get to opt out, and neither does your employer.
Bank accounts are next. Through the Financial Institution Data Match program, Colorado’s Child Support Services cross-references its records against bank and credit union databases. When your name turns up, the state can levy the account and take the funds to cover what you owe. If you’re currently paying, your checking account may be spared, but savings and other accounts are fair game.
Tax refunds get intercepted too. The federal Office of Child Support Services sends names and Social Security numbers of parents with past-due support to the U.S. Treasury, which pulls part or all of any federal refund. Colorado’s Department of Revenue does the same with state refunds. A refund you were counting on to catch up on other bills can disappear before it ever reaches you.
The Debt Grows While You Ignore It
Every missed payment becomes a final money judgment the moment it comes due. That matters for two reasons: it can’t be undone, and it starts accruing interest immediately.
For arrears due on or after July 1, 2021, interest runs at 2% above the statutory rate, compounded annually. Colorado’s base statutory rate is 8%, so child support arrears currently grow at about 10% per year. Older arrears from before that date accrue at 12%, compounded monthly. The custodial parent can waive the interest, but nothing requires them to.
A $5,000 balance left alone for a few years can grow substantially before any motion gets filed. And because each unpaid installment is already a judgment, a court cannot go back and wipe it out. Modification only works forward from the date you file.
Your Credit, Licenses, and Passport
Falling behind reaches well beyond your bank account.
Colorado reports child support accounts to the major credit bureaus. An arrearage shows up on your credit report and stays there even after you pay it off, though the balance updates to zero. That history can make it harder to qualify for a mortgage, car loan, or apartment lease.
Driver’s License
The state child support enforcement agency reviews its caseload at least once a year and flags parents who owe arrears and haven’t entered or kept a repayment agreement. If flagged, you get a notice of noncompliance and 30 days to request an administrative review. Miss that window and your driver’s license gets suspended. Getting it back means complying with the original notice (usually a payment plan), paying the balance to zero, or having the case closed.
Professional, Occupational, and Recreational Licenses
A separate statute reaches licenses issued by any state agency, board, or commission. The trigger is specific: you owe more than six months of support and are paying less than half of your current monthly obligation. Under those conditions, the state can suspend or deny licenses for contractors, nurses, real estate agents, lawyers, cosmetologists, and anyone else who needs state credentials to work. Hunting and fishing licenses fall under this authority too.
Losing a professional license cuts off the income you need to pay support in the first place. If a suspension is coming, filing for modification before it hits is almost always the better move.
Passport
When your child support debt crosses $2,500, the federal Office of Child Support Services automatically forwards your name to the U.S. State Department. Any passport application you file will be denied. No court proceeding is required. Paying the arrears below $2,500 or setting up satisfactory payment arrangements with the state agency is typically what it takes to lift the hold.
Liens on What You Own
When a payment comes due and goes unpaid, Colorado law automatically creates a lien on your real and personal property. No separate lawsuit is needed. To enforce the lien against specific property, the enforcement unit records it with the county clerk for real estate, files with the Secretary of State for personal property, or notifies the authorized agent for motor vehicles.
You cannot sell, refinance, or transfer property with a child support lien attached until the debt is satisfied. These liens carry full faith and credit, so they follow you across state lines.
When the Court Gets Involved: Contempt
If administrative tools don’t get results, either the state or the other parent can ask a judge to hold you in contempt. Colorado uses two different kinds, and they work in opposite ways.
Remedial Contempt
Remedial contempt is meant to force compliance. A judge can order jail, but you hold the keys: the court sets a “purge” amount, and you walk out as soon as you pay it. The custodial parent only has to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that you aren’t complying.
Punitive Contempt
Punitive contempt is a penalty. The judge imposes a fixed fine or set jail term, and paying the arrears won’t shorten it. Because it functions like a criminal sanction, the person bringing the action must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you had the ability to pay and chose not to. If more than 180 days of jail time is possible, you have the right to a jury trial and must be advised of your right to an attorney before the hearing.
When It Becomes a Felony
The most severe consequence is a criminal charge. Willfully failing to provide reasonable support for a child under 18 is a class 5 felony in Colorado. This is a separate proceeding, prosecuted by the state rather than the other parent.
A class 5 felony carries a presumptive prison sentence of one to three years, followed by two years of mandatory parole. Fines run from $1,000 to $100,000. A conviction leaves a permanent felony record that affects employment, housing, and voting rights during incarceration and parole.
You can raise an affirmative defense by showing you were genuinely unable to provide support, but “unable” is a high bar. Voluntarily quitting a job or turning down reasonable work generally doesn’t qualify. Prosecutors save this charge for prolonged, deliberate refusal to pay, so a case reaches this point only after every other enforcement tool has been ignored.
What to Do Instead: Ask the Court to Modify
If your income has dropped, do not simply stop paying. The debt stacks up with interest, each missed payment hardens into a judgment, and none of it can be erased later. Colorado courts cannot reduce arrears that built up before you filed a motion to modify, no matter how good the reason.
To change the support amount, you need a “substantial and continuing” change in circumstances. “Substantial” in Colorado means a change that would move the calculated amount by at least 10% in either direction. “Continuing” means it isn’t temporary. A two-week gap between jobs probably won’t qualify. A permanent layoff or a serious medical condition likely will.
If both parents agree, you can file a joint stipulation. If not, you file a motion to modify and the court recalculates based on current income and expenses. The new amount takes effect from the date you file, not from the date your circumstances changed. Every week you wait is another week of debt accruing at the old rate that no judge can undo later.