How Does Child Support Affect Workers’ Comp Payments in Pennsylvania?

If you have children that do not live with you, you likely have a child support order in place. If you get hurt at work and start receiving Workers’ Comp benefits, these are essentially paid as replacement wages. In that case, does the child support order apply to your Workers’ Comp benefits in place of your wages?

Workers’ Compensation benefits in Pennsylvania can be attached for payment of a support order. Act 109 of 2006 made a change to the Domestic Relations Act to state that support that is delinquent under a payment schedule established by a court is a lien against the net proceeds of any monetary award. In short, this means that if you’re behind on child support, they can start going after your Workers’ Comp benefits. In the meantime, you do still have to continue paying child support according to the order, but your attorney for your family law case might be able to get the support obligation modified, given that your income is now lower while you are on Workers’ Comp.

For help with the Workers’ Comp side of your case and protecting your benefits, call our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.

Do I Still Need to Pay Child Support While I’m on Workers’ Comp in Pennsylvania?

There are a lot of expenses and fees that we face day in and day out, and the world does not stop for work injuries. While you are receiving Workers’ Comp for a work injury, it is possible that you might be relying on benefits for months or even years – or perhaps the rest of your life – and this fact does not stop child support obligations. However, it can change them.

Worker’s Comp Pays 2/3 of Lost Wages

Workers’ Comp wage-loss benefits are typically paid at a rate of 2/3 of your average wage from before the accident. As the years go on, these payments are static; they do not increase for cost-of-living adjustments or inflation. That means that if your average wage before the accident was $930 per week, then your weekly wage-loss payment would be $620 per week this year and next year, and if you are still disabled in 20 years, it would still be $620.

How Child Support is Calculated

Child support amounts are often determined based on your net income (i.e., income after necessary expenses like health insurance and taxes). Using the example above, let’s assume you have two children to support and their other parent’s income is $0 for calculation purposes. The basic child support obligation under 231 Pa. Code Rule 1910.16-3 would come out to around $1,264 per month with your pre-injury wage and around $860 per month when you are on benefits.

The fact that you are injured and making 2/3 of your previous income should be taken into account, and the lawyer who helped with your child support case should be able to file a request to modify your child support amount based on this modified income. You may also be able to make an agreement with the co-parent with similar terms of reduced payments.

Eliminating Child Support Obligations

In some cases, being on Workers’ Comp might actually reduce your wages enough that you end up not having to pay child support at all. Every child support case is different, and the share of support that you provide is also based on how much the other parent makes and what share of parenting time you have. If you were paying child support before the injury even though you only make a little more than your ex and they only have the kids a few more weeks each year, having your income reduced while you’re on Workers’ Comp might be enough to cancel out your support obligation.

Agreements with your co-parent can also be made, with all sorts of potential arrangements available. If the co-parent is willing, they might even agree to go without child support while you recover from your injury. All kinds of arrangements are legal, and what you can do in your case truly depends on a lot of factors – and what kind of terms you are on with the other parent.

No Self Help

This all being said, in no case should you try to reduce your payments on your own or simply withhold child support payments, as this often results in back child support and arrears. Once you are behind on payments, that can actually lead to your wage-loss check getting garnished and any other settlement money potentially getting a lien against it, as discussed below.

What Part of My Workers’ Compensation Can Be Taken for Child Support

The law referenced above allows the court to seize part of a “monetary award,” so what qualifies as a “monetary award”? It is defined as any portion of a settlement paid as a lump sum as part of a Workers’ Compensation or Occupational Disease Act award. This does not include a lump sum payable through a structured settlement annuity. That gives us the opportunity to potentially protect your benefits by structuring the settlement in your case in this manner.

Additionally, the court can only seize the part of the settlement defined as “net proceeds.” This refers to money in excess of $5,000 payable to the employee after subtracting out the parts of the payment that will go toward attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, documented unpaid medical expenses incurred for treatment of the work injury, any indemnity or medical payments, and payments to the Medical Assistance Program.

So, if you are receiving Pennsylvania Work Comp indemnity benefits – i.e., wage-loss benefits –those weekly checks may be reduced to account for a child support obligation. It is important for the injured worker’s attorney to obtain a copy of the court order.

Additionally, all Pennsylvania Workers’ Comp lump sum settlements have to account for any child support arrears. This means that before a Work Comp Judge can sign off on a settlement, they need to ask questions about whether you are in child support arrears and put the gears in motion to take those arrears into account. Essentially, courts cannot just settle other cases without first checking if some of that money needs to go to child support. Thus, an injured worker is required to sign a Child Support Affidavit, and a lien search is also required using the injured worker’s Social Security number. The goal is to make sure that any arrears are paid off before the injured worker pockets settlement money – or that they at least set up a payment plan.

Call Our Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists Today

For more information about your potential case, call our Bethlehem Workman’s Comp Attorney at Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.