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

Back child support, also called arrears or past-due support, is any amount a support order required that was not paid when due. It also includes retroactive support: a New York order takes effect from the date the petition was filed, and the amount for the time before the order is past-due support (Family Court Act § 440(1)(a)). This guide covers what happens to arrears in New York: interest, judgments, the ways the state collects, court violations and crimes, and whether arrears can be reduced.

What happens if you don’t pay child support in New York?

The unpaid amounts stay owed and build up as arrears. From there, three things can happen, alone or together:

1. Administrative enforcement. New York’s Child Support Program can take money or suspend privileges without anyone going to court, once the account is far enough behind (see the table below).
2. A money judgment. The court enters a judgment for the arrears, which can carry interest and be collected like any other judgment.
3. A violation petition. The parent owed support, or the support collection unit, can ask the Family Court to find a willful violation, which can end in jail.

Missed payments do not change the order itself. Only a court can change it, and only for the future (see modifying a child support order in New York).

Does back child support collect interest in New York?

Interest comes with a money judgment, in two ways:

• From each due date, if the default was willful. When the court enters a judgment for arrears, it must include interest from the date each payment was due if the default was willful, meaning the parent knowingly, consciously and voluntarily disregarded the order (Family Court Act § 460; Domestic Relations Law § 244 in divorce cases).
• From the date of the judgment. Every money judgment bears interest from the date it is entered (CPLR 5003).

The rate in both cases is the judgment rate in CPLR 5004: nine percent a year. That section also sets a lower rate for consumer debt, which it defines as money owed from a transaction for personal, family or household purposes.

Can unpaid child support become a judgment in New York?

Yes. When a parent defaults, the court must direct entry of a judgment for the child support arrears, plus costs, “without regard to the amount due” (Family Court Act § 460). The order is filed with the county clerk and docketed, and then works like a Supreme Court judgment: it can be enforced by execution and the other ways of collecting a money judgment. Domestic Relations Law § 244 does the same for orders made in a divorce.

Once a judgment for arrears is entered, it cannot be changed later under the court’s power to modify, and no more than the judgment amount can be collected under it (§ 460).

How does New York collect back child support?

New York’s Child Support Program lists these enforcement actions and when each can start. Most take effect without a court hearing, and most come with a notice and a form to challenge them.

Action	When it can start	Deadline to act on the notice
Driver’s license suspension	More than four months past due	45 days to pay in full, make a payment arrangement or challenge
New York State tax refund intercept	At least 50 dollars and two months past due	By the date in the notice (written challenge within 30 days)
Federal tax refund intercept	At least 500 dollars past due (150 dollars in public assistance cases)	By the date in the notice (written challenge within 30 days)
Passport denial or revocation	More than 2,500 dollars past due (42 U.S.C. § 652(k))	Arrears paid in full
Bank account freeze	More than two months and more than 300 dollars past due	15 days to pay or file a claim
Lottery prize intercept	More than 50 dollars past due, on prizes over 600 dollars	30 days to request a review
Liens on real or personal property	More than four months past due	35 days to pay or claim a mistake of fact
Referral to the Department of Taxation and Finance (liens, seizure and sale of property)	More than four months and more than 500 dollars past due, with conditions	45 days
Report to credit bureaus	More than two months or more than 1,000 dollars past due	10 days
Professional, business and recreational license suspension	More than four months past due, after a court hearing	15 days

The federal intercept, its notices and the injured spouse claim are covered in can child support take your tax refund.

Source: New York Child Support Program, Enforce Order page, checked 2 November 2026.

Income withholding. Support orders can be enforced by an income execution or income deduction order sent to the employer (Family Court Act § 440(1); CPLR 5241 and 5242). The employer pays current support first, then the health insurance premium, then arrears. Federal law caps the total withheld at between 50 and 65 percent of disposable income, depending on the date of the withholding order and whether arrears are more than 12 weeks old. Unemployment benefits can be withheld from too.

A passport denied for arrears is released only once the arrears are paid in full; the Child Support Helpline (888-208-4485) handles emergency release requests.

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

Yes, through a violation proceeding in Family Court:

• The petition. The parent owed support, the support collection unit or anyone the order is payable to can file a petition saying the other parent failed to obey the order (Family Court Act § 453). The courts’ free Support Modification and Enforcement/Violation DIY program prepares it.
• Warrant. The court can issue a summons, and a warrant for arrest; the summons warns that not appearing can lead to immediate arrest (§ 453).
• Willful violation. Failing to pay as ordered is prima facie evidence of a willful violation (§ 454(3)(a)).
• Jail. If the court finds the violation willful, it may commit the parent to jail for up to six months, or order probation or a rehabilitative program instead or as well. The court also orders the parent to pay the other side’s counsel fees (§ 454(3)(a)). The court can also suspend driving privileges and professional, business or recreational licenses (§ 454(2)).

How much back child support is a felony in New York?

New York law sets no dollar amount. Non-payment is a crime in itself, separate from the Family Court case:

Offense	What it covers	Class
Non-support of a child, second degree (Penal Law § 260.05)	A parent who, without lawful excuse, fails or refuses to support a child under 16 when able to, or who is under a support order for a child under 18 and knowingly fails or refuses to pay when able to. Becoming unable through voluntary acts, such as quitting a job or not looking for work, counts	Class A misdemeanor
Non-support of a child, first degree (Penal Law § 260.06)	The same conduct, by a person convicted of non-support in the previous five years	Class E felony
Failure to pay legal child support obligations (18 U.S.C. § 228), federal	Willfully not paying support for a child who lives in another state, unpaid for more than one year or above 5,000 dollars	Up to six months in prison for a first offense
The same, federal	Unpaid for more than two years or above 10,000 dollars, or traveling to another state or country to evade support unpaid for more than one year or above 5,000 dollars	Up to two years in prison, a felony (18 U.S.C. § 3559)

So in New York, the size of the debt does not make non-payment a felony; a prior conviction does. The federal thresholds apply only when the child lives in a different state from the parent who owes support.

Can back child support be forgiven or reduced in New York?

Not by the court once it has built up. Family Court Act § 451(1) says a court “shall not reduce or annul child support arrears” that accrued before an application to modify the order. Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(9)(b)(2)(iii) says the same for divorce orders. A parent whose income drops can file to modify the order, but the modification cannot reduce arrears that built up before the filing.

One rule limits how arrears build up in the first place. While the paying parent’s income is at or below the poverty guideline for one person ($15,960 a year), arrears cannot build up above five hundred dollars (§ 413(1)(g)). This limits new arrears; it does not erase arrears that already exist. The low income guide explains how New York sets support at that level.

Does back child support go away when the child turns 21?

No. Ongoing support ends at 21, or earlier emancipation (how long child support lasts in New York), but arrears stay owed. The Child Support Program’s guidance is that past-due support remains due even after an order stops charging current support, and the court keeps jurisdiction until a judgment is fully paid (Family Court Act § 451(1)).

An action or proceeding to enforce a support order must be brought within 20 years of the date of each missed payment (CPLR 211(e)). The enforcement tools above keep working while arrears remain.

How do you challenge an enforcement action?

Each notice from the Child Support Program comes with a form and a deadline: for example, a driver’s license challenge with a statement of net worth within 45 days, a mistake of fact or exempt money claim within 15 days for a bank freeze, and a written challenge within 30 days for a tax refund intercept. Valid reasons to challenge a tax intercept include being the wrong person, there being no court order, the amount being wrong, or not owing support. The forms are on the program’s Enforce Order page, and the Child Support Helpline is 888-208-4485.

To question the amount of the order itself, the route is a modification petition in Family Court, not a challenge to the enforcement action.

What this guide does not cover

This guide does not cover arrears owed to the Department of Social Services for public assistance, how payments are split between several orders or creditors, arrears under orders from other states, spousal support arrears, or how a court weighs a defense of inability to pay in a particular case. The calculator estimates the guideline amount of an order; it does not compute arrears or interest.