Child support and incarcerated parents

Yes, you should read this if you live in Washington State and one of these is true: 

• You’re entitled to receive child support from someone who is in jail or prison (is incarcerated) for at least 6 months and who has no income or assets to pay child support, or
• You’re the person in this situation who owes the child support.

Either of you can ask that the child support payments be temporarily lowered to $10.00 per month. This reduction is called “abatement.”

The law allowing this temporary reduction took effect on February 1, 2021. That date is important. The law applies to both court orders and administrative orders from the Division of Child Support (DCS). 

An administrative order is a “Notice and Finding of Financial Responsibility”, a “Notice and Finding of Parental Responsibility” or an “Initial Decision and Order.” Here’s what the top of the first page (the caption) might look like:

In Washington, a court order is a Child Support Order from a Superior Court. It will say this on the first page, towards the top.

Yes. A parent qualifies for the abatement if they were incarcerated for or sentenced to 6 months. 

• If you have a court order of support, and DCS is collecting it for you, which is common, contact DCS right away. 
• If you have a court order of support and no DCS involvement in your support case, we recommend you apply with DCS using the KIDS system or in person to collect support for you. DCS can help collect support for you.
• If you have an administrative order from DCS, you should ask DCS to review your child support order for modification.

No, but the law favors the incarcerated parent. The law presumes that an incarcerated parent cannot pay what they were ordered to pay. 

If the paying incarcerated parent asks for the abatement, the parent who gets the support or DCS has a chance to prove that the paying parent in fact can pay despite being incarcerated. 

You should get started right away. 

The earlier you ask for abatement, the sooner an abatement can happen. Abatement won’t happen if the incarcerated parent is released from custody before the process can be completed.

Maybe not. 

If you owe child support under multiple orders because you have children with more than one other person, you may only need to make one request for abatement with DCS. Your one request will apply to all support orders being enforced by DCS. DCS will still look at each individual order to see if abatement is appropriate for each. 

Yes. Any other person entitled to get support for the children must also get notice and a chance to be heard about the potential abatement of support.

The new law eases the person back into paying higher amounts gradually: 

1. Starting the 1st day of the 4th month after the person’s release, the support obligation becomes one-half the original amount ordered. It must be at least $50 per month per child.
2. Starting one year after release, the support amount goes back to the original amount ordered. 

If the paying person asks for the abatement, the person who gets the support is entitled to notice and a chance to be heard.

Abatement is temporary. Getting a court to order a change to (a modification of) your child support orders can get you more long-term relief. This may also make more sense if you support children under different orders. 

If you decide after reading this to move forward to try to change your support order, answer a few questions on our Get family forms tool to get the right forms.