OCSE will pursue collection of child and medical support obligations and utilize all appropriate administrative and judicial remedies available under State law. Once an order is established, the noncustodial parent is responsible for making payments by the date set in the order. Enforcement of support obligations will be initiated on the date the noncustodial parent fails to make payments in an amount equal to one month of support.

Upon completion of legal activity necessary to establish an obligation for support and the amount of the support obligation, the case will be returned to the caseworker, who will be responsible for monitoring payments made by the noncustodial parent to ensure that he or she complies with the support obligation. A child support obligation commences on the date specified in the order. If no start date is set out in the order, the first payment falls due on the date the order was filed with the clerk of court.

Enforcement through income withholding, intercept of unemployment benefits or workers' compensation benefits, income tax intercept, additional payments ordered to be paid on the child support arrearage or judgment, contempt proceedings, or any other means of collection shall be available for the collection of a child support arrearage or judgment until such is satisfied.

Administrative remedies must be attempted and exhausted before judicial remedies begin. Judicial remedies must be taken in accordance with expedited process timeframes. The most common judicial remedy is a motion and order to appear and show cause. Cases will be reviewed by the assigned attorney for next appropriate action.

Caseworkers must use all appropriate administrative methods as described in this chapter to enforce orders as the remedy of first choice. If administrative remedies have failed or are inappropriate, court action to enforce orders should then be used as a last resort.

Past-due child support, also known as arrears, constitutes a judgment by operation of law and is subject to garnishment even in the absence of a court-ordered judgment on arrears. State law allows for the garnishment of wages until the total amount of child support judgment and costs are paid. Other sources of income, such as bank accounts, may also be garnished. The portion of VA benefits received in lieu of retired/retainer pay is subject to garnishment. The caseworker shall make a diligent effort to locate all sources of money belonging to the noncustodial parent and keep an accurate record of all attempts to locate money sources. Should the caseworker locate a money source belonging to the noncustodial parent and an arrearage exists, the caseworker should consult with the appropriate OCSE attorney. All necessary, proper, and reasonable steps to garnish said money source will be taken.

Income withholding is used as an initial enforcement effort if the noncustodial parent is employed or if there is another source of periodic income subject to withholding.

Every court order should contain an order for the immediate withholding of income unless (1) the court finds that there is good cause not to implement withholding, or (2) the parties enter into an alternative agreement regarding withholding which is incorporated into the court order. For open enforcement cases, OCSE will include income withholding in every child support order.

OCSE, an attorney representing the custodial party, or the custodial party may initiate the income withholding process. An additional amount equal to 20% of the periodic payment must be deducted to apply against any accrued arrearage unless the court orders a specific amount or a set percentage to be paid on arrears.

OCSE must issue a wage withholding notice within 15 calendar days from receipt of the order if the employer's address is known on that date, thereafter within two business days of the date the employer's address is obtained, or two business days from electronic notice of the employer's address, such as from New Hire.

By law, the employer must begin the withholding no later than the first pay period that occurs after 14 calendar days following the date the notice was mailed.

In the case of court orders which do not address income withholding, Arkansas law provides for payment of child support obligations by mandatory initiated income withholding. Initiated income withholding must take effect when the amount of the delinquency is equal to the total court-ordered support payable for 30 calendar days and upon proper notice to the noncustodial parent. The provision will also apply when partial payments have been made but total arrears are equal to the obligation due for one month.

Arkansas law requires that orders for payment of money for the support and care of any children include a provision for the withholding of the full amount of past due support owed by the noncustodial parent not to exceed 50% of the net lump-sum payment (entire amount of lump-sum less any amount required by law to be withheld) paid to the noncustodial parent. Lump sum payments are defined as a form of income paid to an individual at other than regular or periodic intervals; payment regardless of frequency that is dependent upon meeting a condition precedent, including the performance of a contract; a job performance standard or quota; the liquidation of unused sick or vacation pay or leave; the settlement of a claim; or an award for length of service.

Income withholding can be used to offset payments from Social Security Disability (SSD) Benefits.

If there is a lump sum disability payment made to the noncustodial parent, OCSE may intercept up to 50% of the payment to be paid towards arrears.

If there is a lump sum disability payment made to the family, OCSE will seek a determination from the court whether the noncustodial parent is entitled to credit against the child support order for the SSA lump sum payment.

State law provides for an information exchange with the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) and the withholding of Unemployment Insurance Benefits (UIB) to apply against a court-ordered child support obligation. Intercept of UIB is subject to income withholding for the amount of the obligation. The amount withheld cannot exceed Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) limits.

In order to be considered for withholding of UIB, there must be a valid court order for child support, and the court order must direct DWS to withhold from UIB, or the noncustodial parent must agree that DWS will withhold from UIB

State law authorizes the withholding of Workers' Compensation benefits for child support. Up to 25% of periodic payments or up to 50% of lump sum payments may be withheld.

State law also authorizes a data match between Worker's Compensation Commission files and OCSE files on a monthly basis.

Custodial parties and other state child support agencies are not required to open a child support case with OCSE to offset Worker's Compensation benefits paid to the noncustodial parent. The Commission will accept a lien, a notice to withhold, a court order or a divorce decree directly from the custodial party, the other state agency, or private attorneys representing the parties.

The Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) and State law limits the amount of wages that are subject to withholding for support. The maximum amounts are expressed in percentages and depend on two variables:

Below is the breakdown of which percentage applies.

If the total to be withheld for current and past-due support exceeds CCPA limits and if all notices and orders for current support have been satisfied, the employer shall make prorated disbursements of the remaining amount available for disbursement toward arrears. Prorated means the proportionate amount each notice or order for payment of past due support bears to the total amount due for payment of past due support under all notices and orders.

The only grounds available to an obligor to contest wage withholding are that the person who received the notice was not the person obligated to pay the support, the arrears are incorrect, or the current support amount is incorrect. OCSE will conduct an informal review of the income withholding order issued by the agency, upon the request of the noncustodial party, to confirm that he or she is the person identified as the person who owes the support and that the amount of current and past-due support is correct. However, if the noncustodial parent wants to request a hearing with the court, he or she must do so within 10 calendar days of the date of the notice of income withholding. Once implemented, income withholding remains in effect, following the noncustodial parent from one employer to another until the support obligation is terminated or is set aside by the court.

If withholding is contested within 10 calendar days, the caseworker will immediately forward the case to the Supervisor/Field Manager for administrative review.

The Federal Offset Program helps states collect delinquent child support debts owed to the custodial party and/or the state by the following remedies:

Child support payments received by Federal Tax Offset can only apply to child or spousal support arrears. Monies from Federal Tax Offset received by OCSE in excess of the amount of arrears will be returned to the noncustodial parent.

Administrative Offset allows for the interception of certain federal payments in order to collect past-due child support. These payments can be recurring or one-time payments. The type of payments that can be intercepted include payments to private vendors who perform work for a government agency, payments received from an agricultural subsidy, federal retirement payments, and relocation and travel reimbursements owed to federal employees.

Some payments are excluded from administrative offset, including Veterans Affairs disability benefits, federal student loans, Railroad Retirement payments, and payments made under certain programs based on financial need, such as Supplemental Security Income.

Federal payments eligible for administrative offset are intercepted as follows:

The Debt Check Program is operated by Financial Management Service (FMS). It is a debt management program for use by federal agencies and outside lenders who issue federal loans, loan insurance, and loan guarantees. The program allows these agencies and lenders to conduct a search to confirm whether potential recipients of federal financial assistance owe delinquent nontax debt to the federal government or owe delinquent child support. If records indicate a debt is owed, the applicant could be denied from receiving the loan, loan insurance, or loan guarantee.

OCSE reports to FMS those cases in which no payments, excluding tax offset, have been received in the last 90 days.

When a noncustodial parent's arrears from all of his or her cases meets or exceeds $2,500, federal OCSE submits the name to the State Department for passport denial. The noncustodial parent's passport will remain flagged until arrears are paid in full or the conditions specified below are met.

State law authorizes collection of current support and past due child and medical support, as well as fees, costs, and other debts as defined by State law, through the interception of State income tax refunds.

A listing of delinquent obligors and the amount of past due child and medical support and fees and costs certified for collection are combined with other debts owed to Arkansas and submitted to the Revenue Department. This list is matched against the Revenue Department taxpayer file. When a tax refund becomes available for an individual whose debt has been certified, the Revenue Set-Off Unit forwards the funds to OCSE and the refund is applied against the amount of the debt. The Revenue Department pays any excess directly to the taxpayer. Medical support, overpayments, cost and fees are subject to tax intercept.

Collections from a noncustodial parent as a result of State income tax refund offset are treated as a regular child support payment and disbursed accordingly.

In addition to the legislative requirements, OCSE has established the following criteria for submissions for State intercept:

The individual who is being certified to the Revenue Department will be given written notice in advance of the agency's intent to intercept his or her tax refund.

The local office will attempt to resolve complaints or questions regarding State Tax Offset informally. The customer should be informed that they must submit a written request in order to contest the offset through an Administrative Hearing within the timeframes indicated in the pre-offset notice.

State law authorizes and establishes procedures for the suspension of specified state-issued licenses, including commercial driver's and regular driver's licenses, including motorcycles; permanent license plates; recreational licenses; and occupational, professional and business licenses of a noncustodial parent, if certain conditions exist on a case. When interviewing the noncustodial parent, the local OCSE office should request that the noncustodial parent allow the office to copy the noncustodial parent's driver's or commercial driver's license and Social Security card for identification purposes and for future reference. This information is to be maintained in the file at the local OCSE office. All licensing authorities affected may not be capable of interface automation with the OCSE database. Periodically, staff should make inquiries with custodial parties or other knowledgeable sources to determine if a noncustodial parent holds a state-issued license subject to suspension.

One of the following two conditions must be met in order to suspend a noncustodial parent's license or license plate:

The following are exceptions to the above conditions:

OCSE can place a suspension against an expired license, which will prevent the noncustodial parent from receiving a new license until arrangements have been made with OCSE to pay current support and an amount toward arrears.

If either Condition 1 or Condition 2 noted above exists and none of the five Exceptions apply, a Notice of Intent to Suspend License will be mailed to the noncustodial parent. Notices should be sent certified mail to the most current address as provided by the licensing authorities or to the address provided to the court by the noncustodial parent, unless a verified address has been obtained. In the event a notice sent by certified mail is rejected or unclaimed, a subsequent mailing of the notice by regular first-class mail shall be considered sufficient (must be narrated/documented). The notice will specifically identify all known licenses and permanent license plates held by the noncustodial parent and will inform the noncustodial parent that the specified licenses or license plates will be suspended in 60 days unless the noncustodial parent requests an administrative hearing within 30 calendar days following the date of the notice. The notice shall advise the noncustodial parent that identified licenses will be suspended unless the request for a hearing is received within 30 calendar days of the date of the notice.

Following issuance of the Notice of Intent to Suspend License, the noncustodial parent may avoid license suspension by contacting the local OCSE office and entering into an agreed order or written installment agreement with OCSE as described in Exception 4 listed above. Agreed orders and written installment agreements made after issuance of a License Suspension Notice should include a condition that requires that some payment be made by the noncustodial parent before expiration of the notice of intent to suspend. In the event the noncustodial parent contests the accuracy of the arrearage information or the duration of the delinquency, he or she can schedule an appointment with the local OCSE office to resolve the issue. Issues that cannot be resolved by the local OCSE office will be forwarded to Central Office for an administrative hearing if requested by the noncustodial parent.

If the 60 days has expired and no appeal is pending, the license will be suspended. The noncustodial parent must enter into an installment agreement before the license will be reinstated. Additionally, the noncustodial parent may avoid suspension or obtain reinstatement by paying the delinquency to an amount below three months' obligation.

In some instances, noncustodial parents may initiate action on their own accord resulting in a court order eliminating the presence of Condition 1 or 2. If the noncustodial parent takes such action eliminating the threshold condition for license suspension prior to the effective date of the intended suspension, the responsible local OCSE office must upon notification notify the Central Office Program Support section to take action to set aside suspension activity on the case and to notify the noncustodial parent accordingly.

Central Office staff is responsible for keying or requesting any suspensions or reinstatements of licenses and license plates. If the noncustodial parent pays the arrearage below an amount equal to three months' obligation or the court enters a judgment on arrears, the license will be reinstated. Following license suspension, the noncustodial parent may obtain license reinstatement by entering into an agreed order or written installment agreement with OCSE as described in OCSE policy. The agreed order or written installment agreement should contain a provision requiring a lump sum payment in addition to requiring the periodic payment of current support and regular periodic payments on the arrearage/delinquency. It is imperative that Central Office be notified to immediately take necessary actions to restore the license or permanent license plate of the obligor when the condition warranting suspension has been removed.

In the event of fraud or mistake resulting in a wrongful suspension, OCSE shall immediately notify the licensing authority involved to restore the license or permanent license plate of the noncustodial parent as appropriate. When an enforcement case closes, OCSE loses its authority to enforce the child support order. Although the case may remain open for payment processing, OCSE cannot take any action on the case to enforce or collect child support. Therefore, when an enforcement case is closed, OCSE cannot continue a license suspension action against the noncustodial parent, and his or her licenses should be reinstated.

Whenever OCSE determines that the noncustodial parent has engaged in an activity despite suspension of the license, a referral should be made to the licensing authority and/or to law enforcement, as appropriate. In some cases, the local OCSE office may consider seeking a court injunction from the appropriate Circuit Court restraining the noncustodial parent from any activity not permitted during license suspension. The assigned OCSE attorney should be consulted if the local OCSE office believes that injunctive relief should be pursued.

Noncustodial parents who are licensed attorneys and who meet one of the Conditions and none of the Exceptions listed previously may be referred to the clerk of Supreme Court for review of their law license.

In cases in which there is overdue child support, and in an effort to secure assets to satisfy any current support obligation and any arrearage, OCSE is authorized to take any of the following actions:

State law requires each financial entity (defined as any bank, trust company, savings and loan association, credit union, insurance company, or any corporation association, partnership, or individual receiving or accepting money or its equivalent on deposit) to cooperate with OCSE to develop, implement, and operate an electronic automated data match system using automated data exchanges to provide OCSE, each calendar quarter, with the following information: the name, record address, Social Security number, or other taxpayer identification number and other identifying information for each noncustodial parent who maintains an account at their respective financial institution.

OCSE enters into cooperative agreements with financial entities to provide for automatic data exchanges to the maximum extent feasible in order to locate account assets of noncustodial parents. Any information obtained from any financial entity shall become a business record of OCSE and be subject to privacy safeguards.

OCSE may impose a lien, seize assets, or freeze an account based on verification of an account held by an individual at any time information becomes available to the caseworker. The caseworker shall notify the Lien/Levy Section when such information becomes available. The process to seize the asset will be completed by the Lien/Levy section staff.

The following criteria must be met to qualify for a lien on assets held by financial entities:

An account is defined as any of the following:

Withholdings, intercepts, and seizures may be initiated by OCSE without obtaining a prior order from any court. OCSE shall provide written notice to the noncustodial parent or alternate account holder informing him or her that withholding, intercept, or seizure has commenced; of the right to an administrative hearing; and the procedures to follow if he or she desires to contest the action(s). The notice to the noncustodial parent or alternate account holder shall include the information provided to the employer, agency, or financial institution.

Financial entities shall, in response to a notice of lien or levy, surrender assets held by such financial entities on behalf of any noncustodial parent who is subject to a child support lien pursuant to a judgment or by operation of law.

Cases meeting the following criteria are matched with insurance carriers through the Child Support Lien Network (CSLN) and Federal Insurance Match program to identify any claim payments due to the noncustodial parent.

Upon receipt of the match, a Notice to Withhold Insurance Assets is sent to the insurance company, the obligor, OCSE, and the noncustodial parent's attorney. The noncustodial parent has 15 calendar days from the date on the notice to request an administrative hearing. If no hearing is requested, the insurance company is notified to remit to OCSE, the amount of the arrears or the amount of the noncustodial parent's share of the settlement whichever is less.

Upon receipt of the Notice of Lien and Levy, the noncustodial parent, or alternate account holder, may contact OCSE Central Office, Lien & Levy Section, to contest the validity of the freeze and seize, and ask for an administrative hearing. The Lien & Levy caseworker must review the record to determine whether the case was certified correctly, or whether the issues raised by the noncustodial parent, or alternate account owner, are valid. If the issues raised by the noncustodial parent, or alternate account owner, are resolved by the Lien & Levy caseworker, then necessary action will be taken in accordance with the resolution, and a letter outlining the resolution will be sent to the noncustodial parent, or alternate account owner.

Should the Lien & Levy caseworker be unable to resolve the issues or if the noncustodial parent or alternate account owner remains dissatisfied, then the noncustodial parent or alternate account owner may request an administrative hearing in writing. See Chapter 9 concerning proper administrative hearing policy.

All open enforcement cases with arrears in excess of $500 will be referred to the Office of the Arkansas Lottery for offset of any winnings claimed by the noncustodial parent. The amount subject to withholding is the full balance due on all the noncustodial parent's cases. Collections of lottery winnings will be distributed to current support first and then to arrears. Referrals will be deleted when the case is closed. Payment processing cases will not be referred.

OCSE may impose a lien against the real and personal property of a noncustodial parent who owes overdue support and who resides or owns property in the State. State law provides for relief from the fraudulent transfer of property and assets by a noncustodial parent in an attempt to avoid liens and provides a creditor provisions needed to obtain avoidance of the transfer to the extent necessary to satisfy a claim subject to the limitations in State law. A settlement agreement between the noncustodial parent, a child support creditor, and/or OCSE may be obtained.

Child support debt information may be reported to Consumer Reporting Agencies (Credit Bureau). To be reported, the amount owed must exceed $1,000 and may not include instant debt amounts entered as judgments at the time the court issues a support order, so long as regular payments have been made as ordered by the court.

OCSE must send the noncustodial parent a notice by regular mail to his or her last known address prior to the disclosure of information to a consumer reporting agency. The notice must inform the noncustodial parent of the amount of overdue support to be released, the procedures for contesting the accuracy of the information, and a statement that if he or she fails to contest the disclosure within seven calendar days of the mailing date on the notice, the information will be released.

AR OCSE may refer cases for state criminal nonsupport to the appropriate prosecuting attorney for consideration if, upon review of the case, it appears the obligation to support is not being met.

Additionally, referrals to the appropriate prosecuting attorney are required if:

Failure to pay child support is also a federal crime and may be prosecuted as such pursuant to the Child Support Recovery Act and the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act.

To be eligible for prosecution under federal law, the following elements must be present:

Cases meeting the criteria for this type of prosecution may be forwarded to designated OCSE staff for review and forwarding to, if appropriate, to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the federal district in which the custodial party resides. The U.S. Attorney's Office will exercise its prosecutorial discretion in determining whether to accept or decline a case for prosecution and the level at which an accepted case will be prosecuted.

OCSE must enforce medical support following the same program standards outlined in this chapter for enforcing child support. If the obligated parent does not provide proof of health care coverage within 30 calendar days of the file mark date on the court order, the caseworker must take enforcement action to secure medical support. The caseworker must request employers and other groups offering health care insurance coverage to notify OCSE of lapses in coverage.

In all cases where either party is ordered to provide medical support through his or her employer and child support enforcement services are provided by OCSE, the National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) will be used as required by federal regulations.

The NMSN must be sent to the employer within two business days of receiving employment information or matching with employer information contained in the New Hire Directory. If the obligated parent changes employers, OCSE will send a National Medical Support Notice to the new employer within two business days of identifying the new employer unless medical support is provided by a third party.

The Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) limits apply to the combined total withheld for both child support and medical coverage. (See Chapter 5, Computing Amount for Withholding for a discussion of CCPA limits.) Income withholding for child support must take priority over the deduction for health care premiums.

OCSE will notify the employer when there is no longer a current order for medical support in effect for which the agency is responsible.

The employer and the health care administrator must follow Arkansas law to implement income withholding for health care coverage premiums, enrolling the child, and providing information regarding the policy to the family.

OCSE will continue collection after the emancipation of a child until a written request is made by the custodial party to stop enforcing the case, until all arrears are paid, there is an administrative determination that the debt is uncollectible, or the case meets other federal case closure criteria.

Any arrears that have not been reduced to judgment by the time the youngest child attains the age of 23 are subject to the statute of limitations regarding collection of child support. OCSE will not take enforcement action to collect support arrears for which an affirmative defense of statute of limitations exists with the exception of those actions permitted by federal law: offset of federal income tax refunds, denial of passports, and administrative offset of payment from the federal government to individuals regardless of the age of the child.

All enforcement techniques apply to collection of the past due amount of support, including adjudication of arrears, garnishment, execution, wage withholding, contempt, or liens on property, as well as federal tax and administrative offset. State income tax refunds may be intercepted to recover TEA and non-TEA arrears.

The OCSE agency will accept recovery cases from another IV-D agency or by application from the custodial party on behalf of a child age 22 or younger who was the subject of a child support order. If the child is age 23 or older, OCSE can accept the case if there is a court-ordered judgment, or as permitted by the laws of the state issuing the support order.

In cases in which the order was entered in another state, the statute of limitations of the state that issued the order or the Arkansas statute of limitations, whichever is longer, will apply and control how long arrears may be collected.

In cases in which the Arkansas statute of limitation would be a bar to collection of the arrears, the law of the issuing state must be reviewed to determine if collection may continue.

If collection of the child support arrears is not possible under Arkansas law or the law of the issuing state, the caseworker will send a 60-day closure notice to the applicant for services or the initiating state, as appropriate, and the case will be closed.

A custodial party may redirect payments to an alternate caretaker (a nonrelative caretaker) by designating in a record that the alternate caretaker will have the child for a temporary time period.

Arkansas law authorizes redirection of court-ordered child support from one custodial party to another physical custodian without obtaining a court order when the physical custodian has had, or is anticipated to have, physical custody of a child for more than eight consecutive weeks, other than court-ordered visitation, during which there is an obligation to pay child support. The new physical custodian cannot be the noncustodial parent.

The notice must comply with the requirements of Ark. Code Ann. § 9-14-234 as amended by Act 904 of 2019 and may be given by OCSE, the custodial party, or the physical custodian and include a statement from the custodial parent or physical custodial that the child has or will be residing with the physical custodian for more than eight consecutive weeks.

Unless the court orders otherwise, a noncustodial parent's duty to pay child support for a child shall automatically terminate by operation of law:

If arrears are still owed at the time of emancipation, wage withholding and/or enforcement efforts will continue until arrears are paid in full.

If there are no child support arrearages, the noncustodial parent may terminate income withholding for child support without petitioning the court by giving written notice, in person or by certified mail, to the noncustodial parent's employer, the custodial party, OCSE, the Clearinghouse, and the clerk of the court. The notice must be given no earlier than 30 calendar days before the termination of the duty to pay support, and must contain the name and address of the noncustodial parent, the name and address of the noncustodial parent's employer, a statement that income withholding for child support will be terminated, the date of termination, and the basis for termination of income withholding.

The custodial party, OCSE, or the clerk of the court may file a written objection to the termination. The written objection to the termination must be made by certified mail to the noncustodial parent and to his or her employer within 10 calendar days after receipt of the notice of intent to terminate income withholding for child support. It must state that the noncustodial parent's duty to pay child support has not been fulfilled as required by court order, and it must set forth the reasons for nonfulfillment. If a written objection is filed as provided in this section, income withholding for child support shall continue until such time as an order is entered which terminates, alters, or amends income withholding for child support.