Arkansas law requires that all orders directing payments through the registry of the court or through the Arkansas Child Support Clearinghouse must set a fee to be paid by the noncustodial parent until the child support obligation has ended and there are no longer arrears due.

Payments made for this administrative fee may be made on an annual or quarterly basis online through the OCSE website, in the form of a check or money order payable to OCSE, or such other legal tender that OCSE may accept. This administrative fee payment is separate and apart from the support payment, and under no circumstances will the support payment be reduced to fulfill the payment of this fee. The administrative fee will not be assessed in the year that the case is entered in the system.

In addition, OCSE will petition the court for award of attorney fees and the cost associated with litigation, including the cost of paternity testing, and for the recovery of fees for child support services generated due to the failure of the NCP to pay his or her obligation. However, noncustodial parents who must cooperate with child support services as a condition of receiving SNAP benefits shall not be charged attorney fees or court costs, including the costs of paternity testing.

Costs and fees are charged to the custodial party who applies for OCSE services and in intergovernmental cases. However, pursuant to federal regulations, fees may not be charged:

Fees or costs for services including but not limited to legal fees noted below, generated because of a breach by the noncustodial parent of an agreement or a court order, will be incorporated into the request for relief and reduced to judgment in favor of OCSE against the noncustodial parent. Fees and costs based on such judgment and recovered from the noncustodial parent will offset fees assessed to the custodial party.

The cost schedule is as follows:

The OCSE Debt Recovery Section concentrates on the collection of debts, including but not limited to, administrative fees, costs, custodial party overpayments, and the collection of insufficient funds debt.

OCSE will make collection efforts in situations where income withholding is not possible. Those efforts may include, but are not limited to the following:

Child support payments collected in open enforcement cases, with the exception of federal income tax refund offsets, are distributed first to the support obligation due in the month in which the payment was collected. The date of collection is the date the payment was received at the Arkansas Child Support Clearinghouse. Collections are applied in the following manner.

As required by state and federal law, payments are disbursed directly to custodial parties within two business days of receipt and identification. In an intergovernmental responding case, payments are disbursed to the initiating child support program within two business days. Payment may not be made to private collection agencies or similar third parties.

Distribution and disbursement may be delayed only if:

There is a waiting period of 14 calendar days from the date the check was mailed before action can be taken on a lost or stolen check. However, if it is determined that the check was mailed to an incorrect address, the waiting period is only seven days. The intended recipient of the check must complete an affidavit and/or surety bond, as appropriate. After the waiting period and the necessary paperwork has been signed, a new check may be issued.

A check is considered stale-dated 180 calendar days after it was issued. If a payee is in possession of a stale-dated check, the check should be returned to OCSE and a replacement check will be issued. When a stale dated check becomes one year old and the payee cannot be located, the funds are redistributed and applied to arrears and/or fees, refunded to the noncustodial parent or payor, or sent to the state treasurer.

If the bank returns a check unpaid because of insufficient funds, OCSE will pursue payment in the manner required by law and may restrict the payor's check-writing privileges as permitted by Arkansas law and DFA policy.

When a payor bank or financial institution returns a check due to either a lack of funds to pay the demand or due to the absence of a valid account, that check may be subject to civil collection procedures, and referral to the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for criminal process. An attempt will be made to notify the maker of the check to allow for redemption. A service charge for all returned checks, is charged as allowed by state law.

If the payor responds to the notice and makes restitution before the record is submitted to the prosecuting attorney's office, civil remedies will not be pursued.

Payments made to the Arkansas Child Support Clearinghouse may be made by check, money order, cashier's check, through OCSE MyCase by credit card or eCheck, or any other form of payment that may be available through the Office of Child Support Enforcement. Cash payments are discouraged.

In order to ensure proper credit is given for payments made, all child support payments should be made through the Arkansas Child Support Clearinghouse.

If a custodial party who has an open enforcement case receives payment directly from a noncustodial parent, the money must be forwarded to the Arkansas Child Support Clearinghouse to ensure that the payment is properly recorded. If a recipient of TEA or Medicaid fails to forward a payment made directly from the noncustodial parent, the result may be a reduction in or a loss of benefits. OCSE must notify the IV-A agency of the amount of the collection, which represents payments on the required support obligation for the month, within 10 business days of the end of the month in which the support is received.