12.2 Special Circumstances

State Authority:

None

Overview

While federal regulations address IV-D case closure, there are certain situations that may exist that require special attention in order to properly close the case based upon federal case closure criteria.

Policy

The following are special circumstances within the Wyoming CSP closure process.

Assigned Arrears

If there are assigned arrears connected to the case, the District CSP Manager or designee shall contact the IV-D Director or designee for written approval to close the case.

Futures Disbursed with Assigned Arrears

When a non-custodial parent pays his or her child support, the payments are credited against the current support order or the arrears.  In some instances, the payments are sent to the custodial parent when in fact the payments should have been retained by the State of Wyoming.  In those instances, a “futures disbursed” balance is created on POSSE.  When the futures disbursed balance exceeds or equals the assigned arrears balance, case closure may be appropriate.  In those instances, the case worker shall follow the step-by-step instructions detailed in Appendix 12.D – Closing Cases with Futures Disbursed and Assigned Arrears Balances.

Discontinue Current Support

Certain circumstances (e.g. the custodial parent requests closure, the custodial parent cannot be located, or the custodial parent does not cooperate with the Wyoming CSP) may exist when the Wyoming CSP shall discontinue current child support and enforce assigned arrears only.  If these circumstances exist, the case worker shall follow the procedures described in Appendix 12.C Discontinue Enforcement of a Current Child Support Obligation and/or Non-assigned Arrears when Assigned Arrears Exist to stop current support, collect assigned arrears owed to the State of Wyoming, and close the child support case as discussed in 12.1 Introduction.  

Deceased Custodial Parent

When the custodial parent dies, the case worker shall:

• Verify the date of death; 

• Update POSSE with the date of death; 

• Terminate current support ending the last day of the previous month that the custodial parent died; and 

• Review the case for closure.

If there are no child support arrears, the case worker shall close the case for “Arrears less than $500.00” as described in 12.1 Closure – Introduction.  

If there are arrears owed to the custodial parent and the State of Wyoming, the case worker shall follow the procedures described in Appendix 12.C Discontinue Enforcement of a Current Child Support Obligation and/or Non-assigned Arrears when Assigned Arrears Exist to enforce assigned arrears only.

The Wyoming CSP shall not collect arrears owed to the deceased custodial parent unless presented with a court order to do so.  The child support shall be distributed pursuant to the court order or sent to the estate of the deceased parent.  The person receiving the support shall be entered as an Alt-Payee on the existing POSSE case. 

Finally, if a child support payment is received after the death of the custodial parent and there are no assigned arrears owed to the State of Wyoming or an order regarding distribution of non-assigned arrears, then the payment shall be refunded to the non-custodial parent as described in Chapter 14 Collections and Distribution.

For more information regarding the appropriate handling of a case when the custodial parent dies, please see Appendix 12.B – Custodial Parent Deceased.

Opened in Error

In addition to the federal closure criteria, a case worker may also request closure as “Opened In Error” (OIE) through the appropriate State CSE Office staff member if one of the following situations exists:

• The case is an exact duplicate (e.g. same custodial parent, non-custodial parent, and child(ren)) to another case on POSSE. 

• The Department of Family Services (DFS) provided a child support application for the mother and father of an intact family.  If the District CSP Office establishes a parental obligation for both parents in one order, the District CSP Office may request closure of the “Foster Care vs. Mother” case once the mother is added as a co-defendant in the “Foster Care vs. Father” child support case.

• The case was already closed prior to the implementation of POSSE. 

• The State Disbursement Unit or Clerk of District Court may need to re-open a properly closed child support case for fiscal reasons. 

• The case was properly closed and an electronic interface from another program (e.g. IV-A’s EPICS system) inappropriately re-opened the child support case.

Responding Intergovernmental Cases 

When Wyoming is the Responding State in an intergovernmental action as described in Chapter 11 Intergovernmental, the case worker shall only use the following two federal closure reasons to close a responding case:

• The Initiating State requests closure; or 

• The Wyoming documents the Initiating State’s non-cooperation.  

In POSSE, the case worker shall only use one of the following “IV-D Closure Reasons” to close a responding case: 

• NO INTERGOV SRVS REQD (no intergovernmental services required),

• TERM INCW – CLOSE CASE (termination of income withholding order – close case), or

• NONCOOP OTHER STATE (noncooperation of other state). 

For more details, please see the federal criteria listed in 12.1 Introduction. 

Cross Reference

Appendix 12.B – Custodial Parent Deceased Procedures

Appendix 12.C - Discontinue Enforcement of a Current Child Support Obligation and/or Non-assigned Arrears when Assigned Arrears Exist

Appendix 12.D – Closing Cases with Futures Disbursed and Assigned Arrears Balances