14.1 Introduction

Chapter

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Debts

• Payments

• Distribution

• Disbursement

• Financial Adjustments

Overview

An important part of the Wyoming Child Support Program (CSP) is the collection, distribution, and disbursement of money for the benefit of children. Each state is required to establish and operate a single disbursement unit (SDU) to receipt and disburse court-ordered support payments for all IV-D cases and all Non-IV-D cases with orders after 1994 in which payments are made through wage withholding.

Definitions

The following are definitions used to describe the fiscal program in Wyoming. For a complete list of definitions used in the Wyoming CSP, please see 1.3 Glossary – Definitions.

Abatement – A temporary reduction in the monthly child support amount based upon a non-custodial parent’s visitation of 15 or more consecutive days.

Accrual - Sum of child support payments that are due or overdue.

Affidavit of Redirection – A written statement signed under oath to change the payee of a child support order.

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) - Former entitlement program that made public assistance payments on behalf of children who did not have the financial support of one of their parents by reason of death, disability, or continued absence from the home; known in many States as ADC (Aid to Dependent Children). Replaced with Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). See POWER.

Arrearage - Past due child support, past due medical support, past due spousal support, attorney fees, guardian ad litem fees, costs, interest and penalties, but does not include property settlements.

Assignment – As a condition of eligibility for Personal Opportunity With Employment Responsibility (POWER), an applicant shall sign a statement transferring the applicant’s rights to receive child or medical support and/or spousal support payments on behalf of dependent child(ren) to the State.

Child Support Order - A legal document requiring a party to pay support for a child(ren) filed with the Clerk of the District Court.

Clerk of District Court - The office in each county that files legal documents and is responsible for receipt and disbursement of child and/or medical support payments. Clerks of the district court are the official record keepers of support payments that are made and disbursed.

Conditionally Assigned Arrears – The balance from the temporarily assigned arrears that does not exceed URPA when the family goes off assistance where a temporary assignment was in effect.

Cost Recovery – A process by which states assess charges to the custodial parent or non-custodial parent to recoup funds expended on services.

Disbursement – The paying out of collected child support funds.

Distribution - The rules covering the priority order for allocating child support collections to the various types of debt within a child support case.

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) – The paperless exchange of money between banks. It can include any type of payment to an individual or other state agency, regardless of the source.

Federal Offset Program - The service provided by the Wyoming CSE Program in cooperation with the federal government in which monies due by an obligor (e.g. tax refund) from the federal government are intercepted for payment of overdue support owed.

Financial Institution - A bank, savings and loan, thrift, federal or state credit union, benefit association, insurance company, safe deposit company, money-market mutual fund, or similar institution.

Futures Disbursed - Child support amounts due in the future that are collected and paid out to the custodial parent.

Grant – The cash amount of the POWER benefit.

Injured Spouse – Refers to the current spouse of the non-custodial parent in relation to a joint federal tax intercept. The injured spouse can apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for his or her pro rata share of the joint federal tax return.

Judgment – The official decision or finding of a judge upon the respective rights and claims of the parties to an action; also known as a “decree” or “order” and may include the "findings of fact and conclusions of law."

Non-PA - Non-Public Assistance - A child support case in which an individual is receiving Title IV-D services and is not an active recipient of POWER or Title IV-E foster care.

Non-sufficient Funds (NSF) - Banking term used to describe the situation where an individual’s bank account does not contain enough money to pay the check presented to the bank for payment.

Obligation - Amount of money to be paid as support by a non-custodial parent. It can take the form of financial support for the child, medical support, or spousal support which shall have an underlying child support order. An obligation is a recurring, ongoing legal responsibility.

Obligee - Any person entitled to receive support under an order for support and includes the agency of this or another jurisdiction to which a person has assigned the right to support.

Obligor - A person owing a duty of support.

Offset – Amount of money intercepted from a parent’s state or federal income tax refund, or from an administrative payment such as federal retirement benefits, in order to satisfy a child support debt.

Overcollect - The amount of a payment in excess of the arrears owed on the obligation when the payment is only allowed to pay arrears, such as an IRS intercept payment. This amount is refunded to the non-custodial parent.

Overpayment - An amount that is paid by the NCP, and exceeds the amount of current and past due support.

Pass Through- The term "pass-through" means an assigned support collection (applied to current or arrearages) that the State elects to pay the family rather than reimburse assistance.

Past Due Support – The amount of unpaid support owed. See also “arrearage.”

Payee - The person, or entity, that receives money from a person paying child support. Used interchangeably with the custodial parent or the state in TANF cases.

Payor - One who pays or is obligated to make a payment to an obligor. This often refers to the obligor’s employer.

Permanently Assigned Arrears – Past-due support assigned to Wyoming because the family received AFDC grants prior to October 1, 1997 or support that is due or accrues while the family is receiving POWER grants.

POWER - Personal Opportunities With Employment Responsibilities, the State of Wyoming’s TANF, is the IV-A program offering time limited pay-after-performance benefits to ensure clients reach self-sufficiency. POWER was formerly known as AFDC or welfare.

Prior Period – That period of time during which public assistance was provided to a participant before an order for support is established.

Pro Rata – A proportion or percentage of the total amount.

Public Assistance (PA) - The benefits provided by POWER, Medicaid or Title IV-E.

State Disbursement Unit (SDU) - The central location operated by the state for receiving, receipting, distributing and disbursing child support payments and the clerk of district court in this state where the obligor is ordered to make payments.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) – The Title IV-A program which replaced AFDC. See POWER.

Temporarily Assigned Arrears – Past-due support that was assigned because the family received POWER between October 1, 1997 and September 30, 2009.

Unreimbursed Public Assistance (URPA) – Money paid in the form of public assistance (e.g. TANF, AFDC, or POWER) which has not yet been recovered from the non-custodial parent.

Warrant – A check issued by any governmental entity.

Federal Timeframes

In order to ensure the best possible service to the customers within the Wyoming CSE Program, the federal OCSE established certain minimum timeframes by which actions within the child support program should take place. Below are the federal guidelines and timeframes for this chapter.

Disbursement

Payment

Within 2 business days of receipt of a child support collection, the SDU and the Clerks of District Court shall disburse the payment as long as sufficient information for the payee is available. This includes the following payees:

• Initiating State; (45 CFR 302.32(b)(1))

• IV-A recipient; and (45 CFR 302.32(b)(2)(i) and (ii))

• Non-IV-A recipient of services. (45 CFR 302.32(b)(3)(i))

If the child is the recipient of IV-E foster care services as described in Chapter 13 Foster Care, the SDU shall disburse the payment within 15 business days of the end of the month in which the support was received. (45 CFR 302.32(b)(2)(iii))

Federal Income Tax Refund

Collections as a result of the Federal Tax Offset Program as described in 9.2 Enforcement – Administrative Enforcement Remedies shall be sent to the IV-A family or IV-E agency within 2 business days of the date of initial receipt. (45 CFR 302.32(b)(2)(iv))

In the case of a return filed jointly by the non-custodial parent and the non-custodial parent’s spouse, the SDU may delay distribution until the non-custodial parent’s current spouse is notified of the intercept; however, the delay may not exceed 6 months from the notification of the offset. (45 CFR 302.32(b)(3)(i) and 45 CFR 303.72(h)(5))

Cross Reference

None