All child support payments become delinquent the day after they are due and owing. The State Disbursement Unit identifies delinquencies and reports the delinquencies to the Court and to the County Attorney or authorized attorney. The Clerk will certify all cases in which the delinquency is equal to the support due and payable for a one-month period of time. In those cases, the person required to pay the support may be required to appear in court and show cause why such payment was not made.
If required to appear in court, the person required to pay support will be served with something called an Order to Show Cause. The person will be ordered to appear before a judge of the Court or before the district court referee to show cause, if there be any, why he or she should not be found guilty for contempt of court for having willfully and contumaciously failed and refused to comply with the prior order and judgment of the Court relating to child support. If the person summoned to a show cause hearing fails to appear, a warrant will be issued for his or her arrest.
A person may be incarcerated for civil contempt for willfully failing and refusing to comply with a court order for child support. Any person found guilty of contempt of court for failure to pay permanent child support payments and imprisoned therefor shall be committed to a court- supervised work release program. Ninety percent of earnings realized from such program shall be applied to payment of delinquencies in support payments minus appropriate deductions for the cost of work release. Costs, including a reasonable attorney's fee, may be taxed against a party found to be in contempt.
Referee Office