Can child support take the $600 unemployment benefit from California EDD?

yes child support can absolutely take from your unemployment. its called an intercept and it happens automatically if you owe back support. the state already has your info from when you filed your claim

To give you accurate info here: child support CAN be withheld from California EDD unemployment benefits. Under California law, the Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) can issue an earnings assignment order that applies to unemployment insurance benefits just like it would apply to wages. The amount they can take depends on your specific order but it's typically capped at a percentage of your disposable income, not necessarily a flat dollar amount. If you have arrears (back support owed), they can take up to 50-65% of your benefits in some cases. The best thing you can do right now is contact California EDD directly to find out if any withholding order has been placed on your claim. That way you know exactly what to expect before your next payment.

I dealt with this nightmare situation last year and honestly the hardest part was just getting anyone at California EDD on the phone to explain what was happening with my payments. I kept seeing deductions and had no idea if it was the child support intercept or some other issue with my claim. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that basically gets you through to a live California EDD agent without sitting on hold for hours. There's a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10 - once I actually got someone on the line they walked me through exactly what was being withheld and why. Saved me so much confusion and anxiety honestly.

SAME EXACT SITUATION happened to me!! I nearly had a heart attack when my first payment was way less than expected and nobody told me why. Took me forever to figure out it was DCSS coordinating with EDD to pull the support amount directly. The system is SO broken - they expect you to just magically know this is happening to your money

Okay so I want to clarify something because there's some confusion in this thread. The $600 figure you mentioned - are you thinking of something specific? Because standard California EDD unemployment benefits are calculated based on your previous wages, not a flat $600. There was a federal supplement during COVID a few years back but that's long gone. Either way child support withholding applies to whatever your current benefit amount is. Just want to make sure you have the right numbers in mind when you're calculating what you might have left after any withholding.

One thing I'd add - if you're behind on child support AND you're now on unemployment, you should proactively reach out to your local DCSS office to let them know your income has changed. You can request a temporary modification based on hardship. They'd rather work with you than just intercept everything because a zero balance account doesn't help anyone. Document everything when you call them and get the agent's name and ID number.

just went through something like this. child support took about 25% of my weekly benefit amount. wasn't the end of the world but definitely tightened things up. make sure ur still doing ur job search activities every week and certifying on time bc the last thing u want is ur claim getting flagged for something on top of the child support situation

There's actually a specific form you need to be aware of - if DCSS has an active wage assignment order, they can submit it directly to California EDD and EDD is legally required to honor it. It works almost identically to how it would work with an employer. The withholding should show up as a line item on your payment record in UI Online. Log in and look under payment history - if something is being withheld it'll show there even if you haven't received a formal notice yet.

has anyone had luck getting the withholding amount reduced because of financial hardship? my support order was set when I was making good money and now I'm on unemployment making like a third of that

I was so stressed about this same issue and spent three days trying to get California EDD on the phone to understand my payment breakdown. Finally someone on another forum mentioned Claimyr and I was honestly at my wit's end so I tried it. Got connected to an EDD rep within a reasonable time and she confirmed exactly what was being taken out for child support and gave me the reference number for the DCSS order. That info was huge because I was able to take it to my attorney and actually do something about it. claimyr.com if anyone needs it, there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10

does anyone know if they can take from your EDD if the child support order is from a different state? like what if the order was set up in another state but you're now in California collecting EDD

random question - if child support is taking money from your unemployment does that count toward your support obligation or does it just reduce your arrears? like do you get credit for it

One thing nobody mentioned - if you're on unemployment and paying child support through an earnings assignment, make sure your ex or the other parent's DCSS caseworker knows you're on unemployment now. Sometimes there are delays in the system updating and you might have late payment flags even though the money is being intercepted. Proactive communication on all fronts is the move here.

just to share my experience - i had child support taking from my unemployment in 2023 and what messed me up was not budgeting around it. like i kept expecting my full benefit amount and kept being surprised every week. once i just accepted the reduced amount as my actual income things got a little more manageable mentally

I want to loop back to something practical for OP - when you log into UI Online, go to Payment Activity and click on any individual payment. It should show you a full breakdown of your gross benefit amount vs any deductions including child support withholding, federal tax withholding if you opted into that, and your net payment. This is the clearest way to see exactly what's happening with your money without having to call anyone.

For anyone in this thread struggling to reach EDD by phone - I mentioned Claimyr earlier and just want to reiterate it was genuinely useful for me when I had payment questions I couldn't get answered any other way. claimyr.com and the demo is at https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10. Sometimes you just need to talk to a human who can actually pull up your account.

Final thought for OP - don't forget that unemployment benefits are taxable income in California (well, taxable for federal purposes) and child support payments you make are NOT tax deductible. So factor that in when you're doing your overall financial picture. You might want to opt into voluntary federal tax withholding on your EDD payments if you haven't already to avoid a surprise tax bill later.

this thread has been super helpful honestly. I had no idea how much DCSS and EDD were integrated. feels like there should be more public info about this when you first file for unemployment

OP let us know how it turns out - specifically whether you end up seeing any withholding and how much. would be helpful data for people searching this same question later