Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 137 - DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE › Division 55 - OREGON CHILD SUPPORT PROGRAM › Section 137-055-1020 - Child Support Program Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
The following definitions apply to OAR 137-055-1040  through
				137-055-7190:
(1) Unless otherwise
			 stated, administrator means either the Administrator of the Division of Child
			 Support of the Department of Justice or a district attorney, or the
			 administrators or a district attorneys authorized representative.
(2) "Assignee" means the Oregon Department of
			 Human Services (ODHS), the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), the Division of Child
			 Support, or equivalent agencies in any other state or Tribe to which support
			 rights for a person are assigned.
(3) "Assignment" or "Assigned" means all or a
			 portion of support payments owed to a person will be kept by the state if the
			 person or a beneficiary of the person is receiving Temporary Assistance for
			 Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance or foster care services. Support payments
			 will be distributed as provided in OAR 137-055-6022. Additionally, if a person
			 receives Title XIX medical assistance, medical support rights are
			 assigned.
(4) "Beneficiary" means
			 any child, spouse, or former spouse for whom an obligor has been ordered (or
			 has agreed) to pay support, under a court or administrative order, or a
			 voluntary agreement.
(5) "Child
			 support award" means a money award or administrative order that requires the
			 payment of child support.
(6)
			 "Class order" means a support order for multiple children that does not specify
			 an amount of support per child and requires the payment of the entire amount
			 until the last child attains majority or until the order is prospectively
			 modified.
(7) "Court order" means
			 any judgment or order of the court requiring an obligor to provide child or
			 spousal and/or health care coverage, for specified beneficiaries.
(8) "Court-ordered amount" or "COA" means the
			 periodic payment amount, usually monthly, ordered by the administrator, an
			 administrative law judge or by a court for support. The COA can be either the
			 amount for each beneficiary on a support case, or the total amount for all
			 beneficiaries in a single support case.
(9) "District Attorney" or "DA" means the
			 district attorney for an Oregon county responsible for providing services under
			 ORS 25.080.
(10) "Division of Child Support" or "DCS" is
			 the division of the Oregon Department of Justice that is responsible for
			 providing services under ORS
			 25.080.
(11) "Guidelines" refers to the guidelines,
			 the formula, and related provisions established by DCS, in OAR 137-050-0705
			 through 137-050-0765.
(12) "Income
			 withholding" means a judicial or administrative process under which an
			 obligor's employer, trustee, or other provider of income is ordered to withhold
			 a specified percentage, or a specified amount, from each and every paycheck or
			 benefit payment of an obligor, for the purpose of paying current and past-due
			 support. Income withholding is distinguished from garnishment as follows:
			 income withholding will occur continuously under a single order and is not
			 subject to claim of exemption; a garnishment occurs for only a limited duration
			 under a single writ and is subject to certain property exemptions provided by
			 law.
(13) "Initiating agency" means
			 a state or Tribal IV-D agency, or a child support agency in a reciprocating
			 foreign country, in which an individual has applied for or is receiving child
			 support services.
(14)
			 "Intergovernmental" means a case or action that involves a Tribe, another
			 country, or another state's child support agency.
(15) "Issuing jurisdiction" means the state,
			 Tribe or reciprocating foreign country in which a tribunal issues a support
			 order or renders a judgment determining parentage and includes an "issuing
			 state" as defined in ORS
			 110.503(13).
(16) "Judgment lien" means the effect of a
			 judgment on real property for the county in which the judgment is entered, or
			 such other county where the lien is recorded, and includes any support
			 arrearage lien attaching to real property.
(17) "Judgment remedy" means the ability of a
			 judgment creditor to enforce a judgment, including enforcement through a
			 judgment lien.
(18) "Legal
			 proceeding" means any action related to the support order that requires service
			 of documents on the parties. For the purposes of OAR 137-055-1140  and
			 137-055-1160, legal proceeding means a proceeding initiated by the
			 administrator.
(19) "Medicaid"
			 refers to Title XIX of the Social Security Act (see the definition under "Title
			 XIX").
(20) "Money award" means a
			 judgment or portion of a judgment that requires the payment of money. A money
			 award will always refer to a sum certain and will not require a payment in
			 installments.
(21) "Oregon Child
			 Support Program," "Child Support Program," or "CSP" is the program authorized
			 under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act to provide child support
			 enforcement services required by federal and state law. The Child Support
			 Program director in Oregon is the Administrator of the Division of Child
			 Support. The Oregon Child Support Program includes the Division of Child
			 Support and those district attorneys that contract to provide services
			 described in ORS 25.080.
(22) "Oregon Department of Human Services" or
			 "ODHS" is the state's health and human services agency. The ODHS is responsible
			 for public assistance programs such as TANF, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
			 Program or SNAP (food stamps), child-protective services, and foster care and
			 adoption programs.
(23) "Oregon
			 Health Authority" or "OHA" is the state's Medicaid agency for administration of
			 funds from Title XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act and to administer
			 medical assistance under ORS Chapter 414.
(24) "Party" means an obligor, obligee, or a
			 child attending school under ORS
			 107.108 and OAR 137-055-5110,
			 and includes any person who has been joined to the proceeding.
(25) "Responding agency" means the agency
			 that is providing services in response to a referral from an initiating agency
			 in an intergovernmental case.
(26)
			 "Subsequent child" means a child whose paternity or support has not been
			 established and who is born to the same parents of another child, or who has
			 not been included in a support order for another child with the same
			 parties.
(27) "Support" means
			 monetary payments, health care coverage payments or premiums, cash medical
			 payments or other benefits or payments that a person has been ordered by a
			 court or by administrative process, or has voluntarily agreed, to provide for
			 the benefit and maintenance of another person.
(28) "Support arrearage lien" means a lien
			 that attaches to real property when an installment becomes due under the terms
			 of a support award and is not paid.
(29) "Support award" means a money award or
			 administrative order that requires the payment of child or spousal
			 support.
(30) "Support order" means
			 a judgment or order, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, that
			 reflects an obligation to contribute to the support of a child, a spouse or a
			 former spouse, and requires an obligor to provide monetary support, health
			 care, arrears or reimbursement. A support order may include related costs and
			 fees, interest, income withholding, attorney fees and other relief.
(31) "TANF" means Temporary Assistance for
			 Needy Families, a public assistance program that provides case management and
			 cash assistance to low-income families with minor children. It is designed to
			 promote personal responsibility and accountability for parents. The goal of the
			 program is to reduce the number of families living in poverty through
			 employment services and community resources. Title IV-A of the Social Security
			 Act is the specific provision that gives grants to states and Tribes for aid
			 and services to needy families with dependent children.
(32) "Tiered order" means an order that
			 includes an amount of support to be paid if an adult child becomes a child
			 attending school under ORS
			 107.108 and OAR
			 137-055-5110.
(33) "Title IV-A"
			 refers to Title IV-A of the Social Security Act, which is the specific
			 provision that gives grants to states and Tribes for aid and services to needy
			 families with dependent children (see TANF). Applicants for assistance from
			 IV-A programs are automatically referred to their state IV-D agency to identify
			 and locate the non-custodial parent, establish paternity or a child support
			 order, and obtain child support payments.
(34) "Title IV-D" refers to Title IV-D of the
			 Social Security Act, which requires each state to create a program to locate
			 noncustodial parents, establish paternity, establish and enforce child support
			 obligations, and collect, distribute and disburse support payments. Recipients
			 of IV-A (TANF), IV-E (foster care), and XIX (Medicaid) assistance are referred
			 to their state's IV-D child support program. States must also accept
			 applications from families who do not receive assistance, if requested, to
			 assist in collection of child support. Title IV-D also established the federal
			 Office of Child Support Services.
(35) "Title IV-E" refers to Title IV-E of the
			 Social Security Act, which established a federal-state program known as Foster
			 Care that provides financial support to a person, family, or institution that
			 is raising a child or children who is not their own. The funding for IV-E
			 foster care programs is primarily from federal sources.
(36) "Title XIX", known as Medicaid, refers
			 to Title XIX of the Social Security Act, which mandates health c are coverage
			 by states for TANF recipients and certain other means-tested categories of
			 persons. Within broad national guidelines that the federal government provides,
			 each state: establishes its own eligibility standards; determines the type,
			 amount, duration, and scope of services; sets the rate of payment for services;
			 and administers its own program. In Oregon, the program is administered by
			 OHA.
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS
				  18.005 & 180.345
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS
				  25.080