Editor's Pick: Child Support Evasion Tactics—Are Current Systems Too Weak to Stop Deadbeat Parents?

When child support payments are not being met, one of the primary legal tools available is the application for a direct payment order.

This system allows a custodial parent to request that the non-custodial parent's employer automatically deduct child support payments from their monthly salary.

But is this system working effectively?

A person identified as Jung, who divorced three years ago, has not received 70 million won in child support for over two years.

Jung applied for a direct payment order against their ex-husband's company and received payments for a few months, but they suddenly stopped.

This was because the ex-husband had quit his job and started a one-person company.

[Jung/Victim of unpaid child support: (The HR team) said, 'Payments will stop starting next month. He has resigned.' It only lasted for two months of payments, and I was devastated.]

When a parent quits and moves to a new company, it is difficult to track down their new workplace, and even if discovered, the entire direct payment order application process must be started from scratch.

[Seo Su-min/Lawyer: In countries like the U.S., there is an automatic succession system, so even if someone quits and moves to a new company, the obligation is transferred to the new employer...]

Furthermore, in the case of a one-person company where the parent is the CEO, there is no clear way to force the deduction if they refuse to comply.

Jung had previously applied for what is known as an "enforcement order."

This is a system where one asks the court to issue a formal order to "pay the child support" in accordance with the original court ruling.

Is this effective? Kim Do-yeon, who divorced in 2006, has not received the 500,000 won in monthly child support she was entitled to for 20 years.

Her ex-husband ignored the court's enforcement order.

Although she managed to obtain a court decision for a 10-day "detention" (confinement in a detention center) for her ex-husband, he managed to evade even that.

He avoided the "service of process," the procedure for receiving court documents, by changing his address. Under current law, if the service of process is avoided for six months, the detention order becomes void.

[Kim Do-yeon/Victim of unpaid child support: It's the same as saying, 'I can't take the 10-day detention, I'll just skip it.' When an address is deregistered, it is clearly marked as 'address deregistered.' I still check the address documents once a month.]

While it is possible to impose a fine of up to 10 million won for ignoring a court's enforcement order, such fines are rarely issued if the parent simply promises to "pay child support in the future." In many cases, the fine is cheaper than the actual child support, leading some to choose to pay the fine instead.

As a result, the number of people who evade child support payments by dodging legal loopholes is not decreasing.

Over the past three years, the total amount of unpaid child support has reached 17.3 billion won.

"I don't want to pay child support": The absurd tactics used to evade payments (June 15, 2026, 8 O'Clock News)

Reported by Cho Yoon-ha | Video by Bae Moon-san | Video Editing by Park Na-young | Design by Seo Seung-hyun | VJ by Shin So-young | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.