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| Rev 12/04 | |
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SECTION 6
This section provides guidelines for the distribution and disbursement of collections to appropriate parties.
Unless specifically exempt by the court, all Child Support and Maintenance payments are to be made through the Kansas Payment Center (KPC). The KPC is responsible for disbursing support to appropriate parties. Payments which are not assigned to SRS are disbursed as directed by the court of jurisdiction. Information regarding payments made on Kansas court orders and non-Kansas IV-D court orders is available by calling 1-877-572-5722, or on-line at www.kspaycenter.com
As KPC has been designated the record keeper of support payments. CSE notifies KPC of collections achieved through debt setoff (DSO) or Unemployment Insurance (UI) intercept procedures through electronic communication.
By the assignment of support rights, SRS is entitled to receive all IV-D payments for distribution and processing. The prompt and accurate processing, distribution and disbursement of support in IV-D cases is a joint effort of the KPC, SRS Receivables Unit and CSE Field Staff.
When IV-D collections are received by the KPC, the process is as follows:
- Collections are electronically transmitted to SRS daily for distribution
- Collections which are distributed to TAF, TAF-FC or GA-FC obligations are retained by SRS
- Collections which are distributed to Non-TAF obligations are disbursed by KPC to the CP/caretaker relative
- Collections which do not automatically distribute or disburse properly are researched and corrected
- Collections which cannot be distributed in any manner are refunded to the NCP
6100 DISTRIBUTION OF COLLECTIONS
All child support collections, including those from mandatory income assignments and tax refund offset programs, shall be distributed promptly in accordance with section 457 of Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and 45 CFR 302.32, 45 CFR 302.51 and 45 CFR 302.52. In addition, provisions shall be made for the prompt refund to the NCP of any amounts which have been improperly withheld or offset.
By the assignment of support rights, the state is granted the right to retain support otherwise for the family (or child in state custody) as reimbursement for public assistance paid to the family. This is commonly referred to as Unreimbursed Public Assistance (URA). The state may never keep more than was paid out to the family (or child in state custody) or the total amount of unpaid child support, whichever is less.
The process begins with the determination of the amount of support owed. The amount of the support obligation must be determined from the established court order or written voluntary agreement.
The total support owed is separated into one or more obligations. An obligation defines an amount of support owed by an individual. Multiple obligations may be established for any supported person on any case to differentiate amounts owed for various time frames, on different court or administrative orders, or for different types of obligations contained within that order.
For Kansas court orders that are not pro-rated, the Kansas Supreme Court decision of Brady vs. Brady, and subsequent decisions, set guidelines regarding the reduction of child support. This reduction amount is to be the appropriate pro-rata share for any children included in the support order who either emancipated, died, or had a permanent change of residence to the home of the obligor.
6120 DETERMINING THE MONTH OF COLLECTION
For collections handled by KPC, the month of collection is determined by the date on which the payment is received. This date of collection will override any other date, even if the collection is transmitted to SRS in another month.
For debt setoff (DSO) collections, the date of collection is the date the collection is posted to KAECSES. For DSO payments which could not be promptly posted to KAECSES or which suspended, the date of collection is the date the collection would have been posted had the necessary information been on the system.
Notations on checks made by the NCP, specifying a month for which the payment is intended, do not have a bearing in determining the month of collection.
KAECSES has been designed to distribute collections on all IV-D cases according to the federal requirements noted in the following.
6130.1 Distribution to Current First
Collections received in a month, except those collected through Federal Tax Refund Setoff, must be distributed to the current month’s support obligation first. (Federal Tax Refund Offsets are always applied to arrearage.)
Current child support must be retained for as long as a case is open to cash assistance (TAF), even for months in which no cash grant is issued. This includes months in which the current child support collected exceeds the grant for the month. Amounts which exceed the total URA will be disbursed based on the assigned CP/caretaker relative at the time the arrearage occurred.
All SDSO collections apply to current support obligations first.
6130.2 Distribution to Arrearage Obligations
Amounts collected in a month which are in excess of the current monthly support obligation (past due support) must be distributed to past due obligations (arrearage).
To distribute past due support properly, both arrearage and unreimbursed assistance must be calculated. The agency may retain only enough past due support to reimburse past assistance paid. Past due support collected in excess of this total must be paid to the family.
There are several considerations that need to be taken into account when an arrearage computation is made:
- Bankruptcy
- Emancipation for Kansas Orders: In Brady vs. Brady, as a supported person emancipates, the child support order is reduced by their portion unless the court order specifically states otherwise. (Other states have their own emancipation law.)
- Dormant or Void Judgments
Consideration should be given to the fact that remarriage (to each other) negates the ongoing support obligations as of the date of the marriage but does not affect assigned accrued arrearage owed prior to that date.
In a Non-TAF case, whether the CP/Caretaker Relative has waived the right to arrearage due him/her will have to be considered in a case by case basis.
CATEGORIES AND DEFINITIONS OF ARREARS
Permanently Assigned Arrears (PA):
For current cash assistance families who last executed an assignment prior to October 1, 1997, Permanently Assigned arrears is the only type of arrearage that exists, as all past due child support had been assigned to the State of Kansas. From October 1, 1997 and thereafter, arrears which accrue during periods of receipt of TAF are permanently assigned to the State of Kansas.
Temporarily Assigned Arrears (TA):
Any arrears which accrued prior to the opening of a TAF case and assigned to the State of Kansas after October 1, 1997, remain assigned to the State until the family terminates TAF.
Conditionally Assigned Arrears (CA):
All, or a portion of Temporary Arrears, upon TAF case closure become Conditionally Assigned arrears. The amount of CA is determined by subtracting the Permanently Assigned arrears from the amounts of public assistance which have not been reimbursed to SRS (URA), and the remainder is the maximum allowable Conditionally Assigned arrears.
Additional Temporary Arrears over the Conditionally Assigned arrears amount will become Unassigned Pre-Assistance arrears.
Never Assigned Arrears (NA):
NA arrears accrue after the family terminates TAF. Also, NA arrears accrue to a family who has never received TAF (commonly known as Non-TAF arrears).
Unassigned During Assistance Arrears (UD):
UD arrears are previous Permanently Assigned arrears which exceed the amount of URA upon TAF case closure.
Unassigned Pre-Assistance Arrears (UP):
Temporarily Assigned arrears which exceed the amount held as Conditional Arrears become Unassigned Pre-Assistance Arrears upon TAF case closure.
Category One - Open TAF Case
When collections are received and applied to a CSE case and the supported person is currently receiving TAF, the following distribution order applies:
Distribution Order Final Distribution
1. Current Support Retained by State (up to URA)
2. Temporarily Assigned Arrearage Retained by State (up to URA)
3. Permanently Assigned Arrearage Retained by State (up to URA)
4. Unassigned Pre-Assistance Arrearage Paid to Family5. Unassigned During Assistance Arrearage Paid to Family
Category Two - Blended Cases (Other than FDSO collection)
When collections are received (other than FDSO collections) and applied to a CSE case that has Non-TAF arrears and/or Non-TAF current child support owed, the following distribution order applies:
Distribution Order (Other than FDSO collection) Final Distribution
1. Current Support Paid to Family
2. Never Assigned Arrearage Paid to Family
3. Unassigned Pre-Assistance Arrearage Amounts in excess of URA Paid to Family
4. Conditionally Assigned Arrearage Paid to Family
5. Permanently Assigned Arrearage Retained by State up to total URA, remainder paid to Family
6. Unassigned During Assistance Arrearage Paid to Family
Category Three - Blended Case (FDSO Collection)
When FDSO collections are received and applied to a CSE case with TAF and Non-TAF arrears, the following distribution order applies:
Distribution Order (FDSO Collection) Final Distribution
1. Conditionally Assigned Arrearage Retained by State up to total URA
2. Permanently Assigned Arrearage Retained by State up to total URA Remainder Paid to Family
3. Never Assigned Arrearage Paid to Family
4. Unassigned Pre-Assistance Arrearage Amounts in excess of URA, Paid to Family
5. Unassigned During Assistance Arrearage Paid to Family
6130.3 Distribution to Judgment Interest
Once all arrearage has been satisfied, distribution to judgments for interest can be made. Interest owed on Non-TAF judgments must be met prior to distribution to interest owed on TAF judgments. See KCSEM 5700.
6140 FUTURE/GIFT/REFUND PAYMENTS
Support collections received in excess of existing debts may be applied to future debts, refunded or applied as a gift.
Staff must contact the NCP to advise that (s)he is current in his/her support payments and to obtain his/her agreement with the plan to:
1. Distribute the excess collection to a future month
2. Refund the excess to him/her, or
3. Consider the excess amount paid as a gift to the supported person(s)
The KPC is responsible for disbursing payments to families and other states within two (2) days of receipt of the collection with the following exception: Federal Tax Offset collections for joint returns may be held for up to six (6) months to allow for filing of Injured Spouse claims.
CSE will assist the KPC by utilizing any allowable resources to locate a CP or NCP to whom a payment or refund is due.
6300 REFUNDS AND PAYMENTS TO FAMILIES
CSE is responsible to authorize refunds or payments in the following circumstances:
1. When a Non-TAF collection applies to a TAF obligation in error.
2. When offset monies were distributed in error.
3. When the NCP's debt is paid in full and monies collected are not authorized to be applied toward a future obligation or considered a gift, CSE should authorize a refund for the amount collected in excess of the NCP's debt.
4. When a refund is ordered by a court or appeal decision.
5. When a CSE Attorney or other Central Office administrator, including a CSE Program Administrator, determine it is appropriate and in the agency's best interest to do so.
The agency has the right to recover retained support, misdirected, duplicate and overpaid monies. This may be done using various methods including, but not limited to, payment plans, retention of collected arrears and by debt set-off.
If not immediately recovered, Economic and Employment Support (EES) will be responsible for recovering any voluntary assigned support (not court ordered or administratively ordered) which is received and retained by the recipient in violation of the assignment.The recovery process applies to TAF cases and any corresponding Food Stamp cases, and includes establishing an overpayment and initiating a recovery.
The Central Receivables Unit (CRU) will handle recovery efforts for all other retained, misdirected, duplicate and overpaid monies.
6500 ATTORNEY FEES, CONTEMPT FINES, AND OTHER CIVIL PENALTIES
Attorneys fees, contempt fines and other civil penalties are not child support and consequently should not be set up as debts or distributed by the KAECSES system.
Income Withholding nor Federal or State Offsets may be used to enforce these fees, fines or penalties.