A wage assignment, also called an income withholding order, is a court order directing an employer or other income source to withhold child support or spousal maintenance payments directly from the paying party's income and send them to the Arizona Support Payment Clearinghouse.

Wage assignments are standard in Arizona child support cases. They protect the receiving parent by removing the paying parent from the payment loop. Instead of relying on the paying parent to remember to make payments on time, the employer withholds and transmits automatically.

The Clearinghouse maintains the official record of every payment made and received under a wage assignment. That record is the definitive accounting of what has been paid and what is owed. Direct payments outside the Clearinghouse do not appear in the official record and can create disputes about what has actually been paid.

Wage assignments can also be established for spousal maintenance in cases where payment reliability is a concern. The process is the same as for child support. The order directs the employer to withhold and the Clearinghouse records and transmits the payments.