How do you pay child support in Florida?

Child support is usually paid through the State Disbursement Unit in Tallahassee, and this protects both the payor and the payee.

A record is kept and can be accessed at any time showing what payments have been received by the SDU and disbursed to the payee. The payor has to pay a small fee (about $5) to the SDU for this service. In addition, an Income Withholding Order (IWO) is usually entered in all divorce cases so that the child support can be garnished from the payor.

The payee should always request an IWO because those payments are made on a regular basis based upon the party’s payroll schedule. Also, there is almost no reason that the payments should not be made through the SDU, as this the most effective record-keeping system accepted by the court.