The primary purpose of the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney’s Office - Child Support Unit is to establish and enforce orders referred to us by the State of Missouri, Department of Social Services, Family Support Division. As the representative of the people, Jennifer Joyce and all of the dedicated professionals of the Circuit Attorney’s Office are passionate about serving the citizens of St. Louis as both their prosecutor and defender of justice. This means we are serious about enforcing the laws of our state that serve to ensure the long-term stability and welfare of all children.

Every child support case begins with Family Support Division (FSD). Your first step in collecting unpaid child support is to apply for services from FSD. If they are unsuccessful in establishing and/or enforcing your order, they may refer your case to our office - Circuit Attorney’s Office - Child Support Unit.

Many services are available to parents, including various methods of establishing, enforcing, and modifying orders of support. Services are also provided to non-parent custodians of children and to the juvenile court. Call FSD at (314) 340-7400
for more details.

If FSD is unsuccessful in establishing or enforcing your child support order, your case may be referred to us.

An Assistant Circuit Attorney will review your case to determine the appropriate legal action. The most common types of court proceedings available to the Child Support Unit are: establishing parentage; actions for contempt of child support orders; and prosecution of the crime of Criminal Non-Support. If the Assistant Circuit Attorney determines that an action can be taken, your case will be filed in court and all necessary parties will be notified.

It all starts with the order…
If you request help in establishing support or receive benefits administered by the Department of Social Services (such as TANF, MC+, Medicaid), the State will act to establish an order of support. The Circuit Attorney receives many such referrals for St. Louis City residents from the Department. In every case where our office has legal jurisdiction, we will file an action to establish the legal relationships and support between the parents and children. Both parents will be served with a summons and petition as part of this process. When you receive these papers, we welcome the opportunity to discuss your case and explain our proposal. The Circuit Attorney attempts to resolve all cases and obtain a judgment within 120 days of serving the non-custodial parent.

While no party in a civil action is entitled to a “free” lawyer, either parent may hire his or her own attorney to assist with the case. The State will provide genetic testing and advance the costs if requested by an alleged father prior to the entry of a support order.

To assure consistency, child support is determined by the court in a process similar to preparing your taxes. The state uses the combined income of both parents to establish base financial support for the child(ren). Health insurance and daycare costs are then added to the base. The result is then divided based upon the individual incomes; and this process determines how much one is required to pay for child support. Your results may vary based upon your facts, and contested cases do take longer to resolve.

Obtaining a court order of support is just the first step. If the non-custodian is employed, Social Services will work to attempt to secure the regular payment of support. The Department also has tools to collect money from lawsuits, tax refunds, bank accounts and unemployment compensation.

Unfortunately, a lot of child support dollars remain uncollected. Delinquent cases are referred to the Circuit Attorney’s Office for collection efforts if the child resides in the City of St. Louis or if the court order was entered in the City of St. Louis. Our preferred solution is to avoid criminal action and seek a civil resolution. In these cases, the obligated party is required to appear in court and pay or provide a plan to pay the money due. Resources are available to assist those parents who need help finding employment. Delinquent parties are ordered to return to court at regular intervals for supervision until their past payments are resolved. In every case, the Judge retains the power to punish parents who don’t pay in a variety of ways, including sending the delinquent person to jail. Persons who fail to appear may also be sent to jail.

In cases where the non-custodian resides in another state or cannot be served with process, the Circuit Attorney may file charges for Criminal Non-Support, a class D felony to recover support.