Paying Child Support in Georgia - Not The Same as Indiana

Georgia Family Law Blog's New Options for Child Support Payments has something that scares us Indiana lawyers and may not be allowed by our statute (is not if I understand the Georgia process correctly):

Most people do not want to use the government agencies to transfer the support from payor to payee. The parties have been involved in the court system during the divorce process. After the conclusion of the case they want to handle things privately, outside of government involvement. The solution: payment of child support online by credit card through a private company, rather than the government. Using a rewards credit card to pay support could allow the payor to earn cash back rewards or frequent flyer points. Better yet, setting up payments on a recurring basis would be convenient to the payor. The benefit to the recipient would be receiving the full amount of support conveniently directly deposited into their account whether they are home or not on the date support is scheduled to arrive. Bringing the payment of child support into the 21st century would prevent a lot of post-divorce conflict that too often happens.

The company was established to provide divorced parties with “the peaceful way to pay”, minimizing interaction between the parties, while providing them with a way to make and receive support directly and on time. For further information, visit jennifer@supportcertain.comor at 404 551-4849.

I have people who do not want to pay through the County Clerk. I have others who have paid directly to the custodial parent. I use the example of the the second group to explain what is wrong with the first group's parents. The County Clerk maintains a support docket showing every payment and those can be relied on more easily than memory, the custodial parent's records or the non-custodial parent's records in a dispute over what has been actually paid by the non-custodial parent. That is crucial when facing a contempt citation or a felony non-support charge.

For the statutes on one variety of child support payments that must be paid through the county clerk, follow this link.