Mississippi Child Support Laws

Mississippi child support laws helps to ensure that children receive the financial and emotional support they need from both of their parents.

The Mississippi Child Support Laws Enforcement Office can assist families in the location of non-custodial parents, establishing paternity, establishing and enforcing child support orders, collecting and distributing child support payments, modifying child support orders, and working with child support programs in other states to facilitate child support collection.

Applying For Mississippi Child Support Laws
Families who are receiving either state or federal assistance through programs such as TANF, Medicaid, foster care, or food stamps, will automatically be referred to a child support office for child support services.

If you do not currently receive public assistance, you can apply for child support services through your local county office. You will be asked to pay a one-time application fee of $25.00. If you are only interested in locating your child’s non-custodial parent, you can obtain and complete an application for these services and you will not be charged any fees. The Mississippi child support laws enforcement office can also help parents establish the paternity of their child. There may be fees associated with this service.

Establishing Paternity
If a child is born to unmarried parents, his or her paternity can be established through a number of methods. It is important to establish your child’s paternity so that the child will know his or her parents and their medical history, be eligible for death, disability and insurance benefits, and be able to receive child support services.

Legal Paternity can be established while the mother is still in the hospital when both parents sign an acknowledgement of paternity form and return it to the hospital staff. There is no fee when the acknowledgement of paternity form is filed at the hospital with the birth certificate.

If you are a man who wants to prove you are the father of a child or children, you can complete an application form through Mississippi child support law enforcement program and pay an application fee of $25.00. Contact the Division of Child Support Enforcement for information regarding paternity establishment after leaving the hospital.

If paternity cannot be established voluntarily, the mother can request assistance from the Division of Child Support Enforcement in establishing paternity and obtaining child support through the courts. The child support enforcement office will file a petition with the appropriate court to decide the matter.

If the mother begins receiving public assistance through TANF, food stamps, or Medicaid for the child, there will be no charge from the child support office for this service. If the mother does not receive public assistance, there is a $25.00 fee for assistance in establishing paternity.

If paternity is legally established voluntarily, the father’s name will automatically be added to the child’s birth certificate. However, if paternity is established through court proceedings, the court must order the father's name to be added to the birth certificate.

If there is any question regarding the paternity of a child, the Division of Child Support Enforcement can order the completion of genetic testing. Genetic testing involves a comparison of the alleged father's, the child's, and the mother's genetic markers. Genetic paternity tests are nearly 100 percent accurate. Contact your local child support office for more information on genetic testing to establish paternity.

Determining Mississippi Child Support Laws
Mississippi child support laws call for the use of child support guidelines in order to determine the amount of child support that must be provided for the care of a child.

These child support guidelines dictate the percentage of the non-custodial parent's gross income that should be awarded for child support based on the financial status of the custodial and non-custodial parent, the number of children due support, and the needs of the children.

Once a child support order is established, child support should be paid until the order is modified or until the child is emancipated. In the State of Mississippi, twenty-one is the age of emancipation. If the child marries, signs up with the military or works full-time , or establishes residency outside the custodial parent's home, a judge may declare emancipation of the child at an earlier age.

Collecting Child Support Payments
The state of Mississippi’s Division of Child Support Enforcement can utilize several methods to collect and enforce child support payments.

This new hire information can be matched with state and national data to help collect child support through income withholding. Employers that do not report this information are subject to penalty of $25.00 per case, or up to $500.00 if there is collusion between the employer and the non-custodial parent.

According to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), the State of Mississippi has established a disbursement unit in order to collect and distribute child support payments made through income withholding. In Mississippi, this unit is called the Central Receipting and Disbursement Unit. All child support payment that are collected though income withholding should be directed to the Mississippi Department of Human Services and mailed to the following address:

Each child support payment that is remitted should include the non-custodial parent's name, his or her social security number, the amount withheld, and the name of the employer.

Get Your Child Support-Get The Child Support That you and your Child/Children Deserve.

Mississippi Child Support Laws...