Chapter 13 bankruptcy will not erase child support arrears, but it gives you a court-supervised way to pay them off over three to five years while shielding you from the enforcement actions that pile on when back support goes unaddressed. The bankruptcy code treats child support as a first-priority debt, so every dollar you owe must be repaid in full through your plan before credit cards, medical bills, or other unsecured creditors see anything.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 507 – Priorities What Chapter 13 really does for someone behind on support is convert a lump-sum collection demand into a predictable monthly payment under the court’s supervision.
What Chapter 13 Can and Cannot Do for Back Support
Child support arrears are never dischargeable. Not in Chapter 13, not in Chapter 7, not ever.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge If you finish your plan, you’ve paid the arrears off. If your plan falls apart before completion, you still owe every remaining dollar.
Filing also does not freeze interest. The bankruptcy code’s definition of a domestic support obligation explicitly includes interest accruing under state law.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 101 – Definitions State interest rates on past-due support commonly run 4% to 12% a year, which means your balance can keep growing even while you make plan payments. A plan that doesn’t account for accruing interest can leave a surprise balance when the case ends.
So the honest frame is this: Chapter 13 is a structured catch-up tool, not a debt eraser. The payoff is a workable schedule, protection from certain collection moves while you follow it, and a path to come out the other side with the arrears actually resolved.
How the Repayment Plan Handles the Arrears
You propose a plan that commits your disposable income to monthly payments over three to five years. If your income falls below your state’s median, you can propose a three-year plan; above the median, you’ll generally need to commit to five.4United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics The plan must provide for full payment of all priority claims — your child support arrears included — through deferred installments.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1322 – Contents of Plan
A court-appointed trustee collects your monthly payment and distributes it according to the plan’s priority structure. Child support arrears go out first. Whatever’s left trickles down to secured and then general unsecured creditors. The trustee’s commission is capped by statute at 10% of plan payments for non-farmer debtors,6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 586 – Duties; Supervision by Attorney General and it gets built into what you pay each month.
Court costs run $310 to file ($235 filing fee plus a $75 administrative fee), and the court may let you pay in installments.4United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics Attorney fees are usually the bigger expense, but they’re often paid through the plan itself rather than up front.
Rough example: if you’re carrying $15,000 in arrears, a five-year plan would allocate roughly $250 to $300 a month toward that balance before the trustee’s cut, with the court standing between you and the state’s collection apparatus the whole time.
Ongoing Support Still Comes Out of Your Pocket
This is the part most people underestimate. You have to pay two streams at the same time. The plan handles the arrearage. Current support — this month’s obligation — you pay separately, directly to the recipient or through your state’s payment system.
And the court won’t confirm your plan at all unless you’re already current on every support payment that has come due since the day you filed.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 1325 – Confirmation of Plan Your budget has to carry your regular monthly support, your plan payment (arrears plus other debts plus the trustee’s cut), and your basic living expenses. If the math doesn’t work, confirmation doesn’t happen.
What the Automatic Stay Actually Stops
Filing a Chapter 13 petition triggers the automatic stay, which halts most collection activity.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay Child support has its own carve-outs, though, and this is where filers get the wrong idea about what protection they’re buying.
The stay does not stop income withholding for child support. If your paycheck is already being docked under a court or administrative order, that keeps happening. The stay doesn’t block collection from property outside the bankruptcy estate, and it doesn’t pause family court matters — paternity, support modification, custody — at all.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
What the stay does do, in practice, is block certain aggressive moves against estate property, like liens on a bank account tied up in the case. More importantly, a confirmed plan paying arrears in full often convinces state enforcement agencies to pause the escalating penalties — license suspensions, passport denial, tax refund interception — because the court is now supervising repayment. The stay buys you breathing room. The plan is what actually fixes the problem.
Government-Assigned Arrears Work Differently
When a custodial parent received public assistance, the state frequently takes assignment of the support debt. Arrears owed to a government agency fall into a slightly different priority tier. Your plan can propose less than full payment on these government-assigned arrears, but only if you commit all of your projected disposable income for a full five-year plan period.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1322 – Contents of Plan Arrears owed directly to the custodial parent must always be paid in full. If a large chunk of what you owe is held by the state, this distinction can matter a lot to the shape of your plan.
Qualifying to File
You need regular income to fund a plan — wages, self-employment earnings, even Social Security. The court doesn’t require a traditional paycheck; self-employed and gig workers are eligible as long as the income is reliable enough to support regular payments. Your debts also have to fall within statutory ceilings: unsecured debts under $526,700 and secured debts under $1,580,125 at the time of filing.4United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
You also have to complete a credit counseling course from an approved provider within 180 days before you file.9Department of Justice. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Information Skip it and the court can dismiss your case at the outset. A second course on financial management comes later, before discharge.
If You Miss a Payment
Missing a post-petition child support payment gives the court grounds to dismiss or convert your case.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1307 – Conversion or Dismissal Dismissal strips off the stay, and state enforcement picks up where it left off — now with months of legal fees spent and nothing resolved. Unaddressed arrears can trigger federal tax refund interception, passport denial for balances over $2,500, and contempt proceedings that in some cases lead to jail.11Administration for Children and Families. How Does a Federal Tax Refund Offset Work?
If your income drops mid-plan for reasons outside your control, like a layoff or medical emergency, you have options. You can ask the court to modify the plan to reflect changed circumstances. In genuinely dire situations you may qualify for a hardship discharge, but a hardship discharge will not cover your remaining child support arrears. Those always survive.4United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
Finishing the Plan
After you make every plan payment and satisfy all domestic support obligations — arrears plus ongoing monthly support — you file a certification with the court confirming everything is paid.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge The court uses Form B 2830 for this.13United States Courts. Chapter 13 Debtors Certifications Regarding Domestic Support Obligations and Section 522(q) Without that certification, the discharge doesn’t issue and the case stays open.
The discharge wipes out remaining balances on unsecured debts like credit cards and medical bills that were provided for in your plan. It does not discharge child support, alimony, most student loans, certain taxes, or criminal restitution.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge The real payoff for a successful case is coming out the other side with the arrears fully paid, the enforcement actions gone, and your other debts cut down enough that you can keep current going forward.