Child Support Expense - Effecting Changes
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This section includes information about what happens when there is a change to the amount of child support being paid.
Policy
For NA and CA Standard Reporting, changes in a participant’s obligation to pay child support must be reported.
For NA, the changes in the legal obligation to pay child support that must be reported include, and is not limited to, any of the following:
●Increase or decrease of more than $50 in the monthly amount of legally obligated child support expense paid
●Termination of the obligation when the child reaches the age at which child support is no longer legally obligated
For CA, child support payments are not required to be court ordered. Changes in child support expenses must be reported for any of the following:
●A nonparticipant parent of a minor parent, when living together.
●A nonparticipant stepparent.
When the participant pays less than the monthly court ordered amount, only the amount paid is allowable.
Court ordered child support or cash medical support payments made by a participant to an agency (such as the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS)) or to the court are allowable expense deductions.
Employer charges for garnishments that are not part of the court-ordered child or cash medical support expense are not allowed.
FAA must request information verification no later than the close of business on the workday after the date the change is received. Information requested by FAA must be provided within ten calendar days of the request. When the information due date falls on a weekend or holiday, extend the due date to the following workday.
When the reported change will cause a decrease in benefits and enough information is provided, the decrease of benefits is completed without verification and a notice is sent. Verification may be requested at the next renewal. When enough information is provided with the reported change to stop benefits, verification is not requested. FAA stops benefits and sends a closure notice.
FAA must allow for Notice of Adverse Action (NOAA), when decreasing or stopping benefits. In certain situations, no notice is required. When this occurs, see Changes Requiring No Notice.
Recurring legally owed child or cash medical support arrearages are allowable for NA when the expense has been verified as paid.
Nonrecurring lump sum child or cash medical support expense is allowable for NA in the month the expense is paid. When the nonrecurring lump sum payment is more than the court order, budget the court ordered amount unless the expense includes recurring child or cash medical support arrearages or clearinghouse fees.
The participant may pay their legally owed child support or cash medical support payment to a third party in place of the cash payment in accordance with the court order. When this occurs, the payment is allowable for NA. Payments include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●Mortgage payments
●Insurance payments
●Car payments
●Medical insurance and bills
The lesser of the following is allowed:
●The court ordered amount
●The verified amount actually paid
FAA does not allow employer charges for garnishments that are not part of the court-ordered child or cash medical support expense.
When a reported change results in a benefit increase, FAA must verify the information before effecting the change.
Procedures
FAA must verify the legally obligated child support amount and the pay history before allowing the expense.
The allowable child or cash medical support expense cannot exceed the monthly court order unless the excess amount is due to DCSS adding arrearages to the court order. Do not allow the portion of the support expense that is paid with income that is considered not countable.
When the amount of legally obligated support paid fluctuates, average the paid amount over a three or more months’ time frame. (See Example 1)
How we effect changes in child support expenses depends on how the change will affect benefits, and how and when the changes are reported and verified. (See When to Effect Changes for guidelines.)
Verification
System interface and the case file(g) must be reviewed before verification is requested. No additional verification is needed when AZTECS interface or HEAplus hubs have verified the information.
The participant has the primary responsibility for providing verification. (See Participant Responsibilities – Providing Verification for additional policy.)
Acceptable verification of the legally obligated child support amount includes any of the following:
●Court records
●Pay records from the Clerk of the Court in Arizona or another state
●Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) documents showing the amount of support required to be paid
●SSA or SSI pay history from the HEAplus State Online Query Internet (SOLQI) screen or the SSA award letter when the child support is taken out of the benefit
Acceptable verification of the pay history includes any of the following:
●Pay records from the Clerk of the Court in Arizona or another state
●Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) documents showing the amount of current support paid
●Copies of cancelled checks or money order receipts made out to the custodial parent
●Receipts and pay histories from any state’s child support centralized payment processing center
●Paycheck stub with garnishment amount
●Written statement from a person not in the budgetary unit to whom payments are made
●SSA or SSI pay history from the HEAplus State Online Query Internet (SOLQI) screen or the SSA award letter when the child support is taken out of the benefit
AZTECS Keying Procedures
When a change in child support expenses is reported, complete all of the following:
●Send an information request notice when verification is needed
●Change or remove the expense from EXNS
●Enter through the case and redetermine benefits
●Send the appropriate notice
When adding a new child support expense in AZTECS, key the amount of the court ordered support expense paid on EXPC using any of the following CS Expense Type Codes:
●CS for current court ordered child support
●CS AR for child support arrearages
●CS OT non-cash child support
Examples
1) Charles paid child support payments of $110, $0, and $110 for the months of January, February, and March.
The average monthly payment is $73.33. (The three payments are added together to get $220. $220 is divided by three months to get $73.33.)
Legal Authorities
7 CFR 273.2(f)(1)(xii)
7 CFR 273.9(c)(17)
7 CFR 273.12(a)(1)(vi)
AAC R6-12-703.3
last revised 08/30/2021