Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 3, September 1, 2024
RELATES TO: KRS 194A.050, 205.710-205.800, 403.210-403.240,
405.440, 405.520, 407.5101-407.5903, 45 C.F.R. 302.31, 302.33-302.38, 302.50-302.54, 302.56, 302.60, 302.80, 303.2-303.4, 303.6, 303.8, 303.15, 303.30-303.31, 303.70, 303.100-303.102, 42 U.S.C. 651 et seq.
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 194B.050 requires the
Cabinet for Health and Family Services to promulgate administrative regulations
to administer the Child Support Enforcement Program (CSEP). This administrative
regulation establishes definitions of terms used by the cabinet in
administrative regulations pertaining to the Child Support Enforcement
Program.
Section 1. Definitions of
terms utilized in administrative regulations relating to the Child Support
Enforcement Program are as follows:
(1)
"Administrative hearing" means the process whereby a parent's objections to
administrative determinations of the cabinet are heard by an impartial hearing
officer upon a timely request.
(2)
"Arrearage" means the total unpaid support obligation owed by a noncustodial
parent or obligor.
(3) "Assigned
support obligation" means any child support, spousal support, or medical
support obligation assigned to the state.
(4) "Assignment of rights" means the written
transfer of rights to any child support, medical support, or spousal support
obligation to the state.
(5) "CSEP"
means the Child Support Enforcement Program.
(6) "Custodial parent" means either a mother,
father, or any other person or entity that may have standing to request
services on behalf of a dependent child who is living in the home with the
child.
(7) "Default" means the
noncustodial parent's or obligor's failure to return a financial statement or
to keep an appointment, and the noncustodial parent's or obligor's income and
assets cannot be obtained and verified from another source to determine a
support obligation based on the Kentucky child support guidelines.
(8) "Distribution" means either a
disbursement of a collection to the family or an allotment of various portions
of the collection to the state and federal government for the reimbursement of
the share of the K-TAP assistance payment to the family, or money expended for
a child in the custody of the state.
(9) "Escrow" means the difference between the
amount of the assistance payment for the month in which the amount of the
collection is used to redetermine eligibility and either the monthly obligation
or the amount collected, whichever is less.
(10) "Excess collections" means the amount of
the collection which exceeds the monthly obligation amount.
(11) "Income" means earnings or other
periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject
to withholding for support as described in KRS 205.710(10), (11), (15) and
403.212(2).
(12) "Income
withholding for support" means an administrative order issued by the cabinet,
or a judicial order to an obligor's employer to withhold an amount equal to the
current obligation plus an amount to be applied toward liquidation of any
arrearage, and if applicable, the employee-paid share of the cost of health
insurance coverage for a dependent child.
(13) "Initiating tribunal" means the tribunal
of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is
forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding
to another state or foreign country.
(14) "Intergovernmental IV-D case" means a
IV-D case in which the noncustodial parent lives or works in a different
jurisdiction than the custodial parent and the child or children that have been
referred by an initiating tribunal to a responding state for services,
including:
(a) Any combination of referrals
between states, tribes and countries; or
(b) Cases in which a state agency is seeking
only to collect support arrearages, whether owed to the family or assigned to
the state.
(15) "Kentucky
Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP)" means Kentucky's Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) money payment program for children who are deprived
of parental support or care due to:
(a)
Death, continued voluntary or involuntary absence, physical or mental
incapacity of a parent; or
(b)
Unemployment of at least one (1) parent if both parents are in the
home.
(16) "Location"
means the determination of a parent's location, income, assets, property, or
debt as provided by KRS 205.730(5).
(17) "Noncustodial parent" or "obligor" means
either a mother or father of a dependent child who is not living in the home
with the child as well as a description of the alleged father in a paternity
case.
(18) "Notice of monthly
support obligation" means an administrative order issued by the cabinet as
specified in KRS 405.440 notifying the noncustodial parent, or obligor, of the
child support and medical support obligation and of the noncustodial parent's,
or obligor's right to request an administrative hearing.
(19) "Offset" means to set aside federal or
state, or both, income tax refunds or nonexempt federal payments due a
noncustodial parent, or obligor, as a means of collecting past-due child
support.
(20) "Preoffset notice"
means a letter notifying a noncustodial parent, or obligor, who owes an
arrearage that the arrearage has been certified for state and federal tax
refund intercept, state tax refund intercept only, passport denial or
revocation, administrative offset of nonexempt federal payments, offset of
lottery winnings, and to certified consumer credit reporting
agencies.
(21) "Public assistance"
means the receipt of K-TAP, including child care or work subsidies and
vouchers, Medicaid, or foster care benefits.
(22) "Responding state" means a state in
which a petition or comparable pleading for support or to determine parentage
of a child is filed or to which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded
for filing from another state or foreign country.
(23) "Spousal support" means a legally
enforceable obligation assessed against an individual for the support of a
spouse or former spouse who is living with a child or children of that
individual, even if child support is not part of the order.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: KRS 194A.050, 205.710-205.800, 405.440,
405.520, 42 U.S.C. 651 et seq.