If I don’t pay my child support, what happens?
November 10, 2014

In Arizona, if someone fails to pay child support, he or she can be brought before a superior court judge or commissioner and be found in contempt. If you are found in contempt, you will, in order to avoid incarceration, normally have to pay all or a certain part of the past due child support amount (referred to as an arrearage) either immediately or at a certain point in the future. This payment requirement is often referred to in Arizona courts as a “purge amount.” However, in order to find you in contempt, the judge must first make legal findings that you (a) had the ability to pay the child support amount and (b) willfully refused to pay the child support obligation.