Interest on unpaid child support, by state

Unpaid support carries interest at the judgment rate: 7.5% a year on judgments entered since September 1, 2011 (12% for judgments from November 13, 1981 to August 31, 2011, and 6% before that).

Interest on past-due support is charged at 6% a year (or a lower federal maximum), after notice, when payments are 10 or more days late. No interest is charged on a late current payment if support is being withheld from your wages, unemployment or workers' compensation.

10% a year on unpaid support, starting at the end of the month after the payment was due; interest is simple (charged only on the unpaid support, not on interest).

Arkansas law provides interest on unpaid support at 10% a year. Interest can be collected once a court reduces it to a judgment; OCSE tries to get a judgment when appropriate.

10% a year on unpaid support.

Support due and unpaid after July 1, 2021 earns 10% a year; support due and unpaid before July 1, 2021 earns 12% compounded monthly, unless the parents agreed otherwise (C.R.S. 14-14-106; Judicial Branch forms JDF 1807 and JDF 1800).

See the state page

See the state page

See the state page

Unpaid support can become a final judgment by operation of law. The depository charges interest on support judgments at the statutory judgment rate set under Fla. Stat. 55.03.

Child support awards accrue interest at 7% per year, starting 30 days after a payment is due. The court may apply, reduce or waive past-due interest.

CSEA does not calculate or collect interest on unpaid support as it builds up (CSEA Rights and Responsibilities, FCS032).

See the state page

By law, support more than 30 days past due carries interest at 9% a year. Since January 1, 2021, CSS no longer calculates or enforces interest unless a court has ordered it, but you may still owe court-ordered interest.

Interest is not automatic. The court may order interest on unpaid support of up to 1.5% a month.

By statute, unpaid support starts earning interest 30 days after it is due, at 10% a year. No interest accrues just because an employer's pay cycle delays an income-withholding payment.

Unpaid support that is due becomes a judgment and can carry interest at the Kansas judgment rate, which is 4 percentage points above the federal discount rate and resets each July 1.

See the state page

See the state page

See the state page

See the state page

In cases where DOR provides full services and the order is from a Massachusetts court, DOR charges interest of 0.5% a month and a penalty of 0.5% a month on past-due support when you owe more than $500, unless you made the minimum monthly payment that month.

No automatic interest. If the court finds a parent willfully failed to pay, it may order a surcharge on past-due support twice a year (January 1 and July 1) at 1% plus the average 5-year Treasury note rate; it is not charged in a cycle when the parent paid 90% or more of the support due.

No interest. Since August 1, 2022, interest does not accrue on past, current or future child support judgments.

When a court sets (adjudicates) the amount of past-due support with interest, MDHS policy is to use 8% simple interest unless the court judgment sets a different rate; principal and interest are stated separately.

Past-due child support on Missouri orders entered on or after September 1, 1982 draws simple interest of 1% per month (12% a year). It accrues automatically, but no payment counts as interest until all the unpaid support is paid.

Montana judgment interest is the bank prime rate (set each January 1) plus 3%, not compounded. CSSD does not calculate interest; it collects interest on unpaid support only after the interest has been turned into a lump-sum judgment by an order.

Delinquent child support draws simple interest at the judgment rate under Neb. Rev. Stat. 45-103 in effect on the date of the most recent order (2 points above the 26-week Treasury bill yield).

Each missed payment becomes a judgment by law when due. When arrears are enforced as a judgment, the court includes interest from the time each payment was due at the NRS 99.040 rate (prime rate at Nevada's largest bank plus 2%, adjusted every January 1 and July 1), plus a reasonable attorney's fee, unless this would cause the paying parent undue hardship.

New Hampshire
Not covered yet: child support agency · LawHelp.org

No interest. New Jersey has no statute adding interest to child support arrears, and the agency does not calculate interest. Unpaid support does become a judgment automatically.

Delinquent child support accrues interest at 4% a year from the date it is late until paid, and a consolidated judgment for past-due support also accrues 4%.

9% a year on unpaid support that a court has turned into a money judgment.

See the state page

Simple interest is charged on past-due support ordered by a North Dakota court, at the yearly judgment rate (10% for 2026: prime rate plus 3 points). Interest counts as child support, and payments on arrears go first to the oldest interest.

Not automatic. When the court issues or changes an order and finds the parent's default was willful, it may add interest on the arrears at the state statutory rate.

2% per year on court-ordered past-due child support, from the date each payment became late.

Unpaid support accrues interest at Oregon's legal judgment rate of 9% a year, simple interest; Oregon support law refers to the accrual of interest under ORS 82.010.

See the state page

12% a year on unpaid child support, unless the Family Court relieves the paying parent of interest for good cause.

See the state page

The Department of Social Services or the parent owed support may collect interest on unpaid support at the Category D rate, 1% per month.

In cases handled by the state Child Support Program (Title IV-D cases), interest on past-due support is not added unless a court makes a written finding that it should accrue; the court can then charge up to 6% a year (rule since July 1, 2018; Tenn. Code 36-5-101(f)(1), as reported in the OCSS Intergovernmental Reference Guide, Tennessee profile).

6% simple interest per year on overdue child support and on child support judgments.

See the state page

No interest; instead a surcharge of 0.5% a month (6% a year), not compounded, is added to past-due support (since Jan. 1, 2012). Payments go first to current support, then arrears, then surcharge.

6% a year (the judgment rate) on past-due child support, unless the parent owed the support waives it in writing to the court. DCSE collects this interest on the cases it enforces.

12% a year on judgments for unpaid child support under a court or administrative order. DCS does not add interest to its own case records; it collects interest only on unpaid support that has been made a Washington judgment.

5% simple interest a year on past-due support. Parents can agree in writing to a payment plan that pays off arrears within 60 months; if it is completed, the court forgives the interest that had built up.

0.5% per month (6% a year) on past-due support, starting when the past-due amount equals or exceeds one month's support. It is charged even while you pay on the debt, but not on unpaid birth costs or fees.

See the state page