Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 1240 - Human Services
Subtitle 1240-02 - Child Support Services Division
Chapter 1240-02-02 - Forms for Withholding of Income for Child Support
Section 1240-02-02-.02 - DEFINITIONS

(1) "Arrearage or "Arrears" means any occasion on which the full amount of support ordered for or on behalf of a minor child, or for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor with whom the child is living to the extent the spousal support would be included for the purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 654a(e)(4), is not paid by the due date for arrears as defined in T.C.A. § 36-5-101(f)(1) unless an income assignment is in effect and the payer of income is paying pursuant to subsection T.C.A. § 36-5-501(g), thus the date payment is made is affected by the operation of the income assignment. Arrears or arrearage may also be known as and referred to in these rules as "past-due" or "overdue" support.

(2) "Business entity" means any private or public, profit or non-profit organization, association or institution of any kind which produces goods, products, or which performs services of any kind.

(3) "Child support" or "support" for purposes of this chapter means a judgment, decree, or order, whether temporary, final or subject to modification issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or an administrative agency of competent jurisdiction, for the support and maintenance of a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the state which issued the order, and shall include the support of a parent with whom the child is living, and which order, judgment or decree provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, or reimbursement, and which may include related costs and fees, interest, penalties, income withholding, attorneys fees and other relief.

(4) "Clerk" means, for purposes of this chapter, the official and his or her employees who maintain the court records for any court involving child or spousal support cases and who provide any related services in such cases.

(5) "Delinquency" or "Delinquent" shall have the same meaning as the terms "arrearage" or "arrears".

(6) "Department" means the Tennessee Department of Human Services or its contractors who provide child support services in the courts of Tennessee to the Department as part of the Department's responsibilities under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.

(7) "Employer" means the person, corporation or other business entity who or which engages a person to perform any services for compensation and shall include the federal government, a state government or any political subdivision thereof, and any institution or other business entity which has in its control funds due to be paid to a person who is obligated to pay child support.

(8) "Income assignment" or "Income withholding" means the process by which the income due or to be paid or credited to an employee or other recipient of income is, for the purpose of paying child or spousal support, directed by an Income Withholding for Support Order to be withheld by the employer or other payer of income pursuant to an original or modified child or spousal support order of the court or an administrative order of the Department of Human Services, its contractor or other Title IV-D child support agency.

(9) "Income Withholding for Support" refers to the form promulgated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which is the basic form required by HHS to be utilized for orders for withholding of the income of an employee or other recipient of income within Tennessee and for issuance to employers or other payers of income to obligors in other states. The form "Income Withholding for Support" is an Order for Income Assignment, and is also known as, and may be referred to in these rules as an "Order for Income Withholding", "Order for Income Assignment" or "Income Assignment", "Income Assignment Order" or "Assignment", and shall have the same meaning unless otherwise clearly required by the context.

(10) "Obligee" means the person or agency to whom an obligation of child or spousal support is owed by an obligor.

(11) "Obligor" means the person who owes a duty of support for a child to the child's parent or caretaker.

(12) "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 for whom the individual also owes support. Income assignments pursuant to this chapter shall apply to obligations for support of spouses as defined in this Paragraph and in Paragraph (3).

(13) "TCSES" means the Tennessee Child Support Enforcement System operated by the Department of Human Services containing data and functions for the recording of child or spousal support data and for collection, distribution, and disbursement of child and spousal support payments.