- Parents and childrenboy behind parents image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
Pennsylvania's child support and emancipation laws are administered by the state's Child Support Program. Various services are provided through the program that is designed to protect children and ensure that they receive adequate support from their parents. The program works with interstate and federal agencies to monitor and enforce the laws. - A child's mother and father must complete an acknowledgement of paternity (AOP) form to confirm paternity. Generally the form is completed at the hospital after the child is born; forms are filed with the local Department of Health and the Division of Vital Records. Mothers can contact their local Domestic Relations Section to petition the courts to order the father to submit to a paternity test in order to begin receiving child support payments. Custodial fathers can order that noncustodial mothers pay child support by submitting a completed AOP form to DRS. Child support payment amounts are established in accordance with the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 1910.16. Payments are set so that they are comparable with financial support that the child would receive if both parents were living together. Child support payments are made monthly to the Pennsylvania State Collection and Disbursement Unit. By law, the Pennsylvania State Collection and Disbursement Unit is required to submit the payments to the custodial parent within 48 hours of receiving the funds.
- Noncustodial parents who fall behind in their child support payments can have up to 60 percent of their wages garnished. Workers compensation, federal income tax returns and disability insurance benefit payments can be intercepted by the state until a noncustodial parent catches up in their child support payments. The nonpaying parent's license and passport can be suspended. Liens can also be placed on a nonpaying parent's property.
- Pennsylvania family courts set visitation (also known in the state as "partial physical custody" rights) dates and times. Typically family courts work with both parents to establish visitation dates and times that best fit the parents and child's schedules. Noncustodial parents who enter the military must contact the DRS to inform them of the date that they will start to serve in the military or the date that they will be begin an out-of-state deployment so their visitation records can be noted. Military members must also contact DRS to let them know when their service obligations have ended or when they have returned back to the state from a military deployment.
- Pennsylvania considers children to be emancipated when they reach 18 years of age. Noncustodial parents are no longer legally required to pay child support after the child becomes emancipated. In the event children between 16 and 17 years of age become married or pregnant, they are also considered to be emancipated. Minors who graduate from high school before they turn 18 can appeal to the state court for judicial decree of emancipation. In these cases noncustodial parents can petition the Child Support Program with a "Petition for Modification of an Existing Support Order" so that they no longer have to pay child support. Late payments that were accessed prior to the child's emancipation date are still required to be paid by the noncustodial parent.
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