Domestic Relations - Q & A

Support is the payment of money for the care, maintenance and living expenses of a child or a spouse. There is no requirement nor any ability for this Court to require an accounting from the person receiving the support to show where or how the support money is spent.

Child Support: Under Pennsylvania law, parents are responsible for the financial support of their children until emancipation. Emancipation occurs when the child turns 18 years of age and graduates high school, whichever occurs last. There are certain exceptions to this rule which may apply when the child has turned 18 and has withdrawn or dropped out of high school. In certain cases, parents may be responsible for the support of their children beyond the age of 18 or emancipation.

Spousal Support: Under Pennsylvania law, one spouse may be responsible for the support of the other spouse. Generally, when there is a large difference in the incomes between the husband and wife and they are separated from each other, spousal support may be ordered by the Court. Spousal support is also commonly referred to A.P.L. (or alimony pendente lite). There are certain legal differences between spousal support and A.P.L. which you may consult with an attorney to discuss.

The obligation to pay spousal support ends when a divorce decree is entered by the Court. If a party is required to pay support to a spouse after the divorce, that is known as alimony and may or may not be handled through this office.

You may file for support either through your attorney or by appearing, in person, in the Domestic Relations Section offices during normal office hours.

You may meet with an Intake Scheduling Specialist between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm to file any Complaint or Petition.

If you are not receiving cash assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, you will be charged $30.00 filing fee set forth on our Fee Page.

When you file a Complaint for support (when you do NOT have a case for support at the present time), you MUST know and bring the following information with you to the Domestic Relations Section:

• Name of the person you are filing against (the other parent or spouse)
• His or her address
• His or her date of birth
• His or her Social Security Number
• His or her place of employment
• Birth certificates for the child(ren)
• Social Security Cards (not just numbers) for the child(ren)
• Marriage certificate if filing for spousal support
• Copies of your recent pay stubs if the person you are filing against lives out-of-state
• If you have or have ever had an order of support in any other state or court you should bring a copy of that order or information concerning that case as well

To file a Complaint for support, if the defendant lives in Pennsylvania, you should allow approximately 20 minutes. To file a Complaint for support, if the defendant lives outside of Pennsylvania, you must contact DRS and make an appointment.

To file a petition for modification (when you already have an order of support) you should report to the Domestic Relations Section and should allow yourself approximately 20 minutes to complete the petition.

In Pennsylvania, the amount of support that an individual is required to pay is governed by the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure as set forth by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Generally, support is calculated by taking your gross (pre-tax) income and subtracting from it only the following items:

• mandatory federal, state and local taxes (in their proper amounts; not as withheld on the pay check);
• mandatory retirement deductions (NOT 401-k deductions);
• union dues (and in some cases, other mandatory work-related expenses);
• the cost of health insurance which is paid for the persons covered by the support order.

There are no other deductions taken in determining each parent's net income.

From this net income amount as calculated by the Court, a mathematical formula is applied which takes into account both parents incomes and the amounts specified by the Supreme Court as the cost associated with providing support for a child.

The determination of support has nothing to do with whether the Conference Officer, Hearing Officer or Judge likes or dislikes you. It is a purely mathematical process.

In addition to the amount of monthly support, an individual may also be required to contribute a share of any child care, educational or other expenses incurred by the custodial parent for the child in addition to the support amount.

Under Pennsylvania law, an alleged father (defendant) in a support action has the right to have paternity testing performed to determine if he is the father of the child. If he elects to have this testing and the results show that he is the father and he disputes those results (thinks that the testing was inadequate or improperly performed), he may request a trial on the issue of paternity before the Judge.

In Washington County, paternity testing is done utilizing buccal swab DNA testing. In this type of testing, a lab technician will take a buccal swab (which is similar to a large Q-Tip) and swab the inside cheek of the mother and child and the alleged father to collect a cell sample for DNA analysis. These samples are then sent to the lab and results are generally returned within four to six weeks. Once the DRS has received the results, a copy of them will be sent to both parties.

When results of this type of testing are returned, they generally come back at either 0% (meaning the defendant is excluded as the father of the child) or at 99.5% or above.

Under Pennsylvania law, when test results from testing of this type are returned at 99.0% or higher, there is a presumption created that the defendant is the father of the child. What this means is that, if the defendant requests a trial to challenge the results of the test, it is his burden to prove that he is not the father, as opposed to the Commonwealth's burden to prove that he is the father. In such cases, it is the defendant's obligation to bring forth evidence and testimony to the Court to show that the testing was performed improperly or that the results were otherwise inaccurate.

In almost all paternity cases, the parties will be asked to sign a stipulation. This stipulation is not required to be signed, but it must be explained. This stipulation (which is nothing more than a written agreement between the mother and alleged father) states that if the test results come back at 99.0% or higher, the defendant (alleged father) agrees that he is the father of the child and gives up his right to have a trial to challenge the test results. In addition, the plaintiff (mother) agrees that if the results come back at 0%, that the defendant is not the father of the child and the case is dismissed without further involvement of the parties.

The establishment of paternity is so important for a child for many reasons including permitting that child to have his or her father listed on the birth certificate and to gives that child the right to inherit from the father and to collect and/or receive government benefits to which the father might be entitled.

All orders to appear for support hearing specify the date, time and location at which you must appear. You will receive this notice, along with a copy of the Complaint for Support which has been filed, by both regular and certified mail.

Enclosed with your order to appear you will find an Income and Expense Statement which you MUST complete prior to the support conference and hearing.

You may also find enclosed with your order to appear a set of interrogatories. These are written questions which you must answer and return to the Court by the date specified in the postpaid envelope which will be enclosed. You may return both the interrogatories and the income/expense statement at the same time, if you wish. You must also SIGN the interrogatories and the income/expense statement. You must also return any documentation required or requested by the interrogatories.

FOR SUPPORT HEARINGS (where the amount of support is to be determined by the Court) you must report to:

Domestic Relations Section
Family Court Center
Second Floor
29 West Cherry Avenue
Washington PA 15301

If you are the PLAINTIFF in the case (the person who receives support payments) and you do not reside in Washington County, you are not required to appear for support or contempt hearings. If you do not appear, your interests will be represented by a IV-D Attorney. The representation of the IV-D Attorney is a procedural representation only. The IV-D Attorney is not "your attorney" and you are not his or her "client." The IV-D Attorney will make sure that the procedural requirements of the hearing are met and that the case is not dismissed for failure of you to appear. You are urged to appear or be present for support or contempt hearings in person or by telephone, if possible, particularly if there are any special circumstances that the Court should know about concerning you or the children. If you have particular matters for the Court to address, you should also make every effort to appear. Only YOU can answer allegations made by the Defendant at the hearing and present direct testimony for the Court to consider. You may also offer testimony by telephone by completing this form and mailing it to the DRS not later than 7 days before your hearing date.

If you are the DEFENDANT in the case (the person who pays support), you MUST appear for support and contempt hearings.

If you, as a Defendant, fail to appear for a support hearing, the hearing will go on without you (unless it is your petition for modification, in which case it will be dismissed). If the hearing goes on without you, the Court will use whatever evidence it has before it to determine the amount of support you will be required to pay. If the Court has no information, it will impute, or assume, what level of income you can or do make and will base a support order on that information.

Following are the rules for a telephone hearing:

• The party requesting the telephone hearing must reside outside of Washington County, unless there are extenuating documented circumstances (hospitalization, immobilization, etc.).
• The party requesting the telephone hearing must bear the cost of the telephone charges. At the commencement of the hearing, the Conference or Hearing Officer will call the party's telephone number and provide a telephone number that the party must call back to for the hearing.
• A party may only request a telephone hearing for support hearings. There are no facilities in the Courthouse (where contempt hearings and exceptions arguments are heard) for a telephone hearing.
• If a party requests a telephone hearing and at the commencement of the hearing is not present or cannot be reached by telephone, the hearing shall proceed without that party. The Conference or Hearing Officer will only attempt to call one time.
• Any party requesting a telephone hearing must be present at the phone number provided to the Court at the time of the hearing and for up to 1 hour after the assigned hearing time.
• Documentation for the hearing must be submitted to the Domestic Relations Section by mail prior to the date and time of the hearing. The record will not be kept open for additional evidence to be submitted.

How to request a telephone hearing: If you wish to participate in a hearing by telephone, you must contact the Domestic Relations Section when you receive your hearing order in the mail. You must request that you be sent a Telephone Hearing Request Form which you must complete and return by the times specified on that form, but not less than seven (7) days prior to the hearing. You may also download this form and return it by mail or fax.

If you fail to appear for a SUPPORT HEARING, the following things may occur:

• The hearing may proceed without you and a recommended order of support entered against you. You should read the information on THIS PAGE for more information about the consequences of failing to appear.

If you fail to appear for a CONTEMPT HEARING, a bench warrant will be issued for your arrest and you will be arrested and lodged in the Washington County Correctional Facility until such time as your case may be heard by the Court.

If the child or children were not born during the time when the parents were married, paternity must be established.

If paternity is not at issue, the support hearing will proceed as follows:

The first step in a determination of support is for the support conference to be conducted. This conference is conducted by the Conference Officer who is a court official. The Conference Officer will collect various information from both parties, including demographic, employment and income information and will calculate the net incomes of the parties. From these net incomes, the Conference Officer will calculate the guideline amount of support which is presumed to be correct in the case.

If the parties agree to an amount of support, the Conference Officer will prepare an Agreement and Order of Support for the parties to sign. After this agreement is signed, it is sent to the Judge for signature and copies mailed to the parties thereafter.

If the parties do not reach an agreement, the Conference Officer will enter an interim order of support directing the defendant to pay the guideline amount of support. After the entry of that order, either party may request a de novo hearing before the Hearing Officer. In order to request this hearing, the requesting party must make a written request for a de novo hearing within twenty (20) days of the entry of the Conference Officer's order and must pay the $50 hearing fee to the Domestic Relations Section. BOTH the request and the fee must be received within 20 days of the entry of the order.

If a de novo hearing is held, the parties will appear before the Hearing Officer. The Hearing Officer is an attorney, appointed by the Court, to hear testimony in support cases and make a written recommendation to the Court as to the amount of support which should be paid. The Hearing Officer will hear testimony and receive evidence from the parties and any other witnesses in a hearing which is under oath and on the record before an official court reporter. This is the only opportunity the parties will have to present evidence, so they should be prepared for this hearing on the date scheduled for the support conference.

After the Hearing Officer hears all testimony, he or she will prepare a written report and findings, which shall be mailed to all parties and any attorneys. If either party disagrees for any reason with the Recommendation of the Hearing Officer, he or she must file exceptions within twenty (20) days from the date written on the report.

If exceptions are filed by either party, a temporary order of support at the amount recommended by the Hearing Officer will be entered until the Court hears oral argument on the exceptions. You will receive an order directing when this argument will be heard. You may be required to order the transcript of testimony from the hearing for the Court to consider your exceptions. You must also file a brief in support of your exceptions. The date by which you must file this brief will be set forth in the order scheduling the date for oral argument.

A brief is the written legal reasons why you think the Hearing Officer made a mistake in his or her recommendation. Information on how to prepare a brief may be obtained from your local law library.

To order a transcript from a support hearing, contact the DRS office.

When ordering a transcript, you MUST include, along with your check or money order the following information:

Once the transcript is prepared, you will be notified that it is ready. If additional money is owed for the transcript, you will be required to pay that amount before the transcript will be filed with the Court and a copy provided to you.

You MUST appear for the oral argument on your exceptions. If you fail to appear, your exceptions will be dismissed and the recommended order of support entered as a final order of support.

If neither party files exceptions to the recommendation of the Hearing Officer, then a final order of support will be entered after the twenty (20) day exceptions period.

If you receive cash assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, you are required by Pennsylvania law to cooperate with the Department by filing a support action in the Domestic Relations Section and to appear for all support hearings, including those to establish paternity of your child.

For ALL public assistance cases, you must also:

• Name the father of your child and provide identifying and location information for that father.
• You must cooperate with ALL requests of the Domestic Relations Section for information.
• You must appear for all support hearing, contempt hearings and other court proceedings, unless you reside outside of Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Having a support case open and active in the Domestic Relations Section (either for active support, arrearages only, or birthing expenses), requires the following obligations on behalf of both parties:

• To notify the Court and all other parties, in writing, within ten (10) days of any change of address or employment. If you fail to notify the Court of a change of address, and we mail something to you at the address we have of record, you are deemed to have received that notice, even if you no longer reside at that address.
• To notify the Court within ten (10) days of any change in income.
• To make full support payments to SCDU at all times that a wage attachment is not in effect.
• To not make or accept direct payments. ALL money must pass through the Court in order for you to receive credit for it.
• To provide any information requested by the Court in the time period specified.

Both the plaintiff and the defendant to a support action are permitted to request that the support order amount be changed whenever there is a change in circumstances of either party. However, six (6) months must have passed since the date of the last support order.

An order of support is changed or modified by filing a petition for modification. You may do this either by coming to the Domestic Relations Section in person, requesting a petition be sent to you in the mail (for you to return with the appropriate filing fee).

If you are paying spousal support (alone or combined with child support), you MUST file a petition for modification to remove the spousal support or produce a copy of the divorce decree to the DRS. The Domestic Relations Section does not handle divorce and does not know when a divorce is granted and does not automatically adjust support orders to remove spousal support.

If you fail to file a petition to remove the spousal support portion of your support order, and you become overpaid to the plaintiff, the Domestic Relations Section cannot collect that money back for you from the plaintiff.

If you have ANY questions concerning what to do in these types of cases, you should visit or contact the Domestic Relations Section or your Enforcement Officer for assistance as soon as possible.

When a child turns 18 years old you should receive an emancipation inquiry request form from the Domestic Relations Section. If you do not receive this form to address the emancipation of your child, you must contact the Domestic Relations Section.

PACSES stands for the Pennsylvania Automated Child Support Enforcement System. It is the statewide child support computer system that integrates all aspects of support establishment and enforcement.

All support payments are required to be by wage attachment with your employer.

If you are self-employed, have just changed jobs and a wage attachment has not yet issued, or any time support is not being automatically deducted from some source of income, you are REQUIRED to make your payments directly to SCDU at the following address:

PA SCDU
P.O. BOX 69110
HARRISBURG PA 17106-9110

YOUR PAYMENT MUST BEAR YOUR PACSES MEMBER ID, NAME AND/OR YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO BE PROCESSED. ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE BY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER -- DO NOT SEND CASH BY MAIL.

If you find yourself unable to pay your monthly support amount, you should immediately contact the Domestic Relations Section and your Enforcement Officer.

If you fail to notify the Domestic Relations Section and/or your Enforcement Officer that you are unable to make your support payment, enforcement actions may be taken which could result in your incarceration for contempt.

If you fail to pay your support as ordered by the Court, the following enforcement activities are generally undertaken by the Washington County Domestic Relations Section:

First, you will be directed to appear for an enforcement conference with your Enforcement Officer. If you fail to appear for this conference or fail to reach or abide by any agreement entered into at that conference, then contempt proceedings shall be initiated against you.

When a contempt petition is filed, you are directed to appear before the Judge.

If you are directed to appear before the Judge, you should take care to arrive promptly. All cases are called at the beginning of the morning and afternoon sessions and if you are not present, a bench warrant shall be issued for your arrest. The Judge may order you to pay money, may commit you to jail.

If you are incarcerated, you may be granted work release if you have proof of employment and hours. This is subject to verification by the county jail authorities. Further, you may be kept in jail for up to six (6) months until you make payment of your purge amount.

If you are put in jail for failure to pay your support or to satisfy a purge condition, you shall remain in jail until such time as you make your required payment or for a maximum period of six (6) months, whichever is less.

If you are placed in jail for failure to appear for a contempt hearing, you will be given a hearing before the Judge, at which time the contempt hearing shall be held.

In certain cases, the Court will permit work release if you have verifiable employment and it can be arranged with county jail officials.

Any additional questions you may have should be addressed to your attorney.

If you receive notice that your driver's license (or any other license) is going to be or has been suspended for failing to make timely support payments, you should contact your assigned Enforcement Officer at once.

Please remember, if your license is suspended by the Department of Transportation, you must follow all steps for restoration which they state, including the payment of the $25.00 restoration fee. If you fail to pay this restoration fee to the Department of Transportation, your license will not be restored.

SCDU is the Pennsylvania Statewide Central Disbursement Unit for child support payments. It is located in Harrisburg and is responsible for processing all support payments for all 67 counties within the Commonwealth.

SCDU processes all payments within twenty-four (24) hours of their receipt, as required by federal regulations.

Generally, mail time is three (3) business days between Washington County and Harrisburg, and you should keep this in mind when mailing individual payments to SCDU.

The Washington County Domestic Relations Section CANNOT accept support payments. Cash payments only for contempt purge conditions or for fees are still collected by the Domestic Relations Section.

Any payments sent to SCDU must bear your name, your PACSES Member ID number and/or your Social Security Number to be processed correctly. If you fail to properly identify your payment, it will either be delayed in processing or will be returned to you for identification. In either case, if your payment misses its due date because you failed to include proper identification on your payment, you may be subject to contempt proceedings for failing to make your payment in a timely manner when due.

If you are required to make a payment directly to SCDU either because you have changed jobs or there is an order of court permitting you to make payments without a wage attachment, you should send payments, payable to "PA SCDU" to the following address:

PA SCDU
PO BOX 69110
HARRISBURG PA 17106-9110

All information concerning payments is maintained by SCDU alone. Your local office CANNOT check on the receipt of payments and information concerning payments is only available to your local office on the day after the payment is processed.

To contact SCDU concerning your payments, you may call them, toll free, at 1-877-PAS-SCDU (1-877-727-7238) or you may visit their web site by clicking HERE.

Under the Pennsylvania Rules of Court, the plaintiff (custodial parent) is responsible to make full payment for the first $250.00 per person per year of unreimbursed medical expenses. Amounts over that $250.00 per person per year limit are subject to allocation and contribution by the defendant as prescribed by the order of support. The term "unreimbursed medical expenses" includes medical services and supplies; surgical, dental and optical services, and orthodontia. Not included in this allocation are cosmetic, chiropractic, psychiatric or psychological services unless specifically included by the order of support. If there are expenses of this type, the plaintiff must file a petition for modification asking that these expenses be included in the order of support.

When the current order of support requires the defendant to make payment or contribution toward unreimbursed medical expenses not covered by health insurance, the plaintiff must first send a copy of every medical bill or invoice to the defendant, via certified mail, return receipt requested, with a listing of each bill and the defendant's share of payment. Upon receipt, the defendant must make payment within thirty (30) days.

Please contact the DRS for the medical expense reimbursement form and instructions.

What is the PACSES IVR?

PACSES stands for Pennsylvania Automated Child Support Enforcement System. IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response.

The PACSES IVR can be accessed through your telephone to answer most of your child support questions.

The PACSES IVR is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The PACSES IVR gives you quick access to child support information. You may hear about policy and procedures and receive updates on your case, including recent payments and account status. This system may be accessed by calling our office number (724) 228-6756 or 1-888-619-9907 (toll free).

How do I use the PACSES IVR?

The PACSES IVR greets you with a list of choices. When you hear the option you like, press that number on your touch-tone telephone keypad. The computer will give you the information you selected.