12.4 Closure Retention

Federal Authority:

Code of Federal Regulations

45 CFR 303.11 - Case Closure

State Authority:

None

Policy Number: 12.4

Effective Date: July 1, 2015

Overview

Federal regulations provide the instances in which a IV-D child support case may be closed along with the appropriate steps to take for each closure reason. While some of the cases shall be closed forever (e.g. the non-custodial parent is deceased or there is no longer a current child support order and the child support arrears are unenforceable or less than $500.00), others may be re-opened (e.g. the custodial parent cooperates after not cooperating or the custodial parent requests the case be re-opened) as long as a new application is completed according to 6.2 Intake – Application. Therefore, it is important to retain physical child support files for a certain amount of time to allow for the possibility of the case re-opening.

Policy

When a case worker closes a IV-D child support case, the District CSP Office shall keep the physical IV-D child support file for at least three (3) years following closure. After the retention period, the physical files shall be destroyed in compliance with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements for federal tax information (FTI) as discussed in Chapter 3 Confidentiality and Safeguarding Information.

Note: For information about archiving child support cases between closure and the three-year destruction date, please contact the appropriate State CSP Office person.

Cross Reference

None

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Last Revised Date:

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