The best news for single mothers is that laws governing child support are becoming more standardized and are placing less burden on the mother to collect payments.

Most states now have provisions in place for automatic garnishment of wages. In other words, rather than relying on the father to send a check every month, it is withheld directly from his earnings, much like income tax is withheld. It then goes to the state agency authorized to receive and disburse payments and they send it on to the mother.

In many other states, garnishment is only an option if the parent is in arrears or if the custodial parent can prove that collecting payments has become a burden. However, more and more states are taking the burden of collection off the mother so she doesn't have to deal with the constant strain of wondering if the check really is in the mail.

To find out what the laws are in your state, check out Child Support Collections.com which provides a comprehensive list of the laws in each state. Another site, Divorce Interactive, which is maintained by Carl Palatnik, host of the radio program, Divorce Talk, has a lot of good information on other divorce issues.