People generally have two different goals when arrears begin to mount up. The person responsible for paying support, the ''payor'', likely wants the court to reduce or cancel the arrears, while the person receiving the support, while the ''recipient'', will want the court to force the payor to pay what's owing.

This section provides an introduction to the problem of child support arrears. It also discusses the reduction and cancellation of arrears and the collection of how arrearsare collected.

If child support is owed under a court order or an agreement, a failure to pay the support owing is a breach of that order or agreement, and, in the case of orders, it's contempt of court as well. The courts , and society as a whole , place a high value on the financial support of children, and both take an extremely dim view of anyone who defaults on such an obligation in the absence of a very good excuse or some very compelling circumstances.

A person Someone who owes arrears of child support, a the ''payor'', will likely be interested in the ways that the outstanding amount can be reduced, while a person to whom support is owing, a the ''recipient'', will be interested in collecting on the arrears.  A person Someone who owes arrears will generally have a difficult time convincing the court to forgive all or some any part of their debt. On the other hand, collecting arrears can be difficult as well, if for no other reason than you can't get blood from a stone. Unless the payor has another source of funds to draw upon, a recipient may discover that the outstanding support may never be recovered.