A child support order is a legally-binding court order that requires one parent to make child support payments to another parent.
Child support orders may specify how a parent must make their child support payments. In some cases, child support payments are taken directly from a parent's paycheck through a notice of income withholding. Other times, parents must send child support payments directly to the Illinois State Disbursement Unit (SDU).
With that said, some child support orders do NOT specify how a parent must make their payments. If this describes your child support order, this article may be for you. Below, we discuss how a parent can make child support payments through a check or money order.
How To Pay Child Support via a Check or Money Order
If you believe your child support order does NOT specify how you must make child support payments, you can make child support payments through a check or money order made out to the other parent.
It is important to specify that the check or money order is for a child support payment. This could be done by writing "child support" in the memo line.
Additionally, a parent can send child support payments via a check or money order without a legally-binding child support order. However, this does not necessarily mean these payments are guaranteed to hold up in court in the future.
Finally, it may be useful to keep copies of every check or money order you send for child support payments.
How To Verify Child Support Payments Made via Check or Money Order
If you have been told you owe past-due child support, but you believe you made on-time payments via a check or money order, you may be able to request a child support accounting review. This process involves reviewing all child support payments you've made to determine how much you currently owe.
Once you are able to provide copies of all checks or money orders made out to the other parent for child support, your payment history will be used to calculate a new child support order.
