**Plan your regular budget with child support set to zero until payments become dependable again.** You can track what is owed separately, but it becomes available to spend when it arrives. This follows MoneyHelper’s guidance to budget around your lowest monthly income. [MoneyHelper](https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/budgeting/how-to-budget-for-an-irregular-income)

Your concern about savings is reasonable: every withdrawal reduces your reserve, and repayment needs an identified source of money. Using savings temporarily can also be reasonable when it protects essential expenses. The key is agreeing on how much you can use and for how long.

I’d work through this together:

1. **Calculate the actual shortfall.** Compare dependable take-home income with expenses, including money set aside for annual bills.
2. **Protect essential household and child expenses.** Food, housing, necessary childcare and medical care belong here. Review flexible spending across the whole household, including both adults’ discretionary budgets.
3. **Agree on a limited savings bridge.** Choose a maximum total withdrawal, a savings balance you will preserve, and a review date. For example, a $400 monthly gap and an agreed $1,200 withdrawal limit buys three months to make changes. Those are illustrative figures.
4. **Make a plan that works after that bridge ends.** Spending reductions, additional income or available assistance must cover any continuing gap. Savings can cover a temporary shortfall; repeated withdrawals will eventually exhaust them.
5. **Decide how to use payments when they arrive.** Prioritize overdue child-related needs and rebuilding the reserve before increasing recurring spending.

The missing payment affects the household’s ability to meet its commitments. You can prioritize the children’s needs while sharing the necessary adjustments across the family.

Separately, pursue the missed support. If you’re in the US, HHS advises contacting your state child support agency about further action when payments aren’t arriving. Recovery remains uncertain, so keep it out of your spending plan until received. [HHS](https://www.hhs.gov/answers/programs-for-families-and-children/how-do-i-file-a-complaint-about-my-child-support-case/index.html)

A useful way to open the conversation is: “We’re short by this amount each month. Let’s agree on how to protect the kids’ essentials and how much savings we can afford to use.”