So too much money is garnished and you’ve paid more than you should have, now what? The Domestic Relations Sections in Pennsylvania are not typically prepared to issue refunds, as when this happens, the money has most likely already dispersed to the other party. Therefore, they cannot just reverse the transaction. The Domestic Relations Sections can make direct deposits into the other party’s account, but they cannot take money out of their account in order to reverse the transaction.

You may think that because the other party already has money that was not owed, that it will apply to later child support payments instead. This, unfortunately, will most likely not happen because the child support order will charge you monthly and the system does not tend to take into account a payment via a garnished tax refund for example.

In order to ensure that you are paying the obligation, and not more, you would need a child support order that allows you to skip a payment in order to correct for such discrepancies. Therefore, if you try to fix this imbalance yourself by skipping a payment, your account will most likely be flagged for enforcement and you can be taken to court and ordered to pay again, something you certainly what to avoid.

Your best bet in a situation like this is to petition the court to modify your support order, at least temporarily. You can petition the court to lower your child support payment by 20% until the overpayment has been satisfied. This is a discretionary amount determined by the court, however, this course of action should lead you to some form of relief.

If you’ve discovered that you’ve overpaid your Pennsylvania child support obligation, contact our family lawyers at Taybron Law Firm, LLC. For more information about Pennsylvania child support payments, please call us today!