KRS 15.802: Duties of Department of Child Support Services -- Processing of child

support payments -- State disbursement unit -- Cooperation with courts and

officials -- Reporting of obligors -- Denial, suspension, and revocation of

licenses -- Data match sys tem -- Subpoenas -- Distribution of child support

program information.

(1) The duties of the Department of Child Support Services within the Department of

Law, or its designee, shall include:

(a) Serve as state agency authorized to administer Part D of Title IV of the Social

Security Act, 42 U.S.C. secs. 651 to 669;

(b) Serve as the information agency as provided in the Uniform Interstate Family

Support Act, KRS Chapter 407;

(c) Serve as collector of all court -ordered or administratively o rdered child

support payments pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act;

(d) Serve as the agent for enforcement of international child support obligations,

and respond to requests from foreign reciprocating countries;

(e) Establish and enfo rce an obligation upon receipt of a completed, notarized

voluntary acknowledgment-of-paternity form;

(f) Enforce Kentucky child support laws, including collection of court -ordered or

administratively ordered child support arrearages and prosecution of pers ons

who fail to pay child support;

(g) Publicize the availability of services and encourage the use of these services

for establishing paternity and child support;

(h) Pay the cost of genetic testing to establish paternity, subject to recoupment

from the a lleged father, when paternity is administratively or judicially

determined; and obtain additional testing when an original test is contested,

upon request and advance payment by the contestant;

(i) Establish child support obligations and seek modification of judicially or

administratively established child support obligations in accordance with the

child support guidelines of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as provided under

KRS 403.212;

(j) Administratively establish child support orders which shall have the same

force and effect of law;

(k) Issue an administrative subpoena to secure public and private records of

utility and cable companies and asset and liability information from financial

institutions for the establishment, modification, or enforcement of a child

support obligation;

(l) Impose a penalty for failure to comply with an administrative subpoena;

(m) Provide notices, copies of proceedings, and determinations of support

amounts to any parties or individuals who are applying for or receiving Title

IV-D services, or who are parties to cases in which Title IV -D services are

being provided; and

(n) Issue interstate administrative subpoenas to any individual or entity for

financial or ot her information or documents which are needed to establish,

modify, or enforce a child support obligation pursuant to Part D of Title IV of

the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 651 et seq. An administrative

subpoena lawfully issued in another state to a n individual or entity residing in

this state shall be honored and enforced in the Circuit Court where the

individual or entity resides.

(2) The Department of Child Support Services within the Department of Law, or its

designee, may promulgate administrati ve regulations to implement this section and

adopt forms or implement other requirements of federal law relating to interstate

administrative subpoenas, and may amend forms by technical amendment that are

mandated by the federal Office of Child Support Enf orcement and incorporated by

reference in administrative regulation.

(3) The Office of the Attorney General shall maintain a system to receive and process

all child support payments. The system shall include existing computer systems to

record the payments . The automated system shall include a state case registry that

contains records with respect to each case in which services are being provided by

the office and each child support order established or modified in the state.

(4) The Office of the Attorney General shall establish and operate a state disbursement

unit for the collection, disbursement, and recording of payments under support

orders for all Title IV -D cases and for all cases initially issued in the state in which

a wage withholding has been cou rt-ordered or administratively ordered, pursuant to

Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act. Establishment of the state unit may

include the designation and continuation of existing local collection units to aid

efficient and effective collection, di sbursement, and recording of child support

payments.

(5) After the establishment of the disbursement unit child support collection system, the

Office of the Attorney General or its designee shall serve as collector of all court -

ordered or administratively ordered child support payments pursuant to Part D of

Title IV of the Social Security Act.

(6) Where establishment of paternity and enforcement and collection of child support is

by law the responsibility of local officials, the Office of the Attorney Gener al shall

refer cases to the appropriate official for such action. The office may enter into

cooperative arrangements with appropriate courts and law enforcement officials to

assist the office in administering the program of child support recovery, includin g

the entering into of financial arrangements with such courts and officials as

provided for under the provisions of federal law and regulations. The local county

attorney shall be considered the designee of the office for purposes of administering

the program of child support recovery within a county, subject to the option of the

county attorney to decline such designation. Nothing in this section shall prevent

the Attorney General from taking such action, with prior written notice, as

appropriate if the t erms and conditions of the cooperative agreement are not met.

When a cooperative agreement with a contracting official is canceled for good

cause, the office may not offer that cooperative agreement to that official during the

official's tenure.

(7) Where the local county attorney, friend of the court, domestic relations agent, or

other designee of the Office of the Attorney General has been contracted for the

purpose of administering child support enforcement pursuant to Title IV -D of the

Social Security A ct, the contracting official shall be deemed to be representing the

office and as such does not have an attorney -client relationship with the applicant

who has requested services pursuant to Title IV -D of the Social Security Act nor

with any dependent on behalf of the individuals for whom services are sought.

(8) The Office of the Attorney General shall determine the name of each obligor who

owes an arrearage of at least two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). After

notification to the obligor owing an arrearage amount of two thousand five hundred

dollars ($2,500), the office shall transmit to the United States secretary of health

and human services the certified names of the individuals and supporting

documentation for the denial, revocation, or limitation of the obligor's passport. The

office shall notify the identified obligor of the determination and the consequences

and provide an opportunity to contest the determination.

(9) The Office of the Attorney General shall determine the name of an obligor o wing

an arrearage and shall indefinitely deny, suspend, or revoke a license or certification

that has been issued if the person has a child support arrearage that equals or

exceeds the amount that would be owed after six (6) months of nonpayment or fails,

after receiving appropriate notice, to comply with subpoenas or warrants relating to

paternity or child support proceedings as provided by 42 U.S.C. sec. 666(a)(16).

(10) The Office of the Attorney General shall forward the name of the individual to a

board of licensure or board of certification for the notification of the denial,

revocation, or suspension of a driver's license, professional license or certification,

occupational license or certification, recreational license, or sporting license.

(11) The denial or suspension shall remain in effect until the child support arrearage has

been eliminated or payments on the child support arrearage are being made in

accordance with a court or administrative order, the person complies with the

subpoena or warrant relating to paternity or child support proceedings, or the appeal

of the denial or suspension is upheld and the license is reinstated.

(12) Except for cases administered by the Office of the Attorney General under 42

U.S.C. sec. 651 et seq. which shall be afforded the appeal process set forth by KRS

405.450(3), an individual who has a license or certification denied, revoked, or

suspended shall have the right to appeal to the licensing or certifying board.

(13) A dispute hearing shall be conducted by the O ffice of the Attorney General in

accordance with KRS 405.450. The only basis for a dispute hearing shall be a

mistake in fact.

(14) The Office of the Attorney General shall in its discretion enter into agreements with

financial institutions doing business in the Commonwealth to develop and operate,

in coordination with the financial institutions, a data match system as required by

KRS 15.844, 15.846, 15.848, and 15.850.

(15) The Office of the Attorney General may issue both intrastate and interstate

administrative subpoenas to any individual or entity for financial or other

information or documents that are needed to establish, modify, or enforce a child

support obligation pursuant to Title IV -D of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. sec.

651 et seq. An admin istrative subpoena lawfully issued in another state to an

individual or entity in this state shall be honored and enforced in the Circuit Court

of the county in which the individual or entity resides.

(16) The Office of the Attorney General shall promulgat e administrative regulations in

accordance with KRS Chapter 13A to implement KRS 15.055.

(17) The Office of the Attorney General shall compare a quarterly report provided by the

Finance and Administration Cabinet of all tort claims made against the state b y

individuals with the child support database to match individuals who have a child

support arrearage and may receive a settlement from the state.

(18) The Office of the Attorney General shall prepare and distribute to the office's

designee for the adminis tration of the child support program information on child

support collections and enforcement. The information shall include a description of

how child support obligations are:

(a) Established;

(b) Modified;

(c) Enforced;

(d) Collected; and

(e) Distributed.

(19) The Office of the Attorney General's designee for the administration of the child

support program shall distribute, when appropriate, the following:

(a) Information on child support collections and enforcement; and

(b) Job listings posted by employment services.