An Expert's Answer to Letters Page
I recieved a heaven sent email, an expert has gone through all of the letters on the Letters page from the website, and provided more in depth answers. Please look and see if your letter has been answered (or if the answers provide more help for you). If you have been helped by this, please write a letter of thanks to Sins Angel@aol.com.
Second round of answers:
Date: 5/28/98 9:40:50 PM Central Daylight Time
I see you have some new posts and I wanted to give you some additional info:
The post regarding the child adopted by grandma:
If a parent relinquishes their parental rights, they cease to be a legal parent and therefore have no financial responsibility for the child. They can, however, be liable for the court ordered obligation that accrued prior to the adoption if child support was indeed previously ordered and unpaid, unless the adoption order states they are absolved of that debt (and many will state that).
IRS tax refund offset program:
Someone asked how to get a child support debt submitted for refund offset. The only entities empowered to refer child support delinquencies/arrearages to IRS for offset of their tax refund are the state CSE IV-D agencies. Private collections agencies or even court orders by private attorneys cannot do this. It is a federal law and federal regulation. State IV-D agencies have this process automated so if your court order is charging on their computer system (meaning the agency is a party to the order) and the delinquency criteria is met, these are referred automatically by electronic tape match on or around September 1 of each year. It's not something a worker should have to "do". It should just happen. The criteria is (and this will make you angry but the federal government set it, not the state agencies) the balance must be delinquent at least $150 or more for 90 days for public assistance cases and $500 delinquent (no time requirement) for non-assistance cases. This is the same for all states.
Up through this year (the 9-98 submittal), all states will submit names to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) which is the federal agency overseeing the state offices, that meet the above criteria. These submittals will receive a pre-offset notice warning them of the IRS intention and telling them what remedies they have to avoid it. For those still meeting the offset criteria, a final notice is sent on or around 1-1-99 telling them the offset will occur and the offset process begins 2-99. If the NCP has filed a joint return with a new wife and you are not on public assistance, the refund may be held for 6 months to allow the new spouse to claim their portion of the refund, which requires them to do a separate form with their filing. It's called an "Injured Spouse Claim" and they have up to 6 years to file this so it is always possible that after you receive the refund, there might be future recoupment from you if you were overpaid.
After the next submittal this fall, the federal office is changing their submission procedures to allow the states to send delinquent cases year round, where now 9-1 is only an annual opportunity. They are also changing the way the cases are submitted from electronic magnetic tape matches to an EFT type of transfer similar to our internet connection. States will have an opportunity now to do monthly submissions of names.
Case closure after 3 years:
Federal regulations allow IV-D agencies to close CSE cases if the absent parent cannot be located for 3 years. It is one of 12 closure reasons. The locate attempts made over these 3 years though are required to be automated and run on a quarterly basis through the state's Parent Locator system (which is required to include tape matches from that state's employment office) and include a variety of other state agency databases depending on your state's program advancements. If the NCP works legally above the table, the employment office will have this info and the state will be notified. The federal regulation exists because many times the NCP is no longer in the state if they are not picked up within this length of time. Most states with adequate computer systems have this process totally automated and no human intervention is needed for the locate portion. Once located, a legal referral may be required which would require a CSE worker's action.
A new federal reporting that has begun in all states but is not mandated to be fully functional until 10-1-99 is "New Hire Reporting". This law requires all large employers to report new hirings to their state's CSE office and the info is transmitted to the federal office to the National New Hire Database so all states can access it. Small employers are exempt from this requirement so far. This will help in the locate area unless the NCP is a true deadbeat and will job hop to hide.
Your poster mentioned that she has an SSN for her NCP. This is an extremely valuable tool in locate and most locate attempts through automation fail without this info. For more info on the "New Hire Reporting" and the Federal Parent Locator (which helps the states when they are unsuccessful) the federal requirements for operation are listed here > Federal Parent Locator Service
Wage Withholding:
Many posters mention they report the employer of the NCP to CSE and no action is taken. Most all state laws allow the wage withhold order (income deduction order) to be served by anyone (and if not, the worst that can happen is the employer will ignore it). I personally served my own and as long as you include a professional informative cover letter to the employer, it will be honored without any trouble, even across state lines. With the adoption of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), all employers in all states are required to honor a court order issued in any state, even if it is not their own. That's a fairly recent change. If anyone wants an example of a cover letter, they can email me and I will email and attach mine as a guideline.
License Revocation:
You mentioned driver's license suspension/revocation and this is required to be implemented in all states. States are also now required to have procedures and statute that allows them to revoke or suspend professional licenses. The procedures vary in every state (some are agency actions and some are court actions) but they should all be able to do it if their criteria is met. The criteria will be different in all states too, as it is pursuant to the state law they adopted. If anyone needs to know the criteria in a specific state for driver's license suspension, I have that information and can email upon request.
Statute of Limitations:
Your poster mentioned the children were in their 30's so most likely it is too late to collect this debt unless the judgement has been renewed over the years. Statute of Limitations for any state can be checked here > Child Support Fact Sheets This is located on the federal OCSE page but it is not a product of the federal government. It's a document called the "Interstate Roster and Referral Guide" which is completed for OCSE by an independent organization. It is suppose to be updated annually but the most recent version was printed in 9-96. CSE agencies use it to help them make interstate referrals and it is basically a matrix of what remedies are available, what their law allow, and what documentation/forms are required by their courts for interstate referrals. The statute of limitation on child support arrearages is listed for each state. It's a great reference but you must keep in mind that it is not real current.
Subj: webpage letters
Date: 98-04-09 00:45:33 EDT
From: Sins Angel
To: ShyOne8950
Carol,
I have read all the letters you have posted and have some tidbits that may help for you to pass on to the authors if you still have contact with them. I apologize for the length of this, but I have been talking about child support for over a decade and have difficulty turning myself off sometimes.
Writer inquiring about her child's putative father moving to Puerto Rico:
The Federal Office - Administration of Children and Families (ACF) Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) issues federal regulations that govern all child support agency's operations, and compliance is mandated to ensure the states receive their funding. ACF has jurisdiction over all 50 states, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico. Therefore, NCP residency in these U.S territories is no different from residency in another state. These territories are required to use the same federal forms and adopt the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) which is the legal vehicle used in seeking support across state lines.
Writer (Linda) regarding international child support:
Linda was inquiring about seeking child support when her NCP relocated to Spain, but she did not say what state she resides in. Reciprocity is required between individual states and foreign countries before child support cases can be referred. To establish a "reciprocity agreement' the two governments must have "substantially similar" laws regarding establishment and enforcement of child support. Most states have reciprocal agreements with at least a dozen countries. With these requirements, there are instances where it is not possible for some states to work with some foreign countries. One exception is Canada. Canada enters into reciprocal agreements with states by providence, therefore most states only have agreements with a portion of Canada, as opposed to the entire country. Each state individually establishes reciprocity agreements with countries separately, so depending on where Linda lives, her state may have an agreement with Spain and a child support referral could be sent by the state agency to Spain. State agencies referring the case are responsible for translation so Linda's court order would need to be translated and certified, as well as the accompanying forms. The federal forms used for interstate referrals (UIFSA) are available to the agencies already translated into a variety of languages for this purpose. As a side note from my experience, enforcement of a court order abroad (when the military is not involved) is an even slower process than within the US and as there is no federal 'umbrella', there is no recourse if they do not respond timely. Establishment of paternity or a support order is even more difficult than enforcement but not impossible and should not be written off by any means.
Inquiry Regarding Seeking Back Support for Emancipated Minors:
All states have individual laws regarding the statute of limitations (SOL) on child support arrears, just as they individually have varying emancipation laws. Most states have at least a 10 year SOL (appropriate acronym) and the unpaid support becomes an automatic "judgment by operation of law". Some even extend to 20 years (as Illinois does) but then there are others (Arkansas) that allow the NCP to be relieved of the debt if he can elude collection until the children reach age 23. In most states it is not a debt that the adult children can seek as the support was not awarded as payment to them, the debt is owed the CP, so the children are not the appropriate petitioner for repayment of their own child support. The CP would need to be the one to continue enforcement requests.
One benefit of the new UIFSA law is that when one state refers an "arrears only" case (which is the terminology used when current support is no longer sought) to another state, the longest statute of limitations between the two states will be observed. Therefore, if the NCP is in Arkansas (which stops collection at age 23) but the CP is in Illinois and Illinois refers the interstate request to Arkansas, the Arkansas court will observe the Illinois law in relation to this matter. This was not the rule when the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement Support Act (URESA) was the legal vehicle for interstate cases in the past.
Various Comments Regarding Receipt of Public Assistance:
Several writers have mentioned they feel the state agencies have been unresponsive to their provided information or worked less diligently on their cases due to their non-receipt of state public assistance and I feel compelled to comment. THIS IS A BLATANT VIOLATION OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS. If you have reason to believe that your state's child support agency is determining action on your case based on your case status, call the regional federal office serving your area! You can get this information from the ACF/OCSE federal web page. There are 10 regions within the US and within each regional office, there is an individual assigned as a liaison to each state's agency. They will make a personal inquiry on your case and if a worker is differentiating in this manner, this will be corrected. It is not "okay" for this to be happening in any capacity and I can say without any hesitation that it did not occur to my knowledge within the agency in Illinois. I cannot, however, say it does not ever occur in other states or at local levels. There is some limitation on the knowledge of federal regulations at the front line worker level sometimes and there is also a misunderstanding of the case referral process on the CP's part which contribute to this.
Visitation/Custody Rights:
Most state child support agencies are prohibited by their state plan from engaging in any legal establishment or enforcement of visitation privileges. When the issue arises, the agency will divorce itself from that aspect of the hearing. The federal trend is to expand this option to the states and I believe Michigan's program is currently active in the area of visitation and they may set the model for other states in the future.
If the issue of custody is a concern and the parents live in different states, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdictional Act (UCCJA) is the law of interest. Much like UIFSA, it is a statute adopted by each state so they may co-exist with substantially similar laws. The uniform or model act was written by the National Council of Commissioners' on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) just as UIFSA and URESA were, but each state adopts it into their state's statutes individually. The main crux of the law is that the custody filing must be done in the state that the child has resided in for the last 6 months (or since birth if the child is under 6 months old) even if the previous divorce action is in another state. This is an obvious disadvantage to the NCP if the child lives in a state far away from the NCP and a surprise to some as they expect to file in the state where the previous action occured.
I am glad to see that your website emphasizes the separation of child support payments (or lack thereof) with the use of visitation. CHILD SUPPORT IS NOT A RENT PAYMENT TO SEE THE CHILD. I have spent many years talking to CPs and NCPs, both of which bring up the topic of use of visitation in regards to meeting a child support obligation and I realize the natural coorelation of the two (I have an NCP of my own, you know) but you cannot mix them. In addition, nothing makes a judge more angry than hearing a connection between these two things in a court hearing
To and About the NCPs:
Most fall into 3 categories: (1)Those that make payments voluntarily or without voiced objection; (2) those that want to do the right thing but can't afford to or let emotional difficulties with the CP interfere; and (3) the deadbeats or those that expend great effort in avoiding their responsibilities.
The first category seems to be getting smaller in our society but still exists much unrecognized. The third category consumes the media's attention (and those of us that like a challenge), but little money is collected from this group. Most of the volume is found in the second category and some of it could be corrected. NCPs with support obligations that were established when their income was higher and/or the ordered amount is not reasonable for them to currently pay, tend to pay -0- instead of an amount they can afford. This does nothing but build a huge arrearage that may never be collectable and it doesn't help raise your kids. Don't look a downward modification in the eye with remorse. It could restore the order to paying status, allow the NCP to find/meet some responsibility for their offspring and give your child the warm fuzzy feeling that they have 2 parents that care. Support of a child is not all monetary. Those warm fuzzy things are a factor also.
TO NCPs: If you have had a substantial change in circumstances that may warrant a reduction in your obligation (downward modification), you can receive these services from the state IV-D child support agencies with an application fee of not more than $25.00, just as the CP can receive services. If your state agency appears reluctant to provide you the opportunity to apply or refuses to acknowledge your request for assistance, call the federal OCSE regional office and report them because THIS IS A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS. All states are mandated to make their services available to everyone, not just CPs and not just residents of their state.
State Child Support (IV-D) Agencies:
Make noise. I mean this in the nicest way. The caseloads are at a tremendous volume in most states and staff levels will never be adequate to give each case personal attention. Many different hands touch individual cases and many workers are specialized to perform but one of the functions of the end result. If you are mistreated by a state worker, you must request their supervisor. There is no reason to accept this behavior, but as they are merely frustrated people in their own right, this will happen at times. Likewise, be polite when you inquire. Hostility never pushed anyone to go the extra mile. Persistence is good but showing anger or indicating your urgency is based in vindicative feelings for your NCP is not. If you feel your worker is not responding adequately, request their supervisor. If you are still not satisfied, call or write the federal OCSE regional office servicing your state or your legislator.
As for private collection agencies, my only hesitation is that they are taking from our children. I feel they should collect their fees from the NCP directly and not reduce the remittance of the current support to the CP. I have talked to many CPs who have contracted with some of them not knowing that they cannot break their contracts without court action. I would first recommend CPs seek assistance from advocacy groups such as ACES if they are not getting satisfaction from the state agencies and leave the private agencies as a last resort.
If you actually read this far, again, I apologize for the length. One of these days I may do a web page myself!
Angel
Are you kidding Angel?? Your email is a present from Heaven for my readers and myself. Thank you so very much!!
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