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SUPPORT FROM LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE PERSONS TANF MANUAL CHAPTER 600 DETERMINATION OF RELATIVES

602.1 - 602.3 ABILITY TO SUPPORT 7/19 Page 1

602.1 REDIRECTION OF SUPPORT MONIES FROM NON-CUSTODIAL PARENTS – Federal regulations* state that in cases where an assignment of support is effective, support payments shall be made to Support Enforcement. The assignment is effective upon case approval. Therefore, any child support, including court-ordered support, paid to the assistance unit from the non-custodial parent subsequent to case approval must be redirected to Support Enforcement. Once this support is redirected, it will not be considered in determining the amount of payment, until such time as the net support, when added to other countable income, is sufficient to meet the total needs of the assistance unit.

602.2 TREATMENT OF SUPPORT - There are three types of support that are routinely paid to TANF custodial parents which must be considered in determining initial and ongoing TANF eligibility:

A. Current support paid by the non-custodial parent on behalf of TANF-eligible children in the AU. Current support paid directly to the client during the application process will be treated as income with the exception of a disregard of up to $100. Following case approval, current support will be redirected to DCSE. Up to $100 of the current support payment will be sent by DCSE to the client and will be disregarded in determining the ongoing TANF benefit. (See 305.4(E)2 for treatment of support for SSI children and capped children not the AU, and for situations in which support must be prorated for eligible and non-eligible children).

B. Arrearages paid by the non-custodial parent for periods in the past when the client received TANF. If, during the application process, arrearage payments are made directly to the client, and the period for which the payments are made was a time during which the client received TANF benefits, the payments will be treated as income. For an ongoing case, the absent parent should make all child support payments directly to DCSE, including arrearage payments. Arrearage payments made on behalf of eligible children when the custodial parent received TANF on their behalf are retained by DCSE to discharge the non-custodial parent’s debt to the state.

C. Arrearages paid by the non-custodial parent for periods in the past during which the custodial parent did not receive TANF. Such an arrearage payment made directly to the client during the application process will be treated as income. For an ongoing case, any arrearage payment which is made to DCSE for a period during which the client did not receive TANF will be sent by DCSE to the client. If the payment is non-recurring, it should be treated as lump sum payments in accordance with 305.4C. If recurring, such payments will be treated as unearned income. See guidance at 305.1(b)(2)a for determining the amount of unearned income to be counted when there is significant fluctuation from month to month in arrearage payments.

The following sections will outline when support received from a non-custodial parent in cash or in-kind is to be considered available to the assistance unit and counted accordingly. The term "total needs" used in the following is the statewide standard of assistance. The local worker's responsibility is limited to determining the amount of support received by the applicant/recipient from non-custodial parents, and determining eligibility and amount of assistance payment based upon the policy set out below.

602.3 SUPPORT FROM NON-CUSTODIAL PARENTS ABSENT FROM THE HOME - During the initial determination of eligibility, the first $100 of current monthly child support received, or expected to be received, by the applicant will be disregarded in the eligibility screen and TANF payment calculation. If the amount received or expected to be received is less than $100, the entire amount is to be disregarded. All remaining current support (net countable) will be considered as income for computing the amount of any payment made to the family for a period prior to the first TANF assistance payment. This procedure applies to A., B., C., and D. below.

*45 CFR 302.32 (A)

TANF Transmittal 66