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Department
of Human Services Families
First Online Policy Manual Treatment of Child Support Income |
Revised: |
22.8 |
PROCEDURES |
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When the absent parent makes a child
support payment for a child who is receiving Families First cash payments,
either to the court or directly to the client, this money must be sent to the
Department of Human Services. ·
Enter the
appropriate amount of child support paid in the Families First fields with an
open End Date. ·
If the
absent parent owes arrears to the caretaker, enter the full amount of child
support that the absent parent is paying on.
·
If the
absent parent does not owe arrears to the caretaker but does owe arrears to
the state, enter only the amount of child support being paid up to the
current court ordered amount on since
any excess will be retained to reimburse the state. ·
If the
absent parent does not owe arrears to the state, enter the full amount of
child support that the absent parent is paying on. If the absent parent is paying fluctuation amounts of child support,
determine the representative income in the same manner as other fluctuating
income is determined. However, the
amount used should meet the criteria describe above. Determine if the absent parent owes the assistance unit any child
support arrears by reviewing the CSFS (Case Financial Summary) screen on
TCSES. If there is an Unassigned
Arrears (arrears owed to the caretaker) amount on the screen, the caretaker
will receive the current child support and the arrears payment until the
Unassigned Arrears have been paid in full.
If there are only Assigned Arrears (arrears owed to the state), then
any payments that exceed the current court ordered amount will be retained by
the state until the Assigned Arrears have been reimbursed. Note: The one exception to the above
distribution rule is child support arrears paid through Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) interception. All IRS
interception payments are applied first to Assigned Arrears (owed to the
state). However, IRS interception
payments are not entered in the eligibility and case management system since
they are not ongoing child support payments. ·
Ensure that
the appropriate Budget Effective Date is entered to ensure that the income is
budgeted properly. -
If the AU is
approved before cut-off, the
Budget Effective Date will be the first day of the month following the month
of approval. -
If the AU is
approved after cut-off, the Budget
Effective Date will be the first day of the second month following the month
of approval. -
If adding an
absent parent to an open AU, use the same Budget Effective Date used for the
other absent parents for that AU. ·
Upon
receipt, the Tennessee Child Support Enforcement System, TCSES, processes the
child support payment for distribution.
TCSES will determine if the AU is eligible for a child support
pass-through payment based on the AU’s unmet need which has been transmitted
to TCSES by the eligibility and case management system. ·
If the AU is
eligible, TCSES will issue the child support pass-through payment. This is reported to eligibility and case
management system after the end of the month in which the child support
pass-through payment was issued. Child
support pass-through payments are posted on eligibility and case management
system in two different ways depending on the month in which the payment
was issued. Child support
pass-through payments issued prior to July 1999 will appear on the FF payment
screen with reason code 096. Child
support pass-through payments issued July 1999 onward will appear on the
unearned income screen. ·
If the child
support payment was collected for a month prior to February 1998, but
was not issued as bonus/supplement, TCSES will issue a bonus payment up to
the amount of the current court ordered amount or $50, whichever is
less. If the child support payment was
more than the bonus amount paid, TCSES will notify the State Office
supplemental payment staff about the collection. The State Office supplemental payment staff
will determine if the AU is eligible for a supplemental payment. If so, the staff will issue a manual
supplemental check through the eligibility and case management system. Note: These supplemental payments are not
issued through EBT.) These payments
appear on IQCH as bonus (code 106) and manual supplement (code 102) payments. ·
The
recipient may contact the county about a supplemental payment that has not
been issued from child support payments for a month prior to February
1998. In those instances review the
case to determine if the AU is eligible for a supplemental payment (has an
unmet need for the month in question that is greater than “0”). If so, contact the State Office
supplemental payment staff to determine why a check was not issued. Note: If the grant is less than the maximum
grant for the AU size, there is no unmet need and the AU is not due a
supplemental payment. ·
The
recipient may also contact the county about a supplemental check that was
issued from child support payments for a month prior to February 1998 that
the recipient has not received. In
those instances, request a replacement of that check in accordance with the
procedures outlined in the Continuing Responsibilities Chapter of the
Families First Handbook. ·
The
recipient may contact the county about a child support pass-through payment
or bonus payment that was either not issued or that the recipient did not
receive. In those instances, refer the
recipient to the Child Support Customer Service unit. Note:
If the child support is voluntary (there is no court order), it must still be
sent in to the state. However, this
money will not be issued until Child Support enters a “voluntary court order”
on TCSES. Note: All bonus payments and child support
pass-through payments that appear on FF payment screen show a Warrant
Date. This date reflects the
TCSES/eligibility and case management system interface date, not the
actual issuance date of the check.
In addition, all bonus and child support pass-through payments on FF
payment screen show an “RM” Disposition Status, regardless of the actual
status of the check. TCSES shows the
actual issuance date and status for these checks. |
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