Somewhat earlier, the State IV-D Directors' Association had established a committee to examine the case closure issue. As we stated in OCSE-PIQ-91-02, the case described in the example could not be closed under 303.11, but rather would have a change of status, from AFDC to non-AFDC, or vice-versa. f. Newly redesignated paragraph (b)(9) is revised to read as follows: 303.11; Case Closure Criteria. 5.Comment: One commenter suggested that, in light of PRWORA, a reduction in the time required for automated searches was unreasonable. For example, if a IV-D agency has already closed an AFDC IV-D case after three years of unsuccessful attempts at attempting to locate a noncustodial parent, and an AFDC agency, as part of its redetermination of AFDC eligibility process for the corresponding AFDC case, sends a IV-D agency material that does not contain any new information to help IV-D provide IV-D services, a IV-D agency would not be required to reopen the previously closed case. 1. Since the criteria is the same for both subsections, the distinction is unnecessary. Use the topics below to get information on how to use the Florida Child Support eServices website to view your case, your payments, or make updates to your case information. Finally, the term "low collection potential'' is extremely difficult to define in an objective fashion. Later, the court will make a decision based on the best interests of the child and if the continuation of financial support is required. Q. 93.563, Child Support Enforcement Program). 1. We received thirty-one comments from representatives of State and local IV-D agencies, national organizations, advocacy groups and private citizens on the proposed rule published February 24, 1998 in the Federal Register (63 FR 9172). The IV-D agency must maintain documentation of the recipient's consent in the case record . Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA): Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Provides special protections to active members of the armed forces. One commenter objected because he saw this term as subject to change within a case. The circumstances under which a case could be closed include, for example, instances in which legitimate and repeated efforts over time to locate putative fathers or obligors are unsuccessful because of inadequate identifying or location information, or in interstate cases in which the responding State lacks jurisdiction to work a case and the initiating State has not responded to a request for additional information or case closure. Click Resolve beside each step. Note: Child support payments awarded by the courts but not received can be excluded only when the applicant/resident certifies that payments are not being made and further documents that all reasonable legal actions to collect amounts due, including filing with the appropriate courts or agencies responsible for enforcing payment, have been . During that time period, a State IV-D agency must meet location requirements within specified timeframes as set forth in section 303.3. This rule does not contain information collection provisions subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. However, OCSE believes that a good number of these service recipients will contact the IV-D program and provide their new addresses. Similarly, should the State close a IV-D case in accordance with paragraph (b)(3) or (4), for example, because the location of the individual being sought is unknown, IV-D case closure alone may not be used to determine noncooperation by a TANF recipient. If arrears (past- due support) are owed those arrears must be paid to the PRS. 7. Closing a case in which the enrolleerequests case closure , or the custodial party (CP) is deceased, is a manual closure process, which means the statewide child support system does not automatically recognize the case closure criteria, but the Title IV-D Prosecutor's Office knows certain facts that make the case eligible for case closure. Traditionally, interstate case processing goes from a IV-AD agency in one State to a IV-AD agency in another State, which then forwards a withholding order to an employer in its State. Federal self-assessment regulations require that at least 90 Question 32: May a IV-D agency adopt a policy of requiring IV-D obligees to request closure of their IV-D cases if and while they have entered into contracts with private collection agencies for collection of child support? In response to these comments, we promulgated 303.11(b)(12) which allows closure for non-cooperation in non-AFDC cases when the case file documents the circumstances of the non-cooperation, and an action by the custodial parent is essential for the next step in providing services. (e) The IV-D agency must retain all records for cases closed in accordance with this section for a minimum of 3 years, in accordance with 45 CFR 75.361 . As stated in the preamble to the proposed rule, although OCSE is revising this regulation to provide the States with additional flexibility to manage their IV-D caseloads, we are aware of the necessity to balance this flexibility against the program's mission to ensure that the public receives needed child support enforcement services. In the Supplementary Information section accompanying the final regulations, we stated that the goal of the case closure regulations was not to mandate that cases be closed, but rather to clarify conditions under which cases may be closed. Although the IV-D agency closes a case, the support order remains in effect and arrearages continue to accrue for the life of the order. This rule does not contain information collection provisions subject to review by the Office of. Therefore, the IV-D agency may close a case because the non-AFDC individual has failed to sign an agreement to pay to the State fees or costs incurred in providing IV-D services billed to the family under the State's fee and IV-D cost recovery policy. In addition to what has already been stated in this response, OCSE believes that it is important for the IV-D agency to notify the recipient of services of its intention to close a case based upon the criteria identified in paragraph (c). The following examples of such fact patterns were received: when the obligor, obligee or child has died; when the obligor's duty to support the child has been terminated by a court; when the obligor and obligee reconcile; and when the child leaves a IV-E funded foster care placement. Response: No. Federal guidelines require a local child support agency to take action in cases when a payer is more than one month behind in making payments. Question 2: May the IV-D agency close a case in which the custodial parent has applied for IV-D services, but the noncustodial parent's location is unknown? Would it be acceptable for them to develop temporary closure codes to use on their cases until such time as the "total" case closes? 303.11 to eliminate the term "absent parent'' and replace it with the term "noncustodial parent'' throughout, for consistency with preferred statutory terminology under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Public Law 104-193. Olivia A. Case ClosureHomeChild SupportCase ClosureGet Case InformationApply for Child SupportMake a Payment OnlineChild support cases close for different reasons. If non-IV-A recipients of services fail to keep the IV-D agency apprised of their current addresses, they effectively deny that agency the ability to provide child support enforcement services to them. No costs are associated with this final rule. (A) This rule describes the requirements that an initiating child support enforcement agency (CSEA) shall follow when processing an intergovernmental case. AGENCY: Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Administration for Children and Families, HHS. 3507(d)). * * * * *, i. Paragraph (c) is revised to read as follows: REFERENCES:OCSE-PIQ-90-05,OCSE-PIQ-90-08, OCSE-PIQ-90-09, OCSE-PIQ-91-02, OCSE-PIQ-91-14, OCSE-PIQ-92-04, OCSE-PIQ-92-09, and OCSE-PIQ-92-13. Federal law allows the child support agency to close a child support case under certain conditions. 651 through 658, 660, 663, 664, 666, 667, 1302, 1396a(a)(25), 1396(d)(2), 1396b(o), 1396b(p), and 1396(k). In paragraph (d), we are making a technical amendment to the rule by removing the reference to "subpart D,'' as that subpart has been reassigned and no longer addresses the issue of record retention. 1. establishment of child and spousal support orders, 2. enforcement of support and income withholding orders from other states without registration, 3. registration of support orders for enforcement, 4. modification of support orders issued by a Connecticut tribunal, 5. registration of a child support order from another state for modification . Under 303.6(c)(4), in cases in which enforcement attempts have been unsuccessful at the time an attempt to enforce the order fails, the IV-D agency must examine the reason the enforcement failed and determine when it would be appropriate to take an enforcement action in the future, and take an enforcement action in accordance with 303.6 at that time. The calculator is based on child support guidelines set by law in California. In order to actually close the case, the State IV-D agency must send the letter required by paragraph (c) notifying the service recipient of the intent to close the case. 1. SUBJECT: Clarification of Case Closure Criteria. Response: As we stated in OCSE-PIQ-91-02, when a former AFDC recipient refuses continued IV-D services, the case would remain open as an AFDC arrears-only IV-D case, for purposes of collecting any arrearages due under a court or administrative order which are assigned to the State. As currently drafted, the paragraph (c) notice of case closure may be sent by either first class or certified mail. Question 30: If a State has complied with the case closure criterion at 303.11(b)(5), may it close a IV-D case regardless of the existence of a support order or the amount of past due support? State Disbursement Unit (SDU): State Disbursement Unit A central payment processing site that is responsible for collecting and distributing child support payments. The Department has determined that this final rule is not a significant regulatory action within the meaning of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995. Anyone may apply for IV-D services. Response: For purposes of paragraph (b)(4), the term "noncustodial parent's location'' means the resident or employment address of the noncustodial parent. Executive Order 12866 requires that regulations be reviewed to ensure that they are consistent with the priorities and principles set forth in the Executive Order. Federal regulations, under 302.33(a)(4), require that whenever a family is no longer eligible for assistance under the State's AFDC, IV-E foster care, and Medicaid programs, the IV-D agency must notify the family, within five working days of the notification of ineligibility, that IV-D services will be continued unless the IV-D agency is notified to the contrary by the family. You should also give details about the payments, such as the amount and payment dates. . R. Jason de Groot. FPLS obtains address and employer information, as well as data on child support cases in . Response: As we stated in OCSE-PIQ-92-09, the final regulations published in the Federal Register on August 4, 1989 (54 FR 32284 at 32306) state that we received many comments by States and other organizations who requested that non-cooperation by the custodial parent (failure to attend hearings, refusal to sign forms, etc.) Three other commenters offered related recommendations that the final rule clarify that the interstate program standards in 45 CFR 303.7 apply to the application of paragraph (b)(12). Specifically, section 454B(a)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (the Act) requires that payment registry services be provided to non-IV-D orders meeting the eligibility criteria. The final rule adds a new paragraph, (b)(12) to Sec. Response: To meet the requirements of 303.11(c), the case closure notice should be sent to the last known address of the homeless family. When the court or administrative authority hears and decides factual and legal issues of the case, the parent's interests and concerns, in addition to the child's best interests, may bear on determinations with respect to the case. The final rule permits the responding State to close the case if it is unable to process the case due to lack of cooperation by the initiating State. The following table provides guidance for determining when and how to close cases. Similarly, it is OCSE's position that it would be inappropriate for a IV-D agency to close a case in an analogous situation, if the custodial parent hired a private attorney, because that too would not meet one of the case closure criteria set forth in 303.11. Comment: Two commenters responded to the NPRM by asking that paragraph (c) exempt a number of factual situations from the requirement that a notice of case closure be sent. Clearly, not every TANF recipient will be able to provide the IV-D agency with sufficient information about the biological father to allow the IV-D agency to proceed with an action to establish paternity. Guideline Calculator: The California Guideline Child Support Calculator Online tool that can be used to estimate the amount of child support that may be ordered in your case. Paragraph (b)(4) allows a case to be closed when the noncustodial parent's location is unknown, and the State has made diligent efforts in accordance with Section 303.3 of this part, all of which have been unsuccessful, to locate the noncustodial parent "(i) over a three-year period when there is sufficient information to initiate automated locate efforts; or (ii) over a one-year period when there is not sufficient information to initiate automated locate efforts.''. Person Paying Support (PPS): Parent who the child does not live with most of the time. While the term "custodial parent" is used because that is the typical situation, it encompasses any applicant or recipient of IV-D services. There will be two other parties to your SAPCR- the other parent as well as the Attorney General of Texas. As specified in OCSE-PIQ-91-14, in cases in which the noncustodial parent is unknown or so little information is available that no automated locate sources can be accessed, the IV-D agency should contact the custodial parent at least annually to determine whether any new information is available that would allow further action to be taken. In cases in which paternity has not been established prior to termination of AFDC eligibility, no support order would exist. Comment: One commenter recommended that the final rule require the responding State to send a notice of case closure directly to the custodial parent in the initiating State. Under 303.7(b)(4), the initiating State must furnish the responding State with the additional information, or notify the responding State when the information will be provided within 30 calendar days of receipt of the request. The initial filing in a child support case is called a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship. I.CASE CLOSURE OF IV-D CASES IN WHICH NO ACTION CAN BE TAKEN AT THE PRESENT TIME. Child Support Services Division Office Hours Monday to Friday, 8:15 am to 4:45 pm, except District holidays Connect With Us 400 6th Street, NW, Suite 8300, Washington, DC 20001 Phone: (202) 442-9900 TTY: 711 Email: cssdcustomerservice@dc.gov Ask the Director Agency Performance Language Support - CSSD - A + A Listen Opening a Child Support Case