A bill designed to make it easier and more efficient for Delaware’s Division of Child Support Services to collect child support payments is now law.
House Bill 81 requires employers to make the payments electronically rather than by check or money order. It’s expected that it will get the money to families who need it faster.
Ted Mermigos, Director of the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS), says this new method will benefit employers as well.
“By sending payments to us electronically it’s actually better for the employer. It’s less expensive it reduces data entry errors in the child support program, because electronic payments come to us electronically processed and it’s applied to each individual child support case.”
The requirement for electronic payments is only mandated for employers with 50 or more employees. Employers with less than 50 employees have the option to pay electronically, but are not required.
Mermigos says that employers in Delaware and nationwide are an essential part of the child support program.
“76% of the child support payments collected here in the state of Delaware come from that wage withholding being sent to an employer and them making that deduction to an individual’s paycheck and sending it to the child support program. So without the employer community and them honoring that our wage withholding we would not be able to do our jobs.”
$86 million was collected in child support just last year.
The measure was passed by both the House and Senate without opposition and signed by Gov. Carney last week.