Claudia,

The following comes from a pamphlet I received from my JAG office. It might help.

Collecting Support Payments: Commanders cannot order the member to make support payments (child custody, alimony, or retirement pay) even when theres a court order. They can however initiate administrative actions under certain regulations for failure to provide adequate financial assistance and/or fialure to meet financial obligations.

Former spouses hoping to collect unpaid payments have several options:

Involuntary Allotments: Former spouses can request that an allotment for child support, or child support coupled with alimony, be paid from a members paycheck to them. The request can only be made if the member has missed two months of payments. To make a request you'll need to fill out DD Form 2653, Involuntary Allotment Application, and file it with DFAS, along with copies of the court order requiring child support.

NOTE: the service member can challenge the allotment by showing an inability to pay.

Wage Garnishment: Garnishments are similar to allotments except they don't require child support. In other words, a former spouse can ask that wages be garnished for failure to make alimony payments and or child support. Here, the request can be made at any time; you do not have to wait until the payment is late to ask.

In order to get wages garnished, you'll need to get a court order requiring DFAS to withhold funds.

NOTE: the service member can challenge the wage garnishment by showing an inability to pay.

ALSO:

Direct Payments: Under USFSA, a former spouse can request that payments be made directly to them from the DFAS if the payments are for:
child support
alimony or
retirment pay, if part of the division of marital assets and if the couple were married for more than 10 years, with more than 10 years overlapping military service
AND
the money is being paid from retired pay.

In other words, Direct Payments can be only instituted once a member has retired and is receiving retirment pay.

To request Direct Payments, you'll need to fill out DD Form 2293, Request for Former Spouse Payments from Retired Pay, and submit it to DFAS along with a copy of the court order requiring support payments.

Good Luck