Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 9 - FAMILY LAW (§§ 9-2-101 — 9-34-204) › Subtitle 2 - DOMESTIC RELATIONS (§§ 9-8-101 — 9) › Chapter 14 - SPOUSAL AND CHILD SUPPORT (§§ 9-14-101 — 9-14-807) › Subchapter 2 - ENFORCEMENT GENERALLY (§§ 9-14-201 — 9-14-242) › Section 9-14-208 - Office of Child Support Enforcement - Powers to obtain information - Penalty - Immunity - Definitions

(a)
As used in this section:
(1)
"Business" means any corporation, partnership, cable television company, association, individual, utility company that is organized privately, as a cooperative, or as a quasi-public entity, or labor or other organization maintaining an office, doing business, or having a registered agent in the State of Arkansas;
(2)
"Financial entity" means 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 as a business in the State of Arkansas;
(3)
"Information" includes without limitation the following:
(A)
The full name of a parent;
(B)
The Social Security number of a parent;
(C)
The date of birth of a parent;
(D)
The last known mailing and residential address of a parent;
(E)
The amount of wages, salaries, earnings, or commissions earned by or paid to a parent;
(F)
The number of dependents declared by a parent on state and federal tax information and reporting forms;
(G)
The name of the company, policy numbers, and dependent coverage for any medical insurance carried by and on behalf of a parent;
(H)
The name of the company, policy numbers, and the cash values, if any, of any life insurance policies or annuity contracts that are carried by or on behalf of or owned by a parent; and
(I)
Any retirement benefits, pension plans, or stock purchase plans maintained on behalf of or owned by a parent and the value of the retirement benefit, pension plan, or stock purchase plan, employee contributions to the retirement benefit, pension plan, or stock purchase plan, and the extent to which each retirement benefit, pension plan, or stock purchase plan is vested;
(4)
"Office of Child Support Enforcement" means the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Revenue Division of the Department of Finance and Administration or a local child support enforcement unit contracting under §
9-14-207
to establish and enforce support obligations;
(5)
"Parent" means a natural or adoptive parent, including a putative father, for or against whom the Office of Child Support Enforcement is enforcing or seeking to enforce a support obligation pursuant to a plan described in Title IV-D of the Social Security Act; and
(6)
"State or local government agency" means any department, board, bureau, commission, office, or other agency of this state or any local unit of government of this state.
(b)
(1)
For the purpose of locating and determining resources of either parent, the Office of Child Support Enforcement may request and receive information from the Federal Parent Locator Service, from available records in other states, territories, and the District of Columbia, from the records of all state or local government agencies, and from businesses and financial entities.
(2)
The Administrator of the Office of Child Support Enforcement may enter into cooperative agreements with other state or local government agencies, businesses, or financial entities to provide direct online access to data information terminals, computers, or other electronic information systems.
(3)
State or local government agencies, businesses, and financial entities shall provide information if known or chronicled in their business records, notwithstanding any other provision of law making the information confidential.
(4)
(A)
In addition, the Office of Child Support Enforcement, pursuant to an agreement with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, or his or her designee, may request and receive from the Federal Parent Locator Service information authorized under
42 U.S.C. § 653
, for the purpose of determining the whereabouts of any parent or child.
(B)
The information described in subdivision (b)(4)(A) of this section may be requested and received when it is to be used to locate the parent or child for the purpose of enforcing any state or federal law with respect to the unlawful taking or restraining of a child or for the purpose of making or enforcing a child custody determination.
(c)
(1)
Any business or financial entity that has received a request as provided by subsection (b) of this section from the Office of Child Support Enforcement or from a child support enforcement program administered by any other state under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act shall further cooperate with the Office of Child Support Enforcement or a requesting state in discovering, retrieving, and transmitting information contained in the business records that would be useful in locating parents or in establishing or enforcing child support orders and shall provide the requested information or a statement that any or all of the requested information is not known or available to the business or financial entity.
(2)
The business or financial entity shall provide the requested information or the statement under subdivision (c)(1) of this section within thirty (30) days of receipt of the request, or the business or financial entity shall be liable for civil penalties of up to one hundred dollars ($100) for each day after the thirty-day period in which the business or financial entity fails to provide the information requested.
(d)
Any business or financial entity, or any officer, agent, or employee of a business or financial entity, participating in good faith and providing information requested under this section, shall be immune from liability and suit for damages that might otherwise result from the release of the information to the Office of Child Support Enforcement or to a child support enforcement program administered by a requesting state.
(e)
(1)
Each financial entity shall cooperate with the Office of Child Support Enforcement to develop, implement, and operate an electronic automated data match system, using automated data exchanges to the maximum extent feasible, in which each financial entity shall provide to the Office of Child Support Enforcement per calendar quarter the name, record address, Social Security number or other taxpayer identification number, and other identifying information for each payor parent who maintains an account at the financial entity and who owes past-due child support, as identified by the Office of Child Support Enforcement by name and Social Security number or other taxpayer identification number.
(2)
For purposes of this subsection, the term "account" means a demand deposit account, checking or negotiable withdrawal order account, savings account, time deposit account, or money market mutual fund account.
(3)
The Office of Child Support Enforcement is authorized to pay a reasonable fee to a financial entity for conducting an automated data match, not to exceed the actual costs incurred by the financial entity.
(f)
Pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, each financial entity, in response to a notice of lien or levy, shall encumber or surrender assets held by the financial entity on behalf of any payor parent who is subject to a child support lien pursuant to judgment or by operation of law.
(g)
In cases in which there is overdue child support and in an effort to seize assets to satisfy any current support obligation and the arrearage, the Office of Child Support Enforcement is authorized to:
(1)
Intercept or seize periodic or lump-sum payments from:
(A)
A state or local government agency, including unemployment compensation, workers' compensation, or other benefits; and
(B)
Judgments, settlements, prizes, and lotteries for the full amount of the current support obligation and arrearage owed or the net lump-sum payment, whichever is less;
(2)
Attach and seize assets of the payor parent held in financial institutions;
(3)
Attach public and private retirement funds, including any union retirement fund and railroad retirement; and
(4)
Impose liens in accordance with subsection (f) of this section and, in appropriate cases, to force sale of property and distribution of proceeds.
(h)
(1)
The withholdings, intercepts, and seizures as set out in subsection (g) of this section may be initiated by the Office of Child Support Enforcement without obtaining a prior order from any court but shall be carried out in full compliance with published administrative procedures, including due process safeguards, promulgated by the Office of Child Support Enforcement.
(2)
(A)
The rules shall require written notice to each parent and payor parent to whom this section applies:
(i)
That the withholding, intercept, or seizure has commenced; and
(ii)
Of the right to an administrative hearing and the procedures to follow if the parent or payor parent desires to contest the withholding, intercept, or seizure on the grounds that the withholding, intercept, or seizure is improper due to a mistake of fact.
(B)
The notice to the parent and payor parent pursuant to subdivision (h)(2)(A) of this section shall include the information provided to the employer, agency, or financial entity under subsection (e) of this section.
(i)
Any financial entity, or any officer, agent, or employee of a financial entity, participating in good faith and providing information requested pursuant to subsection (e) of this section or encumbering or surrendering assets pursuant to subsection (f) or subsection (g) of this section, shall be immune from liability and suit for damages that might otherwise result from the release of the information or the encumbering or surrendering of the assets to the Office of Child Support Enforcement.
(j)
Any information obtained under the provisions of this section shall become a business record of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, subject to the privacy safeguards set out in §
9-14-210(g)
-(l).
Amended by Act 2021, No. 927,§ 9, eff. 7/28/2021.
Amended by Act 2019, No. 315,§ 714, eff. 7/24/2019.
Acts 1985, No. 989, § 25; A.S.A. 1947, § 34-1243; Acts 1991, No. 542, § 3; 1993, No. 928, § 1; 1993, No. 964, § 1; 1995, No. 1184, § 8; 1997, No. 1296, § 21; 1999, No. 1514, § 9; 2001, No. 1248, §§ 6, 7; 2009, No. 551, § 4