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305.4 TANF MANUAL 10/18 Page 36

All support received after case approval must be redirected to the Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE). All subsequent payment(s) are to be computed without regard to such income and the amount of the assistance payment will be total needs less all other countable income up to the maximum reimbursable payment. (Refer to 503.9 for retroactive payments at initial application.) The applicant/recipient must be advised that all future support received must be forwarded to DCSE. Note: Alimony not commingled with support is to be counted as income. It is not considered as support, is not to be redirected to DCSE, and is not eligible for the $100 disregard.

Exceptions: a. In the event the caretaker fails to cooperate in redirecting these support payments to the State, the caretaker must be removed from the assistance unit (201.10). All future support, minus the first $100 each month, anticipated to be received by the caretaker must be considered as income available to meet the needs of the remaining members of the assistance unit until such time support is redirected to the State.

b. In the event the caretaker cooperates in redirecting support payments to the Division of Child Support Enforcement and the support is sent back to the client, the support will not be counted as income to the client, neither will an overpayment exist. Benefit workers should contact the district DCSE worker to determine what was sent to the client and the accuracy of the DCSE case status.

c. In situations where the client has cooperated and support is being paid to the Division of Child Support Enforcement but the responsible person is also making a support payment directly to the client, the amount being received by the client is to be counted in total as income to the assistance unit. The $100 disregard is not applicable to the additional support received by the family in this situation. The income will be counted against the payment until the new support obligation has been established.

d. Pending the establishment of a child support obligation by the District Child Support Enforcement Office, payments made to a third party such as a rental agency in lieu of or in addition to child support, whether based on a court order or a mutual voluntary agreement between the client and the responsible person, must be counted as income to the assistance unit. The $100 disregard is not applicable to third party payments.

e. If it is anticipated that an amount less than $100 will not be collected by DCSE after case approval, disregard an amount from the support collected prior to case approval to ensure that a total amount of no more than $100 is disregarded in the initial month of eligibility.

TANF Transmittal 65