If you need help establishing paternity (finding out who the father of your child is), setting up a child support order, collecting on an existing child support order, modifying a child support order or locating a parent, the Wyoming Child Support Program can help!
Need Support
Am I Eligible?
There are no income limits or eligibility requirements to receive help form the Wyoming Child Support Program. The following persons can receive child support services, regardless of their income and whether or not they are or have ever received any type of public assistance:
- Any parent or legal caretaker who wants to establish a child support order;
- Any parent or legal caretaker who wants to establish paternity of his/her child;
- Any parent or legal caretaker who is owed child support; or
- Any parent or legal caretaker who is ordered to pay child support or owes past due child support;
How do I Get Services?
To obtain child support services, you must open a child support case by submitting an application. CLICK HERE TO APPLY. The Wyoming Child Support Program does not charge an applicationfee. If you are unable to apply online, please contact or visit the your local child support office and request an application. Find your nearest child support office on our LOCATIONS PAGE.
Paternity Establishment
What is Paternity?
Paternity means being declared the legal father after the child is born. If the parents of a child were not married when the mother became pregnant or when the child was born, the child does not have a legal father until paternity is established.
Why is Establishing Paternity Important?
There are many reasons to establish paternity, for married and unmarried parents, and some of the most important are:
Identity
It is important for the child to know they are part of a family. Similarly, it is important for the father to know that they are “legally” the father of the child. Paternity can help create relationships between the father’s side of the family and the child. Identity is more than having the father listed on the child’s birth certificate. In establishing paternity, it is important to form these extended relationships for both the child and the father’s identity.
Father-Child Relationship
A father-child relationship is fundamental to a son or daughter’s childhood. Establishing paternity is the first step to achieving a healthy father-child relationship. Studies have shown that a father who actively participates in a child’s life can help to improve the emotional and social health of the child.
Custody and Visitation
If the father and mother are not living together or they are contesting custody rights or visitation rights, then paternity may need to be legally established before a court can order custody or visitation to a father.
Financial
Both parents must provide financial support to their children. In order for a court to make a father pay child support, paternity must first be established. Establishing paternity not only affects child support, but it also affects other financial benefits from the father, which may include: social security benefits, life insurance, pension and retirement, and inheritance rights in the event that something will happen to the child’s father.
Medical
It is also important to determine the paternity of your child for medical reasons. The child and the child’s doctors may need to know the medical history from both sides of the family for certain genetic traits and diseases that may affect the child. Additionally, once paternity is established a father may be able to add the child to his medical insurance policy.
Access to Information
Legal parents have the right to be notified about proceedings involving their child. These may include criminal proceedings, adoption proceedings, juvenile court proceedings, and custody hearings. Legal parents also have the right to access information regarding school, medical, and religious records.
How is Paternity Established?
Married Parents
Per Wyoming Law, a man is presumed to be the legal father of the child, and no DNA paternity (genetic) testing is required, if:
- The parents are married to each other and the child was is born during the marriage;
- The parents were married to each other and the child is born within 300 days after the marriage is terminated;
- The parents were married to one another prior to birth of the child and the child is born during the marriage or within 300 days after the marriage is terminated; or
- After the birth of the child, the parents marry each other and the parents file an Affidavit Acknowledging Paternity; or
- For the first two (2) years of the child’s life, the man resided in the same household as the child and openly held out the child as his own.
Unmarried Parents
Parents who are not married to each other must do something to establish paternity. There are two main ways parents can establish paternity when they are not married:
- Unmarried parents can establish paternity voluntarily. This means they agree to name the father of the child and that can be done by filling out an Affidavit Acknowledging Paternity. For instructions and further information on how to fill out the Affidavit, please click here. If you are not sure who the father of the child is, do not sign the Affidavit. DNA paternity (genetic) testing can help you know whether a man is the father, and the Child Support Program can help you with this.
- Unmarried parents can seek help from the Child Support Program to help establish paternity. This usually involves DNA paternity (genetic) testing.
Where do I get, and what do I do with, an Affidavit Acknowledging Paternity?
You can get the Affidavit form needed to establish paternity:
- In the hospital at the time of birth. Hospital staff can help you complete the form free of charge, and the hospital will send the Affidavit to the Wyoming Office of Vital Statistics and the father’s name will be included on the birth certificate.
- View the Affidavit by CLICKING HERE or from the Wyoming Office of Vital Statistics. If you choose to fill the form out after leaving the hospital, in order for the father’s name to be listed on the birth certificate, both parents must complete the Affidavit, sign it in front of a notary and mail or bring to the Wyoming Office of Vital Statistics.
- If you are not sure who the father of the child is, do not sign the Affidavit. DNA paternity (genetic) testing can help you know whether a man is the father, and the Child Support Program can help you with this.
Other Resources
For more information about paternity, please read Take the First Step For Your Child: Establish Paternity or call 307-777-6948.
For any questions or information related to birth certificates, please call the Wyoming Office of Vital Statistics at 307-777-7264.
Receive Support
The child support program collects child support through a variety of methods. Most child support is collected through income withholding to the noncustodial parent’s employer or other source of income, also known as “garnishment.” Income may be withheld from a noncustodial parent’s paycheck, unemployment, workers’ compensation, disability or Social Security retirement or other source of income.
Other collection methods include, but are not limited to:
- Credit bureaureporting;
- Intercepting tax refunds (FederalOffset Program);
- Passport denial;
- Asking the state where the noncustodial parent lives to register/enforce the order;
- Civilcontempt actions through the district court;
- Lien and levy onbank accounts;
- Suspension ofdriver’s license or other professional licenses;
- Suspension ofWyoming Game & Fish Department licenses;
- Attaching realor personal property; and
- Federal prosecutionfor nonpayment of child support.
Keep in mind that most enforcement actions require that noticeof the action must be given to the noncustodial parent. Often times, the noncustodial parent must be personally served with legal documents. The process of locating a noncustodial parent and obtaining personal service on them can be difficult and time-consuming.
The local office will determine the most effective method to collect the child support owed to you and is not obligated to follow your direction in how to handle your case. The child support program attorney does not represent you; therefore, if you are dissatisfied with the district offices’ efforts to collect support, you may close your case and/or try to collect support yourself, either through an attorney you hire or on your own.
Some of the enforcement methods listed above are available only to the child support program and may not be used by private parties.
Receive Payments
In order to send out payments in the most reliable and cost-effective method possible for both parents and the state, the Wyoming Department of Family Services, Child Support Program, has decided to stop issuing paper checks.
You may receive your child support payments through:
- Electronic/direct deposit into your personal checking or savings account
- Direct deposit onto the child support Way2Go debit card.
Please select the electronic payment method that will work best for you by completing the Child Support Electronic Payment Authorization Form and submitting by either:
MAIL: Mail to the State Disbursem*nt Unit (SDU) office.
EMAIL: wyo-cspaymentcenter@wyo.gov
FAX: 1-307-777-5301
To review your payment history and other case information please go to the Self-Services Portal.
You may also call our Customer Service Center at 307-777-6948. Or contact the Child Support Payment Information Center at 307-777-5300 or 888-570-9914 to speak to a Child Support representative.
Request Review or Modification of Your Child Support Order
If you want your support order reviewed for modification, you may ask the local child support office for a review. If you do not already have an open child support case, you will need to open one. Once the local office has completed its review, a petition to modify will be filed or the local office will inform you that it has determined a modification is not appropriate.
The child support program will not review a custody or visitation order, nor will it petition the court to modify a custody or visitation order.
You have the right to petition the court for a modification of support, custody or visitation on your own or through your own attorney at any time.
Visit the “Receiving Support” section of our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) page for further information.
Pay Support
Make A Payment
Visit our MAKE A PAYMENT page to learn about how you can make a payment online, in person, or by mail.
To View Payment History
The new Child Support Self Service Portal provides online services for custodial and non-custodial parents which is available 24/7 (except for periods when maintenance is necessary). To view your payment history, visit our SELF-SERVICE PORTAL
You may also call the State Disbursem*nt Unit at (888) 570-9914 or (307) 777-5300.
Request Review or Modification of Your Child Support Order
If you want your support order reviewed for modification, you may ask the local child support office for a review. If you do not already have an open child support case, you will need to open one. Once the local office has completed its review, a petition to modify will be filed or the local office will inform you that it has determined a modification is not appropriate.
The child support program will not review a custody or visitation order, nor will it petition the court to modify a custody or visitation order.
You have the right to petition the court for a modification of support, custody or visitation on your own or through your own attorney at any time.
Visit the “Paying Support” section of our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) page for further information.
Support Calculator
The calculator is used to calculate and estimate of child support using the Wyoming Child Support statutory guidelines (formula). The purpose of this calculator is informational and educational only. It does not guarantee the amount of child support that will be ordered and does not constitute legal advice. The court has the final authority to determine the amount of child support awarded.
You can find our CHILD SUPPORT CALCULATOR on our Self-Service Portal.
