A child support arrears forgiveness form is a state-level application that asks your child support agency to reduce or write off past-due support that the state itself is owed. There is no federal version. Each state that runs a debt compromise program has its own application, its own name for it (Debt Reduction Program Application, Arrears Settlement Application, and Arrears Compromise Request are common), and its own eligibility rules. You get the form from the child support office handling your case.
How To Get the Form
Call the child support office that manages your case and ask for the debt reduction or arrears compromise application. Your assigned caseworker or child support specialist can send you the form and explain how their program works. Some states let you submit electronically; others require paper filing in person or by mail. Have your child support case number ready when you call.
If you don’t know which office handles your case, the Administration for Children and Families keeps a contact directory for every state and tribal child support agency.1Administration for Children and Families. Contact Information for State and Tribal Child Support Agencies Start there or with your state’s central child support enforcement number.
What the Form Can and Cannot Reduce
This is the single most important thing to understand before you apply. The form only touches arrears the state owns. It cannot reduce arrears owed directly to the custodial parent.
When a custodial parent receives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), they assign their right to collect child support to the state as a condition of the aid. The unpaid support during that period becomes a debt to the government instead of to the other parent.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 656 – Support Obligation as Obligation to State Because the state now owns that portion of the debt, it can negotiate, discount, or forgive it without the custodial parent’s permission. That is what a debt compromise program does.
Debt owed directly to the custodial parent is their property. No state agency can waive it on its own. Federal law also blocks any court from retroactively erasing installments that came due in the past — the Bradley Amendment locks each unpaid installment in place the moment it becomes overdue.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures to Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement Your case may include both types of arrears. The forgiveness form applies only to the state-owned share.
Does Your State Even Have a Program
Not every state runs a formal arrears forgiveness program. The Administration for Children and Families publishes a map showing which states have active debt compromise policies and how each is structured.4Administration for Children and Families. State Child Support Agencies With Debt Compromise Policies Some programs phase forgiveness in over several years of consistent payments. Some accept a discounted lump sum to close out the balance. A few cap the total amount they will forgive over a parent’s lifetime. Discounts range from modest to substantial.
If your state isn’t on the list, still call your local child support office. Some counties or regional offices have informal settlement authority even where no statewide program is on the books.
Who Qualifies
Criteria vary by state, but most programs share a common core.
- You must have state-owed arrears. If your children never received public assistance or foster care, you probably have no government-assigned debt to compromise.
- Many states set a minimum debt threshold before you can apply, often somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 in state-owed arrears.4Administration for Children and Families. State Child Support Agencies With Debt Compromise Policies
- Your current support obligation must be paid up. Programs commonly require six to twelve consecutive months of on-time payments. Missing a payment while your application is pending can trigger automatic denial.
- You need to show genuine financial hardship. Long-term disability, chronic unemployment, or a period of incarceration are typical qualifying circumstances.
- You must disclose income and assets honestly. Hiding money or property will get the application denied and may expose you to fraud allegations.
Some programs also disqualify applicants with pending criminal non-payment charges or a history of defaulting on a prior arrears settlement.
What To Gather Before You Fill It Out
The agency needs a clear picture of your finances to decide whether your proposed settlement is reasonable. Assemble these before you sit down with the form.
- Income from every source: wages, self-employment earnings, Social Security, disability, unemployment, workers’ compensation. Recent pay stubs and tax returns are the standard proof.
- Monthly expenses: rent or mortgage, utilities, food, transportation, medical costs, insurance, and other recurring obligations.
- Assets: bank balances, vehicles, real property, retirement accounts, anything of significant value.
- Household size and dependents, since the number of people you support affects the cost-of-living calculation the agency runs.
Incomplete applications stall. The agency will not move forward until every required document is in the file. If a document genuinely doesn’t exist (say, you weren’t required to file a tax return in a given year), explain why in writing and provide whatever substitute you can.
Making the Settlement Offer
After documenting your finances, you propose a specific dollar figure to settle the state-owed balance. Depending on the program, this is either a one-time lump-sum payment or a structured plan over months or years.
Make the number realistic. A token offer with no supporting math will not survive review. The agency measures your offer against what it could realistically collect anyway through wage garnishment, tax refund intercepts, and license actions. If your offer is close to what those tools would already pull in, the state has little reason to forgive anything. Aim for an amount that represents real effort on your part while acknowledging that the full balance is uncollectable, and let your financial documents back that up.
Include a written explanation of where the settlement money will come from. If it’s a family loan, a tax refund, or savings, say so. The agency wants to confirm the payment won’t come out of what you owe on your current monthly support.
After You Submit
A caseworker reviews your disclosures and verifies them against agency records. Processing runs anywhere from several weeks to several months depending on the state and caseload. Some states require a phone or in-person interview covering your expenses, employment history, and the source of the settlement funds.
You’ll receive a written decision: approval, denial, or a counter-offer with different terms. Approval comes with a formal agreement laying out the payment amount, the schedule, and the consequences of default. Follow the schedule exactly. Missing an agreed payment typically cancels the settlement, restores the original balance, and can disqualify you from reapplying.
A completed settlement can also clear the enforcement actions tied to the debt: passport denial under the federal $2,500 threshold, driver’s and professional license suspensions, credit reporting of the delinquency, and federal tax refund intercepts.5U.S. Department of State. Passports and Child Support Debt Removal isn’t instant. Confirm with your caseworker that the state has updated its certifications after your settlement is finalized, especially before tax season or a planned trip.
If the Debt Is Owed to the Other Parent
The forgiveness form won’t help with this portion. You have two realistic paths.
The simpler one is a voluntary agreement. If the custodial parent will accept a reduced amount, both of you sign a stipulation and present it to the court for approval. The court order makes the reduction official and enforceable. Without that order, the original balance stays on the books no matter what the two of you agreed to privately.
If the custodial parent won’t agree, your options narrow. You can file a motion to vacate a default support order if the arrears were built on an income figure you never actually earned, typically because the order was entered when you didn’t appear. You’ll need to explain your absence and show what your real income was at the time. Courts grant these motions sparingly. And the Bradley Amendment still applies: a court cannot wipe out installments that were calculated correctly and simply went unpaid.
Bankruptcy Won’t Do This
Filing bankruptcy will not eliminate child support arrears. Federal law excludes domestic support obligations from discharge under every chapter of the Bankruptcy Code.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge Support debt also gets top priority in any distribution of a bankruptcy estate.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 507 – Priorities The automatic stay that normally halts collection does not stop income withholding, license suspensions, tax refund intercepts, credit reporting, or proceedings to establish or modify a support order.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay A Chapter 13 plan has to repay child support arrears in full to be confirmed. For a parent who genuinely cannot pay, the state debt compromise form is one of the few paths that actually reduces what is owed.