"Every child has the right to financial and medical support from both parents. Our goal is to assure families receive the child support they need and deserve."
R.B. "Chips" Shore, Clerk
The Manatee Clerk's Child Support Enforcement Division provides comprehensive case management and attorney representation for parents who sign up for our services including:
For Custodial Parents there is no cost for these services.
We have a variety of tools available to assist you with your efforts to ensure that both parents support their children including: legal actions, administrative enforcement, license suspensions, intercepts of unemployment compensations and worker's compensation, wage garnishment, IRS tax returns, credit reporting, indirect criminal contempt and cooperative actions between other states and countries.
We do not establish or enforce visitation or custody.
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General Information
We provide child support services to any parent or custodian of a dependent child. Any parent or caretaker who is owed child support arrearages may also apply for services. Families who receive public assistance automatically receive child support services. If you have received public assistance or child support services in the past, contact us to determine if you have an open child support case.
Our services are available even if a parent lives in another state or country.
Our staff of Case Managers, Attorney and support staff will meet with you, gather all information we need to proceed, help locate parents, represent your child support matters in court, take administrative action to establish and enforce support and track payments through the State Disbursement Unit (SDU). We will establish new support orders and follow through enforcing payments and collecting past due amounts.
Child support services are provided by the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Manatee County, the State Attorney’s Office in Miami-Dade County and the Department of Revenue in all other Florida counties. Find another child support office in Florida. If you have an existing child support order or a divorce order in a Florida county other than Manatee, you will need to apply for services with the Department of Revenue. For more information on applying for services, go to the Department of Revenue website at http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/childsupport/apply.html
In Manatee County, records of all Court-ordered child support and alimony payments are maintained by the Child Support Depository , which is a separate division of the Clerk’s Office. If there is an order for support and/or alimony payable through the SDU, the Child Support Depository will maintain those records. The depository has only a few possible enforcement remedies whereas the Child Support Enforcement division has a wide assortment of enforcement remedies and also provides legal services. There will almost always be a case through the depository if there are court ordered support payments but not all of those cases are enforced by our Child Support Enforcement division. (See Applying for Services)
For More information on Child Support Services vist http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/childsupport/services.html
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Applying for Services
Anyone seeking our services who does not already have a child support case through our office must apply for services by meeting us for an interview at 1023 Manatee Ave West, Bradenton, FL.
If you are currently receiving or applying for State Assistance (TANF cash assistance or Medicaid), we can see you on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, between the hours of 8:30-10:30 a.m. or 1:00-3:00 p.m. You will be seen on a first come, first serve basis. You will need to bring in the required documents listed below and a valid picture ID. This is very important because we will not be able to interview you until you have the required ID.
If you are not receiving or applying for State Assistance (TANF cash assistance or Medicaid), we can see you on any Monday, between the hours of 8:30 – 10:30am or 1:00 – 3:00pm. You will be seen on a first come, first serve basis. You will need to bring in the required documents listed below and a valid photo ID. This is very important because we will not be able to interview you until you have the required ID.
The following information is provided to assist you in setting up a child support case with our office. Please read this information carefully and bring the required documents listed below with you, which will help with the processing of your case. We will assist you as much as we can or give you information to obtain any documents you don’t have with you.
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Required Documents
You will need to bring the following information, as applicable, at the time of your visit:
- Valid picture ID for yourself (This is mandatory for notary purposes)
- Parent Information Form If there is more than one non-custodial parent for the child(ren) in the assistance group, complete a form for each one.
- Full name, Social Security Number & Date of Birth of the non-custodial parent(s), if known
- Address & employer information for the non-custodial parent(s) & photo, if known.
- Any existing Court orders for Paternity or Child Support
- Marriage Certificates, Divorce orders and settlement agreements, if applicable
- Birth certificates for the children in the case, if not born in Florida
- Social Security cards for you and the children
If there is no order for support, you will also need to bring the following:
- Your last 3 months pay stubs
- Your last 3 years tax returns/W2s
(If you don’t have these, you can call IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to request a copy. Ask for a 1722 letter for the years you need.)
These are not needed if you are requesting enforcement of an existing order of support but they are needed if we have to file a petition for support or a modification of an existing support order.
Due to the volume of interviews, you may have to wait to be seen. Since space and seating are limited, we ask that you do not bring family, friends or children to the interview with you.
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