Assigned to FS                                                                                                             AS PASSED BY THE SENATE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Forty-seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session

AMENDED

FACT SHEET FOR H.B. 2488

child support enforcement; performance audit

Purpose

            Eliminates the expiration date for unpaid child support judgments not reduced to a written money judgment.  Requires the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) to conduct a special audit of the Department of Economic Security (DES) Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE).

Background

            Title IV-D of the Social Security Act outlines federal requirements for state child support enforcement.  DCSE administers Arizona’s child support program.  The services DCSE provides include: finding noncustodial parents whose whereabouts are unknown; legally establishing paternity for children born out of wedlock; obtaining a court order indicating the monthly amount the noncustodial parent must pay to help support the child; and collection enforcement through income withholding, tax offsets, asset seizures and various other remedies. 

Currently, unpaid child support expires three years after the emancipation of the last remaining unemancipated child who was included in the court order, unless past due child support is reduced to a written judgment.  Once obtained, written judgments are exempt from renewal and enforceable until paid in full (A.R.S. § 25-503).  Statute authorizes DES to use a variety of administrative remedies to collect past due child support, such as income withholding orders and liens on property. 

In 2002, Jack Hayden filed a petition seeking to terminate administrative collection efforts by DES with respect to unpaid child support, claiming that his obligation to pay child support had expired because the court order for child support had not been reduced to a judgment within the statutory timeframe.  On July 1, 2005, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that: 1) the child support obligation is statutorily transformed into a temporary judgment and 2) when the judgment expires, so does the obligation.  State v. Hayden, 210 Ariz. 522, 155 P.3d 116 (2005).  This decision prevents DES from collecting past due child support in cases where three years has passed since emancipation of the last child and the custodial parent or DES has not obtained a written judgment.  Past due child support may be owed to DES if the custodial parent received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families while support was owed.

There may be a positive fiscal impact to DES associated with removing the expiration date on past due child support not reduced to a written money judgment.  In addition, there may be a fiscal impact to OAG associated with this legislation, unless the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) reduces the number of audits OAG is required to perform.

Provisions

Child Support Expiration Date

1. Eliminates the expiration date of three years after the emancipation of the last child for unpaid child support judgments that are not reduced to a written money judgment.

2. Deletes specified situations where the expiration date does not apply and the requirement to notify parties to child support orders of the expiration date.

3. Allows the child support obligor to assert as a defense that there was an unreasonable delay in attempting to collect child support debt if DES or the child support obligee attempts to collect the debt more than ten years after the emancipation of the youngest child.  The obligor has the burden of proving an unreasonable delay.

4. Allows the court, if it finds there was an unreasonable delay, to determine that some or all of the debt is no longer collectible after the date of the finding.

Paternity Findings

5. Allows a presumptive father to petition the court to terminate a child support order.

6. Requires the court to order the petitioner, each child and the child’s mother to submit to genetic testing to determine the child’s inherited characteristics.

7. Requires the court to vacate the determination of paternity and terminate the child support obligation if the court finds that the petitioner is not the child’s biological father.

8. Allows the court to terminate an order for child support if the court finds that paternity was established by fraud, duress or material mistake of fact. 

9. Provides that court orders terminating child support obligations are prospective and do not alter the obligation to pay child support arrearages or any other amount previously ordered by the court, unless the court orders otherwise.

10. Provides that the petitioner’s support obligations continue in effect until the court has ruled in favor of the petitioner.

11. Allows the court to order the biological father to pay restitution to the petitioner for any child support paid before the court ruled in favor of the petitioner, if the court finds that it is in the child’s best interests.

Special Audit of DCSE

12. Requires OAG to conduct a special audit of DCSE to assess performance of the following:

a) the number of misdirected support payments and the number of demand letters sent in error or with erroneous information.

b) the accuracy of the system by which DCSE records the receipt and transfer of payments and the system used to track changes relating to payees.

c) the adequacy of the equipment used to communicate between agencies, the timeliness of processing court orders, the methodology used to collect payments, the accessibility of information to the public and any other DCSE function necessary to complete an accurate and timely audit.

13. Requires OAG to submit copies of the special audit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of State and the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records by November 15, 2007.

Miscellaneous

14. Makes technical and conforming changes.

15. Becomes effective on the general effective date.

Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole:

1. Eliminates the expiration date for unpaid child support judgments that are not reduced to a written money judgment.

2. Allows the child support obligor to assert as a defense, with the burden of proving, that there was an unreasonable delay in attempting to collect child support debt if DES or the child support obligee attempts to collect the debt more than ten years after the emancipation of the youngest child. 

3. Allows the court, if it finds there was an unreasonable delay, to determine that some or all of the debt is no longer collectible after the date of the finding.

4. Allows a presumptive father to petition the court to terminate a child support order and requires the court to order the petitioner, each child and the child’s mother to submit to genetic testing to determine the child’s inherited characteristics.

5. Requires the court to terminate a child support obligation if it finds the presumptive father is not the biological father and allows the court to order the biological father to pay restitution for child support paid by the presumptive father. 

House Action Senate Action

GRGFA          2/8/06     DP     4-2-0-1                       FS                    3/20/06     DP     3-2-0-0

3^rd Read           3/6/06               44-11-5-0                   3^rd Read           4/17/06               19-9-2-0

Prepared by Senate Research

April 18, 2006

KM/JR/jas