If you don’t pay child support in Indiana, the state can garnish your wages, seize your federal and state tax refunds, place liens on your property, suspend your driver’s license and professional licenses, block your passport, hold you in contempt of court, and ultimately prosecute you for a felony. The debt also cannot be erased in bankruptcy, and no court can go back and forgive payments you’ve already missed. The one thing that can actually help is filing to modify your support order the moment your financial situation changes.
Your Paycheck and Tax Refunds Go First
Most Indiana support orders already include income withholding from the day they’re entered. Your employer deducts the payment from wages, bonuses, commissions, and severance before you see the money, and they have no discretion to refuse once the order arrives.1Indiana Department of Child Services. Employer FAQ If you change jobs, the order follows you.2Indiana Department of Child Services. Income Withholding
When withholding isn’t enough to cover what you owe, your tax refunds are next. Indiana’s child support agency submits your name, Social Security number, and arrears balance to the U.S. Treasury, which intercepts your federal refund and sends it to the custodial parent.3Administration for Children and Families. How Does a Federal Tax Refund Offset Work No new hearing is required. The thresholds are low: $150 in arrears if the state is owed because the other parent received public assistance, $500 if the arrears are owed directly to the other parent.4Indiana Department of Child Services. DCS IV-D Policy Manual – Federal Tax Refund Offset If you file jointly with a new spouse, that spouse can submit an injured spouse claim with the IRS to protect their portion, but your share is still taken.
The Debt Grows While You Wait
Indiana law creates an automatic lien on your real and personal property the moment a child support judgment exists against you. That covers land, homes, vehicles, and personal belongings, and it blocks you from selling or transferring them until the debt is paid.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-16-3 – Judgment as Lien; Priority; Perfection
Your arrears also get reported to the major credit bureaus. Federal rules place no restriction on this reporting, so your credit score can take damage as soon as you fall behind.6Administration for Children and Families. Credit Reporting Agencies A child support delinquency on your report makes mortgages, car loans, leases, and credit cards harder to get.
On top of all this, the court can order interest on your unpaid balance at up to 1.5% per month, or 18% per year, if the custodial parent or agency asks for it.7Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-12-2 – Delinquent Child Support Payments A $5,000 balance grows by $75 every month at that rate, before any new missed payment is added. People who let the problem sit for a year or two often find themselves staring at a debt that feels impossible to clear.
Licenses You Can Lose
Indiana can suspend your driver’s license once you owe at least $2,000 in arrears or are three or more months behind on payments. The state’s Title IV-D agency sends the order to the BMV, which suspends your driving privileges and blocks you from getting a new license or permit.8Indiana Department of Child Services. DCS IV-D Policy Manual – Chapter 12 Enforcement Section 4.1 Driver’s License Suspension Reinstatement generally requires a lump payment equal to roughly eight weeks of your current order.9Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-25-4-33.5 – Driving Privilege Reinstatement; Suspension
Professional licenses are also at risk. If you hold a license in nursing, law, accounting, real estate, cosmetology, or any other state-regulated occupation, the licensing board can suspend it or deny your renewal once it receives a court order or delinquency finding. You get 20 days’ notice and can pay in full, set up a payment plan with income withholding, or request a hearing. The only basis for contesting is a mistake of fact; hardship is not a defense at that stage.
Hunting and fishing licenses fall under the same framework. And if your arrears pass $2,500, the Department of Health and Human Services certifies the debt to the State Department, which denies new passport applications and revokes existing passports.10U.S. Department of State. Pay Your Child Support Before Applying for a Passport International travel is blocked until you pay the balance below $2,500 or make satisfactory arrangements with your state agency.11Administration for Children and Families. Passport Denial Program 101 People often discover this at the passport office when they’re trying to book a trip, and by then there isn’t time to fix it.
Contempt of Court
When administrative tools aren’t closing the gap, the custodial parent or the IV-D prosecutor can ask a judge to hold you in civil contempt. Contempt is designed to force compliance, not punish a crime. You’ll be ordered to appear and explain why you haven’t paid.
To hold you in contempt, the court must find that you knew about the order, had the ability to pay, and willfully chose not to. Genuine inability to pay is a defense if you lost your job, became disabled, or faced some other catastrophe. But you have to raise it proactively, ideally by filing a modification petition before the contempt hearing. Showing up and saying “I can’t afford it” with no documentation and no prior effort to modify rarely persuades a judge.
If the court does find you in contempt, it can order a lump-sum payment, a structured payment plan on top of your current support, a job search with proof of applications, community service if you’re unemployed, and reimbursement of the other parent’s attorney fees. The judge can also sentence you to jail. Civil contempt confinement is coercive rather than punitive, so there’s no fixed sentence; you’re held until you comply with what the court ordered, such as making a specified payment.
Felony Criminal Charges
Beyond civil enforcement, persistent non-payment can become a criminal case. Under Indiana’s nonsupport statute, knowingly or intentionally failing to support your dependent child is a Level 6 felony. If you have a prior conviction for the same offense, it rises to a Level 5 felony.12Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-46-1-5 – Nonsupport of a Dependent Child
A Level 6 felony carries six months to two and a half years in prison, with a one-year advisory sentence, plus a fine of up to $10,000.13Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-7 – Class D Felony; Level 6 Felony A Level 5 felony carries one to six years in prison, with a three-year advisory sentence, plus a fine of up to $10,000.14Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-6 – Class C Felony; Level 5 Felony A felony conviction creates a permanent record that follows every future job application, housing application, and background check.
There is one narrow path back. If you’re convicted of a Level 5 nonsupport felony, the court can later convert it to a Level 6 felony, but only after you’ve completed probation, paid your arrears in full, and have no other felony convictions or pending charges.14Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-6 – Class C Felony; Level 5 Felony You still end up with a felony record.
Two Things You Cannot Escape
Bankruptcy will not wipe out child support. Federal law exempts domestic support obligations from discharge in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge Child support is a first-priority unsecured debt, which puts it ahead of credit cards, medical bills, and nearly everything else. The automatic stay that normally pauses collection when you file bankruptcy doesn’t apply to most child support enforcement either. Wage withholding, tax intercepts, license suspensions, and credit reporting all continue through your case.
No court can go back and reduce arrears you’ve already accumulated. Federal law prohibits any state from retroactively modifying child support once a payment date has passed; that installment becomes a judgment by operation of law.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures to Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement If you lose your job in January and don’t file for a modification until June, you owe the full original amount for every month in between, even if you had zero income the entire time. The court can only change your obligation going forward from the date you filed. Every month you wait adds another month of permanent debt.
File for a Modification Before Arrears Pile Up
If you can’t afford your current payments, the worst thing you can do is simply stop paying. Indiana courts can modify a support order when you show that your circumstances have changed so substantially and continuously that the original amount is no longer reasonable.17Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-8-1 – Modification or Revocation of Child Support Orders Qualifying changes include job loss, a significant pay cut, serious illness, disability, or incarceration.
There’s also a more mechanical path. If your current order differs by more than 20% from what Indiana’s child support guidelines would produce today, and the order is at least 12 months old, you can petition for modification on that basis alone.17Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-8-1 – Modification or Revocation of Child Support Orders You don’t need a dramatic life event, just numbers that no longer match the guidelines.
To file, complete Indiana’s Change Child Support forms and a Child Support Obligation Worksheet, which calculates the proposed new amount. Bring documentation of your changed income: recent pay stubs, tax returns, termination letters, medical records, or Social Security statements. If both parents agree, you can file an agreed entry signed in front of a notary, which the court can approve relatively quickly. If you don’t agree, expect a hearing where a judge reviews both parents’ finances.
The modification takes effect only from the date you file the petition, not from the date your circumstances changed. File as soon as your situation shifts. A few weeks of delay creates arrears that will follow you indefinitely.
Parenting Time Does Not Cancel Support
Indiana treats support payments and parenting time as separate obligations. A custodial parent cannot legally withhold visitation because you’re behind on support, and you cannot stop paying support because you’re being denied court-ordered time with your child. Each issue has its own enforcement path. If visitation is being denied, file a motion to enforce your parenting time order. Stopping payments in retaliation triggers every enforcement action above, and judges consistently treat the two as separate violations rather than one canceling the other.