Rule 24.12.Required Income Withholding Order Form

Rule 24.12 is the fill-in-the-blank companion to Rule 24.11: every income withholding order Georgia superior courts issue for child support has to follow this exact form. It identifies the Obligor who owes support and the Obligee who receives it, lists the children involved, and fixes an effective date — either immediate or delayed until the Obligor falls a month behind, in which case the Obligee has to serve a notice of delinquency before enforcing it.

The order stays in force until the youngest child covered reaches majority, or, at the parties’ election, until that child graduates high school and reaches majority, or turns twenty, whichever comes first. It reaches a wide sweep of income — wages, commissions, bonuses, workers’ compensation, retirement payments, even personal injury settlements — and breaks the withheld amount into current support, alimony, past-due support, and a small Family Support Registry processing fee, all routed to the Registry’s Carrollton payment address. The employer must forward the withheld amount to the Registry within two business days after each payment date.

Two protections round out the form. Withholding is capped at what the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act allows, so an employer cannot take more than the law permits regardless of how much is owed. And an employer who fires a parent because their wages are being withheld faces a civil penalty — up to $250 for a first violation and $500 for any repeat — payable to the Obligee or the state child support agency if support is currently due and payable, or to the Obligor instead if no support is due and payable at the time.