What is the SDU and why do payments have to go through it?

SDU stands for State Disbursement Unit. The SDU collects and distributes money due for court-ordered child support, which includes private child support orders and orders being enforced by California Child Support Services. The SDU is only responsible for processing child support payments and will not answer case-specific questions. While both state and federal law require all child support payments be made through a single payment portal, one benefit of opening a case with California Child Support Services is that records of payments can be accessed online by both parents through the Customer Connect self-service platform, which can help reduce conflict and provides neutral recordkeeping.