Back child support (arrears) in Georgia: interest, enforcement and jail (2026)

Back child support, also called arrears or past-due support, is support that a Georgia order required and that was not paid when due. Georgia law adds interest to it, the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) collects it in the cases it handles, and the superior court can enforce it through contempt. This guide describes those rules; it does not compute arrears, because the amount owed depends on the payment record of each case.

What happens when child support is not paid in Georgia?

The unpaid amount stays owed and starts to carry interest. Federal law requires every state to treat each support installment, on and after the date it is due, as a judgment by operation of law, with the full force of a judgment of the state and entitled to full faith and credit in other states (42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(9)). In Georgia, the parent owed support does not need to reduce an award to a judgment to recover interest on it (O.C.G.A. § 7-4-12.1(a)).

From there, two routes are open, alone or together:

1. Administrative enforcement by DCSS. In cases DCSS handles, it can withhold income, place liens, levy bank accounts, intercept tax refunds, suspend licenses and certify the debt for passport denial, most of them after a notice and without a new court case.
2. Court enforcement. The parent owed support, or DCSS, can bring a contempt action in the superior court, which can end in a fine or jail.

DCSS uses these remedies until the parent who owes support is in full compliance with the order, according to its policy manual.

What is the Georgia child support interest rate?

Seven percent a year. Under § 7-4-12.1(a), awards of child support expressed in money amounts “shall accrue interest at the rate of 7 percent per annum” commencing 30 days from the date an installment payment is due. The section applies to all awards, orders, decrees and judgments under Title 19, the domestic relations title.

Question	What the law says
When does interest start?	30 days after each installment is due (§ 7-4-12.1(a))
Does the parent owed support need a judgment first?	No (§ 7-4-12.1(a))
Can the court waive or reduce it?	Yes, past-due interest, after weighing four factors (§ 7-4-12.1(a)); see below
Does DCSS collect it?	DCSS says it applies interest at 7 percent on judgments it established or private orders it modified, once the parent is 30 days delinquent, on arrears that fell due from 1 January 2007
Is it counted for enforcement?	Interest is part of the arrears used for license suspension when it applies (Rule 290-7-1-.12(3)(a))

The monthly amount itself does not change because arrears exist. For one child, with incomes of $4,000 and $6,000 a month and no court-ordered parenting time, the guideline is $771.00 a month; arrears and interest are owed on top of the current amount until they are paid.

When can a Georgia court waive interest on child support?

The court has discretion in applying, waiving or reducing past-due interest. In deciding, it must consider whether (§ 7-4-12.1(a)):

• good cause existed for not paying the child support;
• paying the interest would cause substantial and unreasonable hardship for the parent who owes it;
• applying, waiving or reducing the interest would help or hurt that parent’s current ability to pay support, including how regularly current support has been paid;
• waiving or reducing the interest would cause substantial and unreasonable hardship to the parent owed it.

How does Georgia collect back child support?

DCSS lists these tools, and the Department of Human Services rules in chapter 290-7-1 of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia set when it can use them.

Tool	When it applies	Source
Income withholding	DCSS issues an income withholding order to the employer as soon as a support order is entered when the parent is employed, and adds an amount toward arrears when a court orders it or the parents agree; the order can be contested within 14 days only for a mistake of fact	Rule 290-7-1-.10
Garnishment and orders to withhold and deliver	Once a court has adjudicated the arrears, or 30 days after a missed payment under an administrative decision or agreement, after a notice with 15 days to contest	Rule 290-7-1-.09
Liens	A notice of lien on real and personal property creates a lien by operation of law; it also reaches property acquired later	Rule 290-7-1-.17(1) and (7)
Bank account levy	When the arrears equal at least one month of support; challenges within ten business days	Rule 290-7-1-.17(2) and (5)
Workers’ compensation and lottery winnings	DCSS can offset them	Rule 290-7-1-.17(7)
Federal tax refund	Arrears of at least $150 owed to the state for public assistance, or $500 in other cases (how the tax refund offset works)	Rule 290-7-1-.08; 42 U.S.C. § 664
Georgia tax refund	Arrears of at least $500	Rule 290-7-1-.08(1)(a)3
Driver’s, professional and recreational licenses	Arrears equal to 60 days of support or more; see the next section	Rule 290-7-1-.12
Passport	Arrears above $2,500	Rule 290-7-1-.11; 42 U.S.C. § 652(k)
Credit reports	DCSS reports delinquent payments to the three credit reporting bureaus	DCSS
Contempt of court	A fine, jail or both	DCSS
Federal prosecution	DCSS can refer a case for federal criminal prosecution	DCSS policy manual

A parent who receives notice of a tax intercept has 30 days from the date of the notice to ask for an administrative hearing; without a timely request, DCSS does not stop the intercept (Rule 290-7-1-.08(2)).

How much of a paycheck can be withheld for child support?

Federal law caps withholding for support at a share of disposable earnings, meaning pay after the deductions the law requires (15 U.S.C. § 1673(b)):

Situation of the parent who owes support	Maximum withheld
Supports another spouse or child	50 percent of disposable earnings
Does not support another spouse or child	60 percent
Either case, when the support is more than 12 weeks overdue	55 percent or 65 percent

An employer can charge the parent up to $25 to set up the withholding and up to $3 for each withholding after that (Rule 290-7-1-.10(7)(a)).

When can a driver’s license be suspended for child support in Georgia?

Under Rule 290-7-1-.12, DCSS keeps a monthly list of parents who are not complying with a support order it enforces, and it can ask the licensing agency to withhold, restrict, suspend or revoke a license once the parent’s arrears equal 60 days of support or more, counted in months that need not be consecutive. It does not apply to a parent paying support and arrears as a court order requires.

• Notice. DCSS mails a notice of delinquency. The parent has 20 days from the date of mailing to come into compliance, reach a payment agreement with DCSS, or ask in writing for a hearing before the Office of State Administrative Hearings.
• Hearing. The judge decides whether there is an order DCSS enforces, whether the parent is the one it covers, whether they are complying, whether they can pay the past-due support in installments, and whether they have been able and willing to comply. The judge can order periodic payments, which change only how the arrears are paid, not the support order.
• Limited driving permit. DCSS can agree to a one year limited permit when the suspension causes extreme hardship in finding work, if the parent keeps paying full support and looks for work.

DCSS says that in practice it has extended the threshold from 60 to 90 calendar days: the balance on all active cases must equal at least three months of support, and the payments over the last 105 days must be less than three times the support due. To avoid or release a suspension, it lists signing an Enforcement Deferral and one of these: paying the full past-due balance, paying 20 percent of it, paying three times the current support and past-due payments, or paying a court-ordered purge or arrears payment.

Can you lose your passport for back child support?

Yes. When DCSS certifies a case with arrears above $2,500, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement forwards it to the U.S. Department of State, which can deny, revoke or restrict the passport (Rule 290-7-1-.11; 42 U.S.C. § 652(k)). A parent who wants to dispute the amount has 30 days from the notice to ask for a hearing, limited to the amount of the arrears or a mistaken identity. To come off the list, the parent must pay the arrears in full or below the threshold; DCSS can, at its discretion, exempt a parent who needs a passport to earn income, posts a bond for the full arrears and signs a repayment agreement (Rule 290-7-1-.11(4) and (5)).

Can you go to jail for not paying child support in Georgia?

Yes, through contempt of court. DCSS says a contempt action can be filed against a parent who fails to make support payments or does not keep the required medical insurance, and a parent found in contempt can be fined, sentenced to jail, or both. The judge can order a parent who is unable to pay into the Fatherhood program or the Parental Accountability Court program, and the parent still owes the full current and past-due support.

The Parental Accountability Court program works under judicial oversight with parents who repeatedly do not pay, and offers job assistance, short-term training, education and substance abuse treatment as an alternative to incarceration, according to DCSS.

Federal law adds a crime when the child lives in another state: willfully not paying support unpaid for more than a year or over $5,000 can bring up to six months for a first offense, and unpaid for more than two years or over $10,000, up to two years (18 U.S.C. § 228). This guide could not confirm the current text of Georgia’s own criminal nonsupport statute from an official source, so it does not describe it.

Can back child support be forgiven or reduced in Georgia?

Not retroactively. Federal law requires that each installment is not subject to retroactive modification by any state, except for the period after notice of a petition to modify has been given (42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(9)). Georgia’s child support rules add that no tribunal hearing a tax intercept appeal may retroactively reduce or modify child support arrears (Rule 290-7-1-.08(3)). For how a modification works for the future, see changing a Georgia child support order.

What the law does allow:

• Interest can be waived or reduced by the court, after the four factors above (§ 7-4-12.1(a)).
• Debt owed to the state can be settled. When the children received public assistance, part of the arrears may be owed to the state. Section 7-4-12.1(b) keeps the power to waive, reduce or negotiate unreimbursed public assistance, and Rule 290-7-1-.20 limits it to administrative orders, not court orders, with the decision weighing good cause, hardship, and the parent’s ability to pay and regularity of payments.
• Help with paying. DCSS says it can offer an Enforcement Deferral to a parent whose job or income has changed, and the Fatherhood program helps parents with a DCSS case who cannot pay. This does not change the amount owed.

Does back child support go away when the child turns 18 in Georgia?

No. Current support ends with the child’s majority or the other events described in how long child support lasts in Georgia, but installments already due were judgments when they fell due (42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(9)), and the interest under § 7-4-12.1(a) applies to them.

Is there a time limit to collect back child support in Georgia?

Not the usual dormancy rule. O.C.G.A. § 9-12-60(a)(1) generally makes a judgment dormant seven years after its rendition, but the Supreme Court of Georgia has explained that O.C.G.A. § 9-12-60 was amended in 1997 to exempt child support and spousal support from the dormancy provisions of subsection (a), and that the amendment applies to judgments entered after 1 July 1997 (Holmes-Bracy v. Bracy, 302 Ga. 714 (2017), footnote 2). For an obligation that is still subject to dormancy, the court applied the rule installment by installment: each installment is treated as a separate judgment, and a dormant one can be revived under § 9-12-61.

What this guide does not cover

This guide does not cover how a court decides contempt in a particular case, Georgia’s criminal abandonment and nonsupport laws, bankruptcy, collecting arrears from another state or country, arrears under an order from another state, or alimony arrears. It does not calculate arrears or interest: the calculator gives the current guideline amount only. The figures are not legal advice.