In a previous blog post we talked about the problem of paying child support in cash. If a parent who is required to pay child benefit pays in cash, there is no record of the payment itself.

In many cases, the parent who received the cash can refuse that they received the cash payment. Also, the parent who received the money may have forgotten to pay months or years later.

Government agencies that oversee the collection of child support payments often do not credit child support payments in cash. Instead, these maintenance authorities want to see a check to verify that the payment has been made.

The child benefit authorities often want child benefit to be paid through a wage retention order. If there is a wage retention order, government maintenance authorities can verify that the payment has been made. In some states, child support can be placed on a debit card for the parent receiving the support.

The problem with diapers, formula and tangible gifts

Similarly, many unmarried fathers want to help with the birth of a child. They love and take care of their child. There may not even be a child support ordinance in place.

So many unmarried fathers buy diapers for the baby. You could even buy formula, clothes, baby furniture, and other tangible items for the child. Buying these items certainly shows that the father cares. It is also done to support the child.

However, if the state child benefit authorities or the court system are later involved, it can be difficult to obtain credit for those tangible items purchased for the child. Many unmarried fathers do not keep receipts for these items months or years later.

Sometimes the mother confirms receipt of the items. In other cases, the mother may not acknowledge this or may have forgotten all the details.

When this happens, many unmarried fathers can fall very far behind on their child support with no credit for the items they bought in good faith for their child. For unmarried fathers, a large amount of child support can be problematic and difficult, if not impossible, to repay.

Instead, give a check or send money through an application

While buying diapers, formulas, and other tangible items might seem like the right thing, the better approach for most unmarried fathers is to write a check to the mother and write “Child Support” on the note line. Even if there is no maintenance order, the writing of “maintenance obligation” in the note line reminds of the purpose of the payment. With this money the mother can then buy diapers, formula, clothes and other material items.

There are many great uses these days that can also be used to send money. Applications like Cell, PayPal, and Venmo are three applications where an unmarried father can send money to the mother and remember that the purpose of child support is.

Then, when the child benefit authorities ask if child benefit has been paid, it may be easy to show either the check or the confirmation within the application that money has been sent for child benefit. In these circumstances, the father is much more likely to receive credit for what was paid.