WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY SERVICES

CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT DIVISION

CHILD SUPPORT RULES

CHAPTER 4

GENERAL SERVICES

Section 1.     Location of Noncustodial Parent.

 

(a) Title IV-D Services - In Title IV-D cases, CSED shall attempt to locate noncustodial parents and their resources to establish parentage, and/or support obligations (if required), to enforce obligations, to collect support payments and to review support orders for adjustments. CSED shall use appropriate location sources such as: The FPLS, interstate location networks, local officials and employees administering public assistance, general assistance, medical assistance, food stamps and social services (whether such individuals are employed by the state or political subdivision), relatives and friends of the noncustodial parent, current or past employers, the local telephone company, the U.S. Postal Service, financial references, unions, fraternal organization, and police, parole, and probation records if appropriate, and state agencies and departments, as authorized by state law, including those departments which maintain records of public assistance, wages and employment, unemployment insurance, income taxation, driver's licenses, vehicle registration, and criminal records and other sources.

 

(b) Non-PA Parental Location Only Services - In cases where parental location only services are being provided, CSED will attempt to locate the most recent address and employer of the noncustodial parent.

 

(c) Parental Kidnapping or Custody Determinations - Where parental location only services are provided in a parental kidnapping or custody determination cases, CSED shall attempt to locate the most recent address and employer of the parent or child. Access to information obtained for this purpose is restricted to authorized person(s) as defined by 463(d)(2) of the Act whose duties require access in connection with child custody and parental kidnapping cases. The information shall be sent to the requester and no other use shall be made of the information.

 

 

 

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(d) Location and Verification of Employers and Benefits - Where the identity or location of any individual who is a party to a case is necessary, Wyo. Stat. § 20-6-106(m)(viii) requires all persons, including government, private for-profit employers and not-for-profit employers and public utility companies to respond to a request by DFS for information on social security number, address, employment, compensation and benefits of any individual for any individual who owes or is owed support, or against or with respect to whom a support obligation is sought, and who is employed by the person as an employee or contractor, in accordance with rules adopted by DFS. CSED or any other state's agency providing services under Title IV-D of the Act may require any employer of an individual to provide information on the employment, compensation, and benefits of an individual, whether employed as an employee or as a contractor. The request shall be in writing and include the following:

 

(i) The name of the individual whose information is sought;

 

(ii) CSED’s statutory authority to request the information; and

 

(iii) The nature of the information requested.

 

(e) CSED may issue an administrative subpoena for financial or other information needed to establish, modify or enforce a support order.

 

(i) The Title IV-D Director shall sign the administrative subpoena and it shall be served via certified mail or personal service.

 

(ii) CSED may impose administrative penalties not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25) on any person failing to respond.

 

(iii) The subpoena may be contested solely by petitioning the district court.

 

(iv) These provisions satisfy the due process requirements of Wyo. Stat. § 20-6-106(s).

 

Section 2.               Paternity Establishment.

 

(a) CSED shall provide an alleged father the opportunity to voluntarily acknowledge paternity.

 

(b) CSED shall attempt to establish paternity by legal process established under state law.

 

 

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(c) CSED need not attempt to establish paternity in any case involving incest or forcible rape, or in any case in which legal proceedings for adoption are pending, if, in the opinion of the Title IV-D agency, it would not be in the best interest of the child(ren) to establish paternity.

 

(d) Genetic Testing - CSED shall facilitate the scheduling of genetic tests to determine paternity when appropriate.

 

(e) In a contested paternity case, CSED shall require the child(ren) and all other parties to submit to genetic testing if a sworn statement supports the request for genetic testing. The sworn statement shall allege paternity and set forth facts establishing a reasonable possibility of the requisite sexual contact between the parties or shall deny paternity and set forth facts establishing a reasonable possibility of the nonexistence of sexual contact between the parties.

 

(f) Administrative Genetic Testing Orders - CSED may issue administrative orders for genetic testing at any time after the filing of a paternity action and following service on all necessary parties to the action. These administrative orders are subject to the following requirements which satisfy the due process requirements of Wyo. Stat. § 20-6-106(s).

 

(i) Administrative orders shall not be used where there is a presumed father;

 

(ii) Administrative orders shall be in a form approved by CSED and signed by the child support attorney appearing in the case;

 

(iii) Administrative orders may be appealed to the appropriate district court.

 

(g) CSED shall petition the court for recovery of genetic testing costs in all cases.

 

Section 3.     Establishment of Support Obligation.

 

In Title IV-D cases without court ordered support, CSED may take steps necessary to establish a support obligation including, but not limited to, a court order for child support, medical support or health care coverage.

 

Section 4.     Review and Adjustment of Support Obligation.

 

In Title IV-D cases with current support orders:

 

 

 

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(a) At least every three (3) years CSED shall notify each party subject to a child support order of their right to request a review of that order and CSED may take steps necessary to review that order and may petition to adjust a support obligation.

 

(b) Within one hundred eighty (180) calendar days of receiving a request for a review or locating the non-requesting parent, whichever occurs later, CSED shall conduct a review of the order and adjust the order or determine that the order should not be adjusted, in accordance with this section.

 

(c)  Every three (3) years, upon the request of either parent or if there is an assignment in effect under part IV-A of the Social Security Act, CSED shall review each support order being enforced under Title IV-D and, if appropriate, shall file a petition for the court to adjust the child support order in accordance with the statutory child support guidelines.

 

Section 5.     Guidelines.

 

When establishing and reviewing child support orders, CSED shall apply the statutory presumptive child support guideline amount.

 

Section 6.     Enforcement of Support Orders.

 

(a) In Title IV-D cases requiring enforcement, CSED may take steps necessary to enforce support orders including any remedies provided by federal or state law.

 

(b) In Title IV-D cases where the noncustodial parent is required to provide health care coverage pursuant to a child support order and for whom the employer is known, CSED shall enforce the provision of health care coverage for children, where appropriate, through the National Medical Support Notice as provided by federal or state law unless alternative coverage is allowed for in any order of the court or tribunal issuing the child support order or unless CSED has determined that satisfactory alternative coverage is currently provided for the children.

 

(i) Where appropriate, CSED shall transfer the National Medical Support Notice to the employer within two (2) business days after an employee who is an obligor in a Title IV-D case is entered in the State Directory of New Hires. This transfer may be by electronic means.

 

(ii) The obligor has twenty (20) days from the date of receipt of the National Medical Support Notice within which to request a hearing or the opportunity for a hearing may be deemed waived.

 

 

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(A) The request for hearing shall be made in writing to the court or tribunal of appropriate jurisdiction, with notice to CSED; and

 

(B) The request for hearing shall state the basis upon which the hearing is requested.

 

(iii) The obligor may contest the withholding based on any lawful grounds, including mistake of fact, according to the provisions of paragraph (ii) above. If the obligor contests withholding based on any lawful grounds, the employer shall initiate withholding until such time as the employer receives notice from the CSED that the contest is resolved.

 

(iv) The CP, in consultation with CSED, shall promptly select from available insurance plan options when the insurance plan administrator reports that there is more than one (1) option available under the plan and shall take into consideration the income withholding of, and cost to, the obligor.

 

(v) CSED shall promptly notify the employer when there is no longer a current order for medical support in effect for which the Title IV-D agency is responsible.

 

(c) CSED shall conform with the federal regulations and state law concerning medical support including use of National Medical Support Notice where mandated.

 

Section 7.     Services.

 

Services provided by CSED are limited to those child support services defined and required by the Act.

 

Section 8.     Legal Services.

           

(a) CSED shall have a cause of action with respect to and may initiate, join, intervene or prosecute in any action for the establishment, enforcement, or modification of support, or establishment of parentage in any Title IV-D case. Such actions may be brought and maintained in CSED’s own name.

 

(b) CSED, its contractors and its attorneys, do not represent individual parties in any Title IV-D actions. Attorneys contracted with or employed by CSED represent the interest of the State of Wyoming's Title IV-D agency or another state's Title IV-D agency and not the interest of any other party. No attorney-client relationship exists or is created between child support attorneys and individuals involved in Title IV-D actions.

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(c) CSED shall determine, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, whether to appeal an adverse decision. Decisions to appeal shall be based on the best interest of the State of Wyoming.

 

Section 9.     Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.

 

          CSED shall comply with UIFSA in processing all interstate Title IV-D cases.

 

Section 10.    In-state and Multistate Financial Institution Data Match.

 

(a) Wyo. Stat. § 20-6-106(u) provides that DFS shall enter into agreements with financial institutions, national chartered credit unions, benefit associations, insurance companies, safe deposit companies, money market mutual funds or similar entities authorized to do business in the state, as provided in Wyo. Stat. § 13-1-205, to develop and operate an automated data match system to obtain identifying information for each obligor who maintains an account at the institution and who owes past due child support in an amount equal to at least triple the current monthly child support obligation and to allow assets to be encumbered as provided by law.

 

(b) Section 466 of the Act provides for an automated data match between files from states transmitted through FPLS and account records of financial institutions doing business in two (2) or more states.

 

(c) CSED shall comply with state and federal laws and regulations regarding financial institution data matching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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