Courts

Courts play a strong role in providing financial and emotional support for children. Judicial and legal systems are key players in collaborative efforts with child support agencies, such as problem-solving courts, to better serve the needs of children and families and facilitate child support outcomes.

In jurisdictions that do not use an administrative process, most child support agency-initiated establishment and modification actions are filed and processed in the court, and the judicial process often extends to a number of child support actions.

• Courts support the program mission by establishing appropriate and timely child support orders through a fair process.
• To achieve better child support outcomes, courts may prevent and reduce arrears by decreasing the number of inappropriate and unrealistic child support orders through standardized criteria and practices and information sharing.
• OCSE-promoted problem-solving techniques and practices may improve the outcomes of court cases and reduce the number of subsequent court actions involving the same families.
• Through cooperative agreements with child support agencies, courts may receive funding for some functions.
• Our judicial partners include the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) , Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA),  National American Indian Court Judges Administration (NAICJA) , National Association of State Judicial Educators (NASJE), National Center for State Courts (NCSC), National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), and National Judicial College (NJC).