Tennessee child support arrears forgiveness

ESTIMATE — based on the rules Tennessee published, checked October 2026. Only the agency can approve a reduction, and approvals are discretionary.

What can be reduced

Family-owed arrears ONLY — with court approval, the parties may compromise family-owed arrears. State-owed debt cannot be forgiven (OCSS states this flatly). TN is inverted from the default rule: a YES for the family-slice negotiation door and a hard NO for the state slice — the checker must encode TN backwards from the default

Who may be eligible to apply

• Parties to family-owed arrears, with court approval

Where to apply

Court approval

The split still decides it

State-owed (assigned) arrears are the state's to compromise. Family-owed arrears can only be reduced by the other parent's voluntary, documented agreement — no agency can force it. Tennessee is the verified inversion: family-owed arrears are the compromisable slice there with court approval, and state-owed cannot be forgiven. If you do not know your split, the first move is a written request to the agency for the split as separate lines.

Interest and limits

Interest: no verified interest rate is published for this state on this site, so the calculator shows principal only unless you enter a rate from your own judgment or order — labeled as your figure.

What no one can do: a judge cannot erase arrears that already accrued for hardship, job loss, or incarceration when no modification was filed at the time (Bradley Amendment, 42 U.S.C. §666(a)(9)(C)). Arrears are not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Federal lines: arrears over $2,500 can be certified for passport denial or revocation; only the state agency can request a release, and release practice is set by the state.

Run the arrears decoder for Tennessee

Source: Tenn. Code §36-5-101(f), as amended; OCSS list — 'in-between categories' section, sizing §1.1 · Rules checked October 2026.