Locating the Noncustodial Parent - CHILD SUPPORT HANDBOOK

Many custodial parents know where the other parent lives or works when they come to our office. If that information is not available, OCSE will search computer databases to find the noncustodial parent’s current address and employer.

OBLIGATION AMOUNT

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The amount of child support that the noncustodial parent is required to pay.

OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT (OCSE)

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Division of the Human Resources Administration responsible for obtaining and enforcing child support orders for families living in New York City.

ORDER

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Written and signed direction of a Support Magistrate or judge.

ORDER OF FILIATION

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Court order that establishes a legal father.

ORDER OF PROTECTION

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Court directive that prohibits contact/communications by one party to another party.

ORDER ON CONSENT

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Order agreed to by both parties in an action. At a child support hearing, the parents may agree to an order amount that is different from the Child Support Standards Act guidelines.

P

PARENT LOCATOR SERVICES

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Computerized network of state databases used to locate respondents in child support cases.

PARTY

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Person or organization directly involved in a legal matter.

PASS-THROUGH PAYMENT

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Cash assistance recipients with child support orders may receive up to $100 per month ($200 if there are two or more children receiving child support) of the support collected in the same month that it is owed;

also called bonus payment or child support “disregard.”

PATERNITY

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Legal determination of fatherhood. Paternity must be established before child support or medical support can be ordered.

PATERNITY PETITION

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Formal written application to a court requesting judicial action to determine legal fatherhood of a specific man for a specific child.

PAYEE

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Person or organization in whose name child support money is paid (for example, the grandmother).

PAYOR

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Person who makes a payment, usually a noncustodial parent or someone acting on his/her behalf. Also known as the obligor.

PETITION

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Formal written request to a court to initiate a court action.

PETITIONER

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Person or organization that files a formal request to initiate a court action.

PIN

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Personal Identification Number. Unique identification number assigned to clients in order to access their child support account information from the New York State child support website (childsupport.ny.gov) and helpline (888-208-4485).

POVERTY LEVEL

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Level of income considered too low to purchase life’s

necessities according to the federal government. The 2014 poverty level for a single person is $11,670 per year. For each additional person in the family $4,060 is added.

PROPERTY EXECUTION (PEX)

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Administrative process by which the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) seizes the financial assets, usually bank accounts, of a noncustodial parent who is delinquent in paying child support.

PRO RATA SHARE

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The portion of the total amount that each parent must pay for items included in the child support order like child care or unreimbursed medical expenses.

PRO SE

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Latin meaning ‘for oneself’; someone who represents him/herself in court without an attorney.

PUTATIVE FATHER REGISTRY (PFR)

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Record of fathers kept by New York State.

Examples of documents that are stored at the PFR are Acknowledgments of Paternity (AOP), court orders establishing paternity, and non-legally-binding statements regarding paternity. The PFR may be consulted on issues of inheritance, adoption, and any other legal issues that require notifying a child’s father.

R

RECIPIENT

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Person or organization that receives support funds and/or public assistance benefits, including cash assistance, SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, etc.

RECIPROCITY

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Relationship in which one state or country grants certain privileges to other states or countries on the condition that they receive the same privilege.

C H I LD S U PP O RT I S I M P O RTA N T

The noncustodial parent is obligated to pay support until the child reaches age 21.

Child support payments can help you meet your child’s daily needs and provide your child with a more secure financial future. Noncustodial parents who pay child support are more likely to take an interest in their children’s lives and spend more time with them. Their children tend to stay in school longer, get better grades, and have fewer behavioral problems.

Even if the noncustodial parent cannot afford to pay child support right now, you should still get a child support order. The order will be based on current income but can be changed in the future if circumstances change. OCSE has employment programs to assist those who cannot afford to pay child support because they are unemployed or have low-paying jobs. The Support Magistrate may require an unemployed noncustodial parent to seek employment or participate in an employment program called STEP (Support Through Employment Program) at the time of establishing the order.

Once the noncustodial parent starts to get paid on a regular basis, OCSE can automatically collect child support payments from his/her paycheck and forward them to the custodial parent.

I N T RO DU C T IO N

If you are a single parent (or guardian) raising a child alone in New York City, you know how difficult it can be, especially if the other parent isn’t helping out financially.

But under the law, that parent must pay child support and we can help you get it.

WH O WE A R E

T H E O F F I C E O F C H I L D S U P P O RT E N F O R C E M E N T(OCSE) works with New York City families, regardless of income or immigration status, to ensure that children receive financial support from both parents. OCSE helps custodial parents (Parent, relative, or guardian who lives with and is the primary caretaker of a minor child) to understand the child support program and provides services throughout the process. OCSE assists noncustodial parents (Parent who does not live with and is not the primary caretaker of a minor child) by offering programs to help them meet their child support obligations and manage their child support cases.

The child support process is a partnership between OCSE and Family Court. Many people think that OCSE and Family Court are part of the same agency. Although they share the same goal of improving the lives of New York City children through the formal child support system, they are two different organizations, with different functions.

The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is part of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA), an agency of the City of New York. The child support process starts when a custodial parent files an application for services. OCSE will locate the noncustodial parent, serve a summons, and establish paternity. After the child support order is established in Family Court, OCSE monitors, collects, and distributes the payments. If payments fall behind, OCSE has the authority to enforce the child support order through administrative means.

FA M I LY C O U RTis part of the New York State Unified Court System. The court’s role in the child support process starts when a parent, guardian, or the Department of Social Services (HRA in New York City) files a petition for paternity and/or child support. The court is responsible for establishing new child support and medical support orders, and modifying existing ones. If payments fall behind, a violation petition may be filed in court. When that happens, the court has the authority to enforce the child support order through judicial means.

RELIEF

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Legal remedy.

RESPONDENT

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Person who responds to the petition; this is whichever party is filed against for relief.

RETROACTIVE SUPPORT

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Child support that is ordered to be paid back to a past date, usually the date that the petition was filed. Retroactive support creates an immediate debt.

S

SANCTION

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Penalty for violation or lack of cooperation. At OCSE, refers to a reduction of benefits imposed on a cash assistance client for not cooperating with child support requirements.

SELF-SUPPORT RESERVE

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Factor in calculating child support in New York State when either parent is at or near the poverty level; the self-support reserve is 135%

of the federal poverty level. The self-support reserve for 2014 is $15,755.

STEP

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Support Through Employment Program. Provides job training and placement for noncustodial parents who are unable to pay child support because they are unemployed or have low paying jobs. Referrals to STEP may be made at the child support hearing.

STIPULATION

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Written agreement by parties on opposite sides of a case.

SUMMONS

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Notice stating that an action against the recipient has been started.

A summons for a child support hearing will tell the parent where and when to show up, and what information to bring.

SUPPORT COLLECTION UNIT (SCU)

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Division of the Office Child Support Enforcement responsible for the collection, monitoring, and disbursement of child support payments.

SUPPORT MAGISTRATE

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Attorney, appointed by the local Family Court, who can hear testimony and make decisions in child support cases.

SUPPORT ORDER

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Court-issued order establishing a child support obligation.

Support orders may be temporary or final and subject to modification. Support orders may include monetary and medical support, child care, education expenses, and payment of arrearages, interest, penalties, and other forms of relief.

T

TAX REFUND OFFSET

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Process by which a noncustodial parent’s federal or state tax refunds are taken to satisfy a child support debt.

TERMINATE AN ORDER

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End current obligation; provided effective end date of a child support order. Arrears must still be paid.

U

UIFSA

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Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. Federal law enacted in 1996 to ease the process of receiving child support payments across state lines. It requires states to cooperate with each other to get and enforce child support orders;

permits states to enact ‘Direct Income Withholding’ with employers in other states;

prevents multiple child support orders being issued for the same case in different states.

V

VACATE AN ORDER

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Set aside a previous order, as if it never existed.

W

WAGE WITHHOLDING

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Automatic deduction from income that starts as soon as an IEX (Income Execution) notice is sent to the employer.

WILLFUL NON-PAYMENT

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The noncustodial parent deliberately fails to pay court-ordered child support even though he/ she can afford it.

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S I N T R O D U C T I O N 2

T H E C H I L D S U P P O RT P R O C E S S 4

A P P LY I N G F O R C H I L D S U P P O RT 4

L O C AT I N G T H E N O N C U S TO D I A L PA R E N T 5

E S TA B L I S H I N G PAT E R N I T Y 5

S E RV I N G A S U M M O N S 5

G O I N G TO C O U RT 6

C H I L D S U P P O RT A N D M E D I C A L S U P P O RT O R D E R S7

C O L L E C T I N G C H I L D S U P P O RT PAY M E N T S 8

E N F O R C I N G T H E C H I L D S U P P O RT O R D E R 8

C H A N G I N G T H E A M O U N T O F T H E C H I L D S U P P O RT O R D E R 9

T E R M I N AT I N G T H E C H I L D S U P P O RT O R D E R 12

D I VO R C E A N D C H I L D S U P P O RT 12

C U S TO DY A N D V I S I TAT I O N 13

D O M E S T I C V I O L E N C E A N D C H I L D S U P P O RT 14

I N F O R M AT I O N F O R C A S H A S S I S TA N C E A N D M E D I C A L A S S I S TA N C E C L I E N T S 15

D O C U M E N T S YO U W I L L N E E D 15

C O O P E R AT I N G W I T H C H I L D S U P P O RT 16

G O I N G TO C O U RT 16

H O W M U C H C H I L D S U P P O RT YO U C A N G E T 19

G E T T I N G C H I L D S U P P O RT O N C E YO U L E AV E C A S H A S S I S TA N C E O R M AO 19

C H I L D S U P P O RT C O N TAC T I N F O R M AT I O N 20

C H I L D S U P P O RT O F F I C E L O C AT I O N S 21

S A M P L E C H I L D S U P P O RT O R D E R 24

G L O S S A RY 26

Bill de Blasio

Steven Banks

for Custodial Parents

CHILD

SUPPORT

HANDBOOK

BRC 940 (E) Rev. 09/14

NYCHRA HRA NYC NYC DADS NYC DADS

Human Resources Administration Department of

In document CHILD SUPPORT HANDBOOK (Page 34-38)