The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) established uniform rules and procedures that govern interstate child support cases. This law standardizes the withholding process throughout the country. One of the cornerstones of UIFSA is direct income withholding. Direct income withholding involves sending an income withholding to a non-custodial parent's employer in another state.

To initiate direct income withholding, a child support agency, an attorney, or either parent may send an income withholding order/notice, issued by any state, directly to the non-custodial parent's employer in another state. The order/notice [in Ohio, called Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Child And Spousal Support"(JFS 04047)] does not have to be "served" on the employer, but may be delivered by first class or certified mail, fax or hand, as permitted by state law.

Upon receiving an order/notice from another state, an employer must:

• provide a copy of the order/notice to the employee immediately
• begin withholding and sending the payments to the address cited in the withholding order/notice
• continue honoring the withholding order/notice until official notification is received from the initiating agency/individual to stop or make a change to the withholding.

Upon receipt of a direct income withholding from another state, apply Ohio's law to determine the following specific requirements:

• Time periods to begin withholding
• Time periods for remitting payments following the date of withholding
• Allocation of support when you receive more than one income withholding order/notice for the same employee
• Treatment of lump-sum payments to the employee
• Employer fees that can be assessed
• Penalties for failure to honor the direct income withholding order/notice

Please refer to the Income Withholding section for more information about the requirements listed above, as well as the definition of "income." Applicable terms and definitions can be found in the Glossary of Terms section of this site.

Wages must be withheld and distributed as directed in the order/notice by complying with the following:

• The duration and amount of the support payments
• The person or agency designated to receive payments and address to which the payments are forwarded
• The amount of periodic payments of fees and costs for a support enforcement agency, the issuing tribunal, and the obligor's attorney
• The amount of payments on arrearages and interest on any arrearages

An affected employee has the right to contest an order/notice of direct income withholding. The employee should notify the issuing state agency/individual and attempt to resolve the matter.

An employer should continue to honor the direct income withholding until notified by the issuing agency/individual.

To help employers, there is a standard form, the Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Child Support for governmental child support agencies, attorneys, or individuals to use when initiating direct income withholding. The standardized Order/Notice includes:

1. names of parties, including children;
2. whether to begin withholding, change the amount being withheld or terminate the withholding;
3. how much to withhold for current support, past-due support, medical support and other specific amounts;
4. how much to prorate for different pay frequencies;
5. remittance information;
6. additional information about priority, combining payments, reporting the withhold date, multiple withholding for an employee, termination notice, lump sum payments, liability, anti-discrimination and withholding limits.

1. We received an income withholding order/notice from another state. To whom should we send the payments?
2. What should I do if I receive more than one income withholding order/notice against my employee for the same family?

1. Q. We received an income withholding order/notice from another state. To whom should we send the payments?
   
   A. The payment should be sent directly to the remittance address listed in the Order/Notice. Under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), employers are required to honor an income withholding order/notice from another state.
   
   
2. Q. What should I do if I receive more than one income withholding order/notice against my employee for the same family?
   
   A. If the orders include current support, advise your employee to immediately contact the CSEA and request assistance in filing a Petition to Determine Controlling Order so that a court may ascertain which of several existing current support orders will be prospectively enforced.