Indiana Forms: Voluntary Wage Assignment

The Delaware County Clerk has some forms that are of importance and use for family law cases.
A voluntary wage assignment is used to get child support taken directly out of the non-custodial parent's pay check and sent to the County Clerk.

This wage assignment (PDF format) is designed for Delaware County but could be used for other Indiana counties. I will discuss possible changes below. What needs done is fill in the caption (the top part of the document - term refers to the current year), give the name and address of the employer, the payor's name, the employer's name, and the total amount to be withheld from the check.

The amount to be withheld is not clear from the form. The employer gets $2.00 for each time the employer withholds child support. The total amount of child support is $2.00 plus the weekly amount of child support.

Other problems I see with the form are:

1. The use of "defendant" is both wrong and unnecessary. Defendants are for civil and criminal cases. The equivalent in family law cases is "Respondent". Which presupposes the payor of child support is always the Respondent. Strike "defendant" and use the party name (Petitioner or Respondent) for the person paying child support.
2. More troubling is the lack of an Order for the judge to sign. The judge has to sign an Order for the employer to obey before the wage assignment can take effect - at least, that is how I have always seen them in Madison County.

All that is needed to make this form work for another county is change Delaware to the county of the court and to take out the 18 for the number of the same county.