15 AAC 125.105. Establishment of pre-order arrears

(a) When the agency establishes an ongoing support obligation, or at any time after an ongoing support obligation has been established by a tribunal of this or another state, the agency may issue a notice and finding of financial responsibility that sets the support obligation for periods before the effective date of the ongoing support obligation. Except as provided in (f) of this section, in issuing a notice and finding of financial responsibility under this section, the agency will act as follows:

(1) if initiated by the state because public assistance or medical assistance is being provided on behalf of the child for whom support is sought or because the child is in state placement or state-sponsored foster care, the agency will establish arrears beginning as of the first month in which state assistance was provided on behalf of the child or the first month of state placement, but not to exceed six years before the service on the obligor of the notice and finding of financial responsibility, a notice of paternity and financial responsibility, or a paternity complaint, whichever is the earliest; the agency will establish arrears up to the effective date of the ongoing support obligation for the child, including any arrears owed to the custodial parent if the state assistance or state placement terminates for any period of time before the service of the notice and finding of financial responsibility under this section;

(2) if initiated by the custodial parent, the agency will establish arrears beginning as of the date the custodial parent most recently applied for the agency's services; the agency will establish arrears up to the effective date of the ongoing support obligation for the child, including any arrears owed to the state because the child received public assistance or medical assistance or was placed in state custody or state-sponsored foster care after the most recent application by the custodial parent for services; however, any arrears owed to the state may not exceed six years before the service on the obligor of the notice and finding of financial responsibility, a notice of paternity and financial responsibility, or a paternity complaint, whichever is the earliest;

(3) if the custodial parent withdraws from the agency's services before the service on the obligor of the notice and finding of financial responsibility under this section, the agency will

(A) complete the establishment of the arrears under (1) or (2) of this subsection if the child for whom support is sought has received public assistance or was in state-sponsored foster care or state placement for any period of time to be covered by the order; however, in the order the agency will not establish arrears that exceed the total public assistance grant amount; or

(B) terminate its action to establish arrears under (1) or (2) of this subsection if the child for whom support is sought has not received public assistance or been in state-sponsored foster care or state placement for any period of time to be covered by the order;

(4) when the agency is acting as the responding state in a case initiated by another state under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act of this or another state, the agency will, at the request of the initiating state, establish arrears under this section for periods before the effective date of the ongoing support obligation, beginning as of the date the custodial parent applied for child support enforcement services in the initiating state or as of the date the custodial parent began receiving state assistance or state-sponsored placement for the child in the initiating state, whichever date is earlier; however, any arrears owed to the initiating state may not exceed six years before the service on the obligor of the notice and finding of financial responsibility, a notice of paternity and financial responsibility, or a paternity complaint, whichever is the earliest.

(b) When calculating arrears under (a) of this section, the agency will give credit for direct payments made by or on behalf of the obligor directly to the custodial parent in the form of cash, a money order, a check made payable to the custodial parent, or a deposit or electronic funds transfer to a bank or equivalent financial account held by the custodial parent. In order for the obligor to receive credit for direct payments, evidence must show a likelihood, in the determination of the agency, that the direct payment was actually made to the custodial parent for the period for which arrears are being calculated and that the direct payment was intended by both parents to be a direct payment of child support.

(c) When calculating arrears under (a) of this section, the agency will give credit for in-kind contributions if the parents agree in writing to allow credit for the in-kind contribution and the parents agree in writing to the dollar value of the in-kind contribution. The agency will not give credit for an in-kind contribution under this subsection for any period of time during which the child received public assistance or was in state-sponsored foster care or state placement.

(d) When giving credit for direct payments under (b) of this section or in-kind contributions under (c) of this section, the agency will give credit only up to the amount of the support that is charged for the period for which support is established under (a) of this section. If the direct payments or in-kind contributions exceed the amount of the support established under (a) of this section, the excess payments or contributions will be treated as voluntary payments for which the agency will not give credit unless a parent provides clear and convincing evidence that both parents intended the payment or contribution to be applied toward future child support. The agency will not give credit for the excess payments or contributions as future child support for any period of time during which the child received public assistance or was in state-sponsored foster care or state placement.

(e) When establishing arrears under (a) of this section, the agency will calculate the support obligation under 15 AAC 125.070 for the first year of the period for which support is being established. For each year afterwards, the agency will determine whether a material change of circumstances occurred justifying a modification of the support amount for that year. For each year in which a material change of circumstances occurred, the agency will set the support obligation at the amount required under 15 AAC 125.070. For each year in which a material change of circumstances did not occur, the agency will set the support obligation at the amount set for the preceding year.

(f) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, if the agency vacates an administrative support order under 15 AAC 125.121, the agency will establish a new administrative support order for the entire period of time covered by the previous administrative support order.

History: Eff. 10/1/98, Register 147; am 6/15/2001, Register 158; am 4/1/2005, Register 173

Authority: AS 25.27.020

The Alaska Administrative Code was automatically converted to HTML from a plain text format. Every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy, but neither Touch N' Go Systems nor the Law Offices of James B. Gottstein can be held responsible for any possible errors. This version of the Alaska Administrative Code is current through June, 2006.

If it is critical that the precise terms of the Alaska Administrative Code be known, it is recommended that more formal sources be consulted. Recent editions of the Alaska Administrative Journal may be obtained from the Alaska Lieutenant Governor's Office on the world wide web. If any errors are found, please e-mail Touch N' Go systems at E-mail. We hope you find this information useful. Copyright 2006. Touch N' Go Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.