Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1) Definition. As used in this rule, the
term "support obligations, " which is defined by section
443.051(1)(b),
F.S., means legally ordered payments or amounts due under a court order,
administrative order, or judgment being enforced by the Department and that is
issued by this state, another state, or a foreign country.
(2) Data exchange with the Department of
Economic Opportunity.
(a) The Department
receives data files periodically from the Department of Economic Opportunity
and compares the reemployment assistance (formerly known as unemployment
compensation) applicant information on the files to its own records of parents
who owe support obligations and parents against whom the Department is seeking
to establish a support obligation.
(b) If a name and social security number on a
data file matches with a parent in the Department's records the Department adds
the reemployment assistance information from the file to the parent's child
support case record.
(c) When a
data file includes reemployment assistance applicants who do not match with a
parent in the Department's records the Department retains the nonmatching data
for two years. The Department uses the data to perform data matching against
parents with new cases opened by the Department during the two-year retention
period.
(3) Notifying the
Department of Economic Opportunity of the withholding percentage.
(a) When the Department reports the names of
reemployment assistance applicants owing support obligations as required by
section 443.051, F.S., the Department
reports the withholding amount as a percentage of the reemployment assistance
benefit amount.
(b) If a court
enters a support order on or after July 1, 2006, that requires a reemployment
assistance withholding percentage that is different than the 40 percent
prescribed in section
443.051(3)(b),
F.S., the Department reports the court-ordered reemployment assistance
withholding percentage.
(4) Maximum withholding percentage.
(a) The Department limits the reemployment
assistance withholding percentage it reports to the Department of Economic
Opportunity to no more than 50 percent of a parent's reemployment
assistance.
(b)
1. When a parent has more than one support
order requiring withholding from reemployment assistance, the Department adds
the withholding percentages from each of the orders and reports the combined
withholding percentage to the Department of Economic Opportunity. For example,
if a parent has two orders that each require withholding 20 percent from
reemployment assistance, the total combined withholding percentage the
Department reports for the parent is 40 percent.
2. When a parent has more than one support
order requiring withholding from reemployment assistance and the combined
withholding percentage exceeds 50 percent, the Department reports 50 percent as
the withholding percentage. For example, if the parent has two support orders
that each require withholding from reemployment assistance at a rate of 40
percent (totaling 80 percent), the Department reports 50 percent to the
Department of Economic Opportunity as the parent's withholding
percentage.
(5)
Refunding collections that exceed the support obligation.
(a) If the withholding exceeds the parent's
total support obligation, including any delinquencies, arrearages, and
retroactive support, the Department shall refund the amount of the excess
withholding to the parent.
(b) In
addition to refunding excess withholding amounts, the Department shall
calculate an adjusted withholding percentage that does not exceed the parent's
support obligation and notify the Department of Economic Opportunity of the
adjusted withholding percentage.
(c) If a subsequent reemployment assistance
collection is withheld that exceeds the total support obligation as described
in paragraph (5)(a), before the Department of Economic Opportunity implements
the adjusted withholding percentage, the Department shall promptly refund the
excess amount to the parent.
(6) To avoid withholding from reemployment
assistance that exceeds the support obligation, the Department adjusts the
withholding percentage when a parent who owes a support obligation contacts the
Department if:
(a) The amount withheld exceeds
the parent's support obligations, in which case the Department reduces the
reemployment assistance withholding percentage to the highest percentage that
does not exceed the support obligations;
(b) The parent is paying the entire amount of
the support obligation by income deduction from an income source other than
reemployment assistance, in which case the Departmentadjusts the reemployment
assistance withholding percentage to zero, or
(c) The deductions from an income source
other than reemployment assistance satisfy only part of the support obligation,
in which case the Department adjusts the reemployment assistance withholding
percentage to the highest percentage that does not exceed the support
obligation taking into account the deductions from the other income
source.
(7) Support
obligations for more than one case. When a parent owes support obligations for
more than one child support case, the Department allocates each reemployment
assistance withholding collection among the parent's cases in the same
proportion as the reemployment assistance withholding percentage for each of
the parent's support obligations. The following examples illustrate the
allocation method.
(a) Example 1. If a parent
has support obligations in two cases that have the same reemployment assistance
withholding percentage, the Department splits the collection evenly and
allocates the same amount to each case.
(b) Example 2. If a parent has support
obligations in three cases that all have the same withholding percentage, the
Department splits the collection evenly and allocates the same amount to each
case.
(c) Example 3. If a parent
has support obligations in two cases, and the withholding percentage is 20
percent in the first case and 40 percent in the second case, the Department
allocates one-third of the collection to the first case and two-thirds of the
collection to the second case.
(8) Payment receipts. The Department shall
provide either parent with a record of reemployment assistance withholding
collections upon request.
(9)
Bankruptcy. When a Chapter 11, 12, or 13 bankruptcy case is filed for a parent
who owes a support obligation and the Department receives the first
reemployment assistance withholding collection before a bankruptcy plan is
confirmed, withholding support from the parent's reemployment assistance
continues until the bankruptcy plan is confirmed.
Rulemaking Authority
409.2557 FS. Law Implemented
409.2557,
443.051
FS.
New 9-19-17.
