The California Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) has issued new policy regarding the use of suppressions of child support enforcement actions.

Suppressions shall not be placed on Financial Institution Data Match because this is considered a locate tool.

Suppressions shall not exceed 12 months except for bankruptcy and interest suppressions.  Bankruptcy suppressions are reviewed by Local Child Support Agency legal counsel.

Credit reporting must be suppressed for noncustodial parents who are incarcerated for more than 90 consecutive days unless the noncustodial parent has the means to pay or incarceration is for domestic violence or failure to pay child support.

Interest can only be suppressed because of a court order or active out-of-state order.

Income Withholding Orders can only be suppressed when there is a court court order that the wage assignment is stayed, the parties file a stipulation with the court and the noncustodial parent is compliant every month, or social security derivative benefits exceed the court ordered obligation.  (CSSP Letter 19-02, February 12, 2019.)

The California Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) has issued new policy regarding forwarding court documents received from individuals seeking or receiving child support services which contain confidential information.

The new policy is that Local Child Support Agencies must forward forms, attachments, and documents received from individuals seeking or receiving child support services to the courts unaltered.  DCSS states that the responsibility for redacting confidential information is with the party that wrote the document.

Local Child Support Agencies must inform individuals seeking or receiving child support services that documents submitted to the court are public records that are available for review upon submission.  (CSSP Letter 19-01, February 13, 2019.)

The Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) has issued an index of child support program policies.  The index indicates which policies are current, obsolete, superseded or informational.  DCSS is working on a procedures manual to provide guidance and this index is part of that project.

This index is important because it provides a reference for which DCSS letters and other policy documents can currently be relied upon.  (CSSP Letter 18-10, December 18, 2018.)

The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has issued guidance regarding enforcement of child support orders against persons who receive either concurrent SSI and Social Security Disability or concurrent SSI and Social Security Retirement benefits.

States can close cases where the obligor parent receives concurrent SSI and Social Security Disability or concurrent SSI and Social Security Retirement benefits.

States cannot garnish concurrent SSI and Social Security Disability or concurrent SSI and Social Security Retirement benefits.  States cannot send income withholding orders to Social Security to withhold the Social Security Disability or Social Security Retirement portions of concurrent benefits.  If benefits are improperly garnished, they must be returned within 5 business days after the child support agency makes that decision.  States can continue to garnish benefits from obligors who receive only Social Security Disability or only Social Security Retirement.

(PIQ 18-02, June 25, 2018.)

The California Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) has issued a new policy about release of judgment liens.  LSCAs are required to record real property liens as part of enforcing child support orders.  LCSA must release real property liens when closing a case.

Existing regulations allow Local Child Support Agencies (LCSAs) to either record lien releases or provide lien releases to obligors to record.  Effective January 1, 2018, the fee to record a release of lien is $75.  LCSAs are exempt from the new fee.  For that reason, LCSAs must now record record Release of Judgment Liens on behalf of the obligor unless an obligor asks to record it themselves or through an escrow transaction.

LCSA can record lien releases without a notary certificate.  Obligors must still provide a notary certificate if they record a lien release themselves.  (CSSP Letter 17-11, December 29, 2017.)