Child support payments are pre-determined amounts of money that a non-custodial parent must pay to a custodial parent to be used for the care of the children. A judge typically determines how much money a non-custodial parent must pay for child support, and bases his or her decision upon several different factors, including: the number of children belonging to the non-custodial and custodial parent, the amount of money the non-custodial parent makes each month, whether or not the non-custodial parent pays child support to another custodial parent or not, and what state the family lives in. If the non-custodial parent does not pay the child support payments he or she is ordered to pay by the court, he or she may face jail time. Child support payments may be given directly to the custodial parent, or may be required to pass through the court or the office of child support enforcement first in order to keep a record of the payments.