Paying child support is hard enough, what more if you had to pay interests on your owed support because you have not paid on time. There are states that attach the support fees to one’s paycheck but, in some cases, the parent is required to send the check on time. What’s worse is if you cannot pay support because you lost your job or are in a financial fix.
Not all states impose interests on late payments though but it is getting to be more appealing to others and the practice is more common now. Interests on past due payments start accruing from the very first day and every day thereafter that a check is delayed, so if your state or where your child lives has this provision, you’re in for bigger trouble.
The reasons, two of them, why states have adopted this policy is to discourage parents from delaying their support for any reason, knowing that they will have to pay interests on delayed payments. This is the weapon states use to make sure support-paying parents send their payments on time every time. If a parent knows that he will pay interests on delayed support, he will most likely avoid it at all cost.
The second reason for the interest on delayed support payments is to compensate the child. Waiting time is suffering time for a child who has to wait until the parent can send support payment. Depending on the custodial parent‘s situation, this suffering can be of varying degrees. States regard delayed payments as undue suffering for the child for which he or she should be further compensated to undo whatever hardship was created while the child was waiting.
The interest rate imposed on delayed payments is determined by the state of residence. Some states have a set rate that lies between 10% and 12%. The state with the highest set interest rate is Maine which is 15%. Missouri, for its part, charges the lowest interest rate of 1% a month.
It can also be that no predetermined interest rate is set by the state. The custodial parent has to prove to the court that support payments are late and the court will then decide on how much interest is due. In states with no predetermined set rate, it may be a simple “lawful rate” term that they will indicate in the policy. What these types of provisions do is separate those parents who are having legitimate financial reasons for the delay as against those who are simply negligent in their support obligations.
Many parents find the interest rate on delayed payments to be a significant deterrent for late payments. There are many cases that have been brought to court because of the predetermined rate that is in place. Only in a few cases is seen any drop in the predetermined interest rate upon plea.
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Doctor Charles Drew Medical Blog 
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