2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 40 - Domestic Affairs › Article 4C - Mandatory Medical Support › Section 40-4C-3 - Definitions. (Effective January 1, 2024.)

As used in the Mandatory Medical Support Act:
A. "carrier" means an entity that offers, delivers or administers an employment-related or other group health care coverage plan, a health maintenance organization, a nonprofit health care plan or other type of health care coverage plan under which medical or dental services are provided, regardless of service delivery mechanism;
B. "cash medical support" means an amount ordered to be paid toward the cost of health care coverage provided by another parent through employment or otherwise, or for other medical costs not covered by health care coverage;
C. "court" means any district court ordering support by a medical support obligor;
D. "department" means the human services department;
E. "employer" means an individual, organization, agency, business or corporation hiring a medical support obligor for pay;
F. "gross income" means income from any source and includes income from salaries, wages, tips, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits, workers' compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, significant in-kind benefits that reduce personal living expenses, prizes and alimony or maintenance received; provided that:
(1) "gross income" does not include benefits received from:
(a) means-tested public assistance programs, including temporary assistance for needy families, supplemental security income and general assistance;
(b) the earnings or public assistance benefits of a child who is the subject of a child support award; or
(c) child support received by a parent for the support of other children;
(2) for income from self-employment, rent, royalties, proprietorship of a business or joint ownership of a partnership or closely held corporation, "gross income" means gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce such income, but ordinary and necessary expenses do not include expenses determined by the court to be inappropriate for purposes of calculating child support;
(3) "gross income" does not include the amount of alimony payments actually paid in compliance with a court order;
(4) "gross income" does not include the amount of child support actually paid by a parent in compliance with a court order for the support of prior children; and
(5) "gross income" does not include a reasonable amount for a parent's obligation to support prior children who are in that parent's custody. A duty to support subsequent children is not ordinarily a basis for reducing support owed to children of the parties but may be a defense to a child support increase for the children of the parties. In raising such a defense, a party may use the child support schedule promulgated by the department pursuant to Subsection M of Section 40-4-11.1 NMSA 1978 to calculate the support for the subsequent children;
G. "health care coverage" means fee-for-service, health maintenance organization, preferred provider organization and other types of private health insurance and public health care coverage under which medical services may be provided to minor children;
H. "medical support obligee" means a person to whom a duty of medical support is owed or a person who has commenced a proceeding for enforcement of a duty to provide health support for each minor child or for registration of a support order that includes a provision for such support for each minor child;
I. "medical support obligor" means a person owing a duty to provide medical support or against whom a proceeding for the enforcement of such a duty of support is commenced or for registration of a support order that includes provisions for such support for each minor child;
J. "minor child" means a child younger than eighteen years of age who has not been emancipated; and
K. "national medical support notice" means a notice to an employer that an employee's child must be covered by the employment-related group health and dental care coverage plan pursuant to a court order.
History:
Laws 1990, ch. 78, § 3; 1994, ch. 76, § 4; 2003, ch. 287, § 3; 2007, ch. 165, § 3; 2009, ch. 32, § 2; 2021, ch. 20, § 6; 2023, ch. 106, § 3; 2023, ch. 107, § 1.
ANNOTATIONS
2023 Multiple Amendments.
— Laws 2023, ch. 106, § 3, effective January 1, 2024, and Laws 2023, ch. 107, § 1, effective June 16, 2023, enacted different amendments to this section that can be reconciled. Pursuant to 12-1-8 NMSA 1978, Laws 2023, ch. 107, § 1 as the last act signed by the governor is set out above and incorporates both amendments. The amendments enacted by Laws 2023, ch. 106, § 3 and Laws 2023, ch. 107, § 1 are described below. To view the session laws in their entirety, see the 2023 session laws on NMOneSource.com.
The nature of the difference between the amendments is that Laws 2023, ch. 106, § 3, updated a reference to the child support schedule in the definition of "gross income" as used in the Mandatory Medical Support Act, and Laws 2023, ch. 107, § 1, revised the definitions of "case medical support," "medical support obligee" and "medical support obligor" as used in the Mandatory Medical Support Act.
Laws 2023, ch. 107, § 1,
effective June 16, 2023, revised the definitions of "case medical support," "medical support obligee" and "medical support obligor"; in Subsection B, after "coverage provided by", deleted "a public entity or by"; in Subsection H, after "owed or a person", deleted "including the department"; and in Subsection I, after "duty to provide", deleted "health" and added "medical".
Laws 2023, ch. 106, § 3,
effective January 1, 2024, updated a reference to the child support schedule in the definition of "gross income"; and in Subsection F, Paragraph F(5), after "a party may use", deleted "Table A as set forth in" and added "the child support schedule promulgated by the department pursuant to".
Applicability.
— Laws 2023, ch. 106, § 5 provided that the provisions of Laws 2023, ch. 106 apply to all decrees, judgments or orders of child support made on or after January 1, 2024.
Temporary provisions.
— Laws 2023, ch. 106, § 4, effective January 1, 2024, provided that the initial child support schedule established by the human services department shall:
A. not decrease the yearly basic support obligation for any level of combined parental income by more than the dollar change in the federal poverty guidelines for one person since 2018;
B. not increase the yearly support obligation for any level of combined parental income by more than one and one-half times the change in the consumer price index since 2018. Any increase in support obligation that is larger than the increase in the consumer price index since 2018 must be specifically supported by economic data and evidence;
C. not change the format of the child support schedule in a way that would be inconsistent with Worksheet A or Worksheet B in Subsection M of 40-4-11.1 NMSA 1978; and
D. be promulgated, published and available to the public through the New Mexico Administrative Code, the New Mexico supreme court's website and the human services department's website no later than January 1, 2024.