DAR File No. 42100

Human Services, Recovery Services

Rule R527-231

Review and Adjustment of Child Support Order

Notice of Proposed Rule

(Amendment)

DAR File No.: 42100
Filed: 09/14/2017 09:50:54 AM

RULE ANALYSIS

Purpose of the rule or reason for the change:

The rule provides information about the review and adjustment of child support orders. Currently, the rule states that if either parent is incarcerated, the Office of Recovery Services/Child Support Services (ORS/CSS) shall not be required to review and pursue adjustment of a support award. Pursuant to a recent revision to 45 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 303.8, published on 12/20/2016, that statement within this rule is no longer true. The revised federal regulation offers three options to states (i.e., ORS/CSS for Utah) when working with incarcerated parents: 1) ORS/CSS may initiate a review and, if appropriate, adjust the child support order without requiring a request for review and adjustment after learning that a noncustodial parent will be incarcerated for more than 180 calendar days and upon notice to both parents; 2) ORS/CSS may notify both parents, within 15 days of learning that a parent will be incarcerated for more than 180 calendar days, of the right to request a review and adjustment and the place and manner in which the request should be made; or 3) the state must have a law or rule which modifies a child support order by operation of law upon incarceration. Under any of the three options available, ORS/CSS must be able to modify child support orders during periods of incarceration; therefore, this proposed amendment removes the statement banning this practice for ORS/CSS.

Summary of the rule or change:

Pursuant to a recent revision of 45 CFR 303.8 (published 12/20/2016), ORS/CSS must be able to review and adjust child support orders during periods of incarceration for one of the parents. Therefore, Section R527-231-2 is being amended to remove a sentence which states, "If either parent is incarcerated, ORS/CSS shall not be required to review and pursue adjustment of a support award."

Statutory or constitutional authorization for this rule:

• 45 CFR 303.8
• Section 62A-11-107
• Section 62A-11-320.6
• Section 62A-1-111
• Section 78B-12-210
• Section 62A-11-320.5

Anticipated cost or savings to:

the state budget:

While the underlying federal mandate to accommodate review and adjustment requests even during periods of incarceration will increase the number of review and adjustments completed by the ORS/CSS, the increased costs and workload are due to the underlying federal mandate, not to this proposed rule amendment. The amendment to this rule simply allows ORS/CSS to be in compliance with the federal mandate; therefore, there are no anticipated costs or savings directly related to the proposed amendment to this rule. Compliance with the federal regulations allows ORS/CSS to maintain a certified state plan in accordance with Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, which maintains Utah�s eligibility for federal funding of its Title IV-D (child support) program.

local governments:

Neither the review and adjustment process, nor the ability of ORS/CSS to complete that process for incarcerated parents, affects local governments; therefore, there are no anticipated costs or savings due to the proposed amendment for this rule.

small businesses:

Neither the review and adjustment process, nor the ability of ORS/CSS to complete that process for incarcerated parents, affects small businesses; therefore, there are no anticipated costs or savings due to the proposed amendment for this rule.

persons other than small businesses, businesses, or local governmental entities:

Neither the review and adjustment process, nor the ability of ORS/CSS to complete that process for incarcerated parents, affects persons other than small businesses, businesses, or local government entities; therefore, there are no anticipated costs or savings due to the proposed amendment for this rule.

Compliance costs for affected persons:

Affected persons related to the review and adjustment process would be the parents who are the subjects of child support orders. While participating in any review and adjustment process may involve incidental postal costs to the parents as they provide necessary documentation related to their incomes, those incidental costs are not altered due to this proposed rule amendment. Any review and adjustment process completed on behalf of parents by ORS/CSS saves the parents from paying court filing fees, attorney fees, etc. That said, this specific amendment simply allows the ORS/CSS to provide review and adjustment services during periods of incarceration in order to be in compliance with a new federal mandate to perform these services; therefore, there are no anticipated costs or savings for affected persons directly due to the proposed amendment for this rule.

Comments by the department head on the fiscal impact the rule may have on businesses:

This rule is being amended to remove one sentence related to ORS/CSS performing reviews and adjustments of child support orders while parents are incarcerated. The sentence must be removed in order for ORS/CSS to be compliant with a recent change to federal regulations. The review and adjustment process performed by ORS/CSS does not involve or affect private businesses. After conducting a thorough analysis, it was determined that the proposed amendment to this rule will not result in a fiscal impact to businesses.

Ann Williamson, Executive Director

The full text of this rule may be inspected, during regular business hours, at the Office of Administrative Rules, or at:

Human Services
Recovery Services
515 E 100 S
SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84102-4211

Direct questions regarding this rule to:

• Julene Robbins at the above address, by phone at 801-538-4521, by FAX at 801-538-3942, or by Internet E-mail at jhjonesrobbins@utah.gov
• Casey Cole at the above address, by phone at 801-741-7523, by FAX at 801-536-8509, or by Internet E-mail at cacole@utah.gov
• Kimia Golchin at the above address, by phone at 801-741-7409, by FAX at 801-536-8540, or by Internet E-mail at kimiagolchin@utah.gov

Interested persons may present their views on this rule by submitting written comments to the address above no later than 5:00 p.m. on:

10/31/2017

This rule may become effective on:

11/07/2017

Authorized by:

Liesa Stockdale, Director

R527. Human Services, Recovery Services.

R527-231. Review and Adjustment of Child Support Order.

R527-231-1. Authority and Purpose.

1. The Department of Human Services is authorized to create rules necessary for the provision of social services by Section 62A-1-111. The Office of Recovery Services is authorized to adopt, amend, and enforce rules as necessary by Section 62A-11-107.

2. The purpose of this rule is to provide details as to when the Office of Recovery Services/Child Support Services (ORS/CSS) may conduct a review of a Child Support Order. It specifies when a review will not be conducted and if a review has terminated, when an order may be reviewed again.

 

R527-231-2. Review and Adjustment of Child Support Order.

1. If the child is within one year of emancipation, ORS/CSS shall not be required to review the award for potential adjustment.

2. If the location of either parent is unknown, ORS/CSS shall not be required to review the support award for possible adjustment until both parents are located.

3. ORS/CSS shall pursue the setting of statutory child support guideline amounts in review and adjustment proceedings, based on the current and prospective incomes of the parties.[If either parent is incarcerated, ORS/CSS shall not be required to review and pursue adjustment of a support award.]

4. ORS/CSS shall pursue adjustment of a court order only for child support or medical support provisions. ORS/CSS shall not pursue modification of a court order for custody, visitation, property division or other non-child support related provisions.

5. If the parent requesting the review does not provide the necessary information for ORS/CSS to conduct the review, ORS/CSS shall send notice to the address on record for the requesting and non-requesting parents that the review process will be terminated unless the non-requesting parent requests that the review process continue.

6. If the review process is terminated, ORS/CSS shall not be required to review the order for a period of one year.

 

KEY: child support

Date of Enactment or Last Substantive Amendment: [May 15, 2008]2017

Notice of Continuation: November 3, 2015

Authorizing, and Implemented or Interpreted Law: 45 CFR 303.8; [ 78B-12-210; ] 62A-1-111; 62A-11-107; 62A-11-320.5; 62A-11-320.6 ; 78B-12-210