The Florida clerks of court, the State Disbursement Unit (SDU) and the Florida Department of Revenue worked together to create the new online Child Support Services through the MyFloridaCounty Web site. The services are available for all Florida-based child-support cases facilitated by the SDU.
More than 315,000 child-support payments are submitted each month in Florida via mail or in person at locations throughout the state, officials said. After receiving the funds, the SDU transfers the money to the appropriate recipients.
With the new service, non-custodial parents can use Visa and MasterCard to make child-support payments through the Web site's secure payment server. Florida's online child-support-payment system also allows non-custodial parents and employers to set up an account for recurring payments over the Internet. Using a private password, customers can log into their account to make payments with credit cards and electronic checks.
Parents can type in their child-support case number and Social Security number to obtain status details of the five most recent child support payments, officials said, and status information is updated each weeknight.
"Our business customers performing payroll functions for employees with court-ordered wage garnishments will save a tremendous amount of time using the payment account service," said Mukesh Patel, general manager of MyFloridaCounty.com. "Our market research indicated that companies spend an average of 76 minutes preparing the necessary paperwork each time they process child support payments. Employee rosters, payment amounts, and other details can be easily and immediately updated at MyFloridaCounty.com."
The new online services should benefit both parents and employers though providing a method to electronically transmit money to the SDU at any time, and ability to pay with a credit card is also new. Previously, payments were only possible using a check, money order, or cash for in person payments.
"I am very pleased to offer online child support services to our citizens through MyFloridaCounty.com." said R.B. Shore, Manatee County clerk of court and president of the Florida Local Government Internet Consortium. "Child-support services are just the latest in a long list of eGovernment services planned for MyFloridaCounty.com."
MyFloridaCounty.com is produced by the Florida Local Government Internet Consortium, which includes Florida clerks of court and Florida Tax Collectors, in partnership with the Florida Association of Court Clerks Services Group and electronic-government firm NIC.
Florida Local Government Internet Consortium
