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The Department of Revenue

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue has a Child Support Enforcement Division (DOR/CSE). The DOR/CSE gets child support orders, helps parents change child support orders, and makes sure that parents pay their child support orders. You can apply to DOR/CSE for help.

If you owe back child support to DOR, use this guided interview to stop DOR from collecting.

Produced by Attorney Jeff Wolf for MassLegalHelp
Reviewed June 2013

DOR/CSE can:

work with parents to get a child support order;
work with the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) to get a child support order;
help find the other parent;
figure out who the father of a child is – “paternity”;
go to court to get child support orders;
collect child support and send it to the parent the child lives with;
review child support orders for possible changes;
go to court to ask to change child support orders;
make sure parents pay the child support by:
- increasing the amount of child support taken from the parent’s paycheck;
- charging interest on past-due child support;
- seizing a parent’s property;
- taking a parent’s tax refund;
- levying a parent's bank account;
- taking a parent's driver's license or professional license;
- reporting overdue child support to credit reporting agencies; and
- taking a parent to court.

DOR/CSE does not:

deal with custody, parenting time, or visitation;
take either parent’s side in court. Their job is to get the right amount of child support for your child;
hire private investigators to see if a parent is hiding money;
make parents obey alimony orders if it is not part of a child support order; or
make parents pay child support by bringing criminal charges, except in very special situations.