7.17 Enforcement of Child Care Costs and Spousal Support

Idaho Child Support Guidelines are updated yearly. On July 1, 2004, the Guidelines were updated to include language regarding the payment of child care. This language states that an Idaho court may order a sharing of reasonable work-related child care expenses incurred by either party. If ordered, these payments shall be paid directly between the parties, unless otherwise agreed.

This revised policy becomes effective September 27, 2005. CSS will apply this policy to all cases with Idaho issued orders opened for enforcement services as of the policy effective date. This revised policy will also be applied to all audits conducted as of the effective date of this policy.

 When CSS is enforcing an order issued by another state, CSS will follow the laws and policies of the state that issued the order. To determine if the issuing state enforces or assigns child care debts, see the Intergovernmental Roster and Referral Guides on the OCSE website.

Example #1:  An Idaho order was established October 1, 1999. The order sets a specific dollar amount to be paid each month for current child support and child care but does not direct the child care payments to be paid through Child Support Receipting. A Receipting Services Only (RSO) case exists on ICSES that contains an accruing Program 40 child support debt and an accruing Program 40 child care debt. After the effective date of this revised policy CSS receives a request for enforcement services.

Determination

CSS will convert the Receipting Services Only (RSO) case to an enforcement case and convert the existing accruing Program 40 child support debt to an enforcement debt. Because the child care was not directed to be paid through Child Support Receipting, CSS will not convert the existing Program 40 child care debt to an enforcement child care debt. CSS will leave the existing Program 40 child care debt as a non IV-D debt.  

Example #2: An Idaho order was established December 1, 2004. The order sets a specific dollar amount to be paid each month for current child support and child care and does direct the child care payments to be paid through Child Support Receipting. A Receipting Services Only (RSO) case exists on ICSES that contains an accruing Program 40 child support debt and an accruing Program 40 child care debt. After the effective date of this revised policy CSS receives a request for enforcement services.

Determination

CSS will convert the Receipting Services Only (RSO) case to an enforcement case and convert the existing accruing Program 40 child support debt to an enforcement debt. Because the child care is directed to be paid through Child Support Receipting, CSS will convert the accruing Program 40 child care debt to a Program C/J 42 child care debt. 

This revised policy will not be applied towards existing child care debts set prior to the effective date of this revised policy. 

7.17.1 Enforcing Child Care

Child care debts are set using a Program C/J 42 debt.  ICSES does not qualify these debts for certain enforcement actions, i.e., license suspension, credit reporting, lien filing, FIDM, or unemployment attachment. However, CSS will take enforcement actions by including these debts on income withholding orders, repayment agreements, and billing statements. These debts can be coded to accept payments directly from the NCP, another state, or by income withholding.

CSS will set a child care debt when:

When the order does not set a specific dollar amount for child care costs or the order does not specify that the payments are to be paid through Idaho Child Support Receipting, CSS will instruct the custodian to privately pursue a judgment for the child care costs. CSS will enforce child care costs when a judgment is established that sets a specific dollar amount to be paid through Idaho Child Support Receipting. (9/16/08)

A judgment for child care costs or medical costs are usually obtained through Small Claims Court. If the Small Claims Judgment (SCJ) neglects to specify the payments to be paid through Idaho Child Support Receipting, the judgment must be amended. The CP will need to file a Motion to Amend through Small Claims Court to have this language added. The court will not charge a filing fee to the CP for this service.  (9/16/08)

A SCJ for child care costs or medical costs may not specify where the payments are to be paid.  If the payments are not specifically ordered to be paid through Idaho Child Support Receipting those payments are to be paid directly from the NCP to the CP and the Order Debt Consolidated Unit (ORDS) will not set a debt. (9/16/08)

Idaho Code 5-215

Judgments for child care costs and medical reimbursements obtained through Small Claims Court must be renewed every five (5) years to prevent losing the enforceability of the debt due to Statute of Limitations. CSS is not obligated to renew private judgments obtained in Small Claims Court. CSS will inform the CP that the judgment must be renewed within five (5) years to continue enforcement of that judgment and collect any unpaid balance. The CP can have the judgment renewed in Small Claims Court. (9/16/08)

When the Order Debt Consolidated Unit (ORDS) sets the debt for the SCJ, ORDS will also add a remark to the Remarks window that explains that the SCJ expires in five (5) years and instructs the Core Case Manager (CCM) to, after five (5) years, zero any unpaid arrears on the SCJ debt and inactivate the SCJ debt.  ORDS will also set a manual alert due in five (5) years from the month prior to the file date of the SCJ. This alert will notify the CCM to review the Remarks window of the ORAB record of the SCJ.  (9/16/08)

CCM is not required to notify the CP that the judgment will expire. CCM is only obligated to zero and inactivate any unpaid balance of the judgment and notify the CP of the change in debt balance by sending the AR Balance Adjustment Letter (R783). If after the unpaid balance of the SCJ has been zeroed and inactivated the CP provides a SCJ that renews the previous SCJ, ORDS will re-activate the SCJ debt and adjust the debt balance with the previous unpaid balance.  (9/16/08)

CSS will not set a child care debt when:

CSS will stop accruing a child care debt when:

CSS will continue to accrue the child care debt according to the language in the order or until such time that the order is modified to stop the ongoing child care obligation. CSS will inform the CP and NCP to privately modify the order to stop the child care accrual. Direct them to the Idaho Court Assistance office website to obtain Pro-Se modification forms. http://www.co.bonneville.id.us/jd7/cao/Forms/forms.html

CSS Will Zero (0) and Inactivate a Child Care Debt When:                     (4/6/06)

7.17.1.1 Case Contains A Child Care Debt When The CP Opens TAFI

The Idaho Child Care Program (ICCP) does not request reimbursement of child care expenditures from CSS. ICCP does not consider child care payments when determining eligibility. If the participant receiving ICCP benefits is receiving child care payments through CSS, those payments are not added to the participant income.  If the participant receiving ICCP benefits is paying child care payments through CSS, those payments are not deducted from the participant income.

Because ICCP does not consider child care payments when determining eligibility, CSS will not assign court ordered child care obligations to the State of Idaho when the CP opens TAFI. 

Other state’s IV-D agencies may assign court ordered child care. When Idaho CSS is the responding jurisdiction (RJ) in an interstate case, CSS will follow the other state’s laws and policies involving the enforcement of child care debts and assignment of those debts. The arrears calculation provided by the initiating jurisdiction (IJ) will include child care debts when the IJ enforces and/or assigns these debts.   

In the past CSS may have assigned a child care debt to the State of Idaho when the CP opened TAFI. If the result of a case review or audit find that CSS has assigned a child care debt to the State of Idaho prior to the effective date of this policy, that assignment will be considered appropriate under previous policy. If the result of a case review or audit find that CSS has assigned a child care debt to the State of Idaho after the effective date of this policy, that assignment will be considered inappropriate and will be counted as an error.

7.17.2 Enforcing Spousal Support

CSS will enforce spousal support for current and/or arrears when;

After the child has emancipated and all the child support arrears have been collected, CSS will stop enforcement and collection of spousal support arrears. If the spousal support arrears have been assigned to the State of Idaho and un-reimbursed assistance (URA) is owed, CSS will continue to enforce those assigned spousal support arrears up to the amount of URA.       (9/22/05)

CSS will stop accruing a spousal support debt when:

7.17.2.1 Case Contains A Spousal Support Debt When The CP Opens TAFI

Self Reliance-Benefits requires assignment of both child support and spousal support when the CP opens TAFI in Idaho. CSS will assign both non-TAFI child support and spousal support debts when the CP opens TAFI in Idaho.

When the child support arrears are paid-in-full and the spousal support arrears have been assigned to the State of Idaho and un-reimbursed assistance (URA) is owed, CSS will continue to enforce those assigned spousal support arrears up to the amount of URA.          (9/22/05)

Other state’s IV-D agencies may assign court ordered spousal support. When Idaho CSS is the responding jurisdiction (RJ) in an interstate case, CSS will follow the other state’s laws and policies involving the enforcement of spousal support debts and assignment of those debts. The arrears calculation provided by the initiating jurisdiction (IJ) will include spousal support debts when the IJ enforces and/or assigns these debts.