SF 1409

as introduced - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to marriage dissolution; requiring a charge
for certain use of child support and maintenance
collection services; requiring the provision of direct
deposit of child support payments; amending Minnesota
Statutes 2004, section 518.6111, subdivision 4, by
adding a subdivision.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 518.6111,
subdivision 4, is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

Collection services.

(a) The commissioner of
human services shall prepare and make available to the courts a
notice of services that explains child support and maintenance
collection services available through the public authority,
including income withholding, and the fees for such services.
Upon receiving a petition for dissolution of marriage or legal
separation, the court administrator shall promptly send the
notice of services to the petitioner and respondent at the
addresses stated in the petition.

(b) new text begin The commissioner of human services shall, by rule,
establish a service charge for the use of the collection
services by obligees who are not current recipients of public
assistance as defined in section 256.741. The charge may not be
more than 15 percent of the amount collected by the service and
must be set at a rate sufficient to recover the costs of
providing the service for obligees covered by this paragraph.
The rule may vary the rate of the charge in different counties
or geographic areas of the state to reflect variations in the
cost of providing the service.
new text end

new text begin (c) new text end Either the obligee or obligor may at any time apply to
the public authority for either full IV-D services or for income
withholding only services.

deleted text begin (c) For those persons applying for income withholding only
services, a monthly service fee of $15 must be charged to the
obligor. This fee is in addition to the amount of the support
order and shall be withheld through income withholding.
deleted text end

new text begin (d) new text end The public authority shall explain the service options
in this section to the affected parties and encourage the
application for full child support collection services.

deleted text begin (d) deleted text end new text begin (e) new text end If the obligee is not a current recipient of public
assistance as defined in section 256.741, the person who applied
for services may at any time choose to terminate either full
IV-D services or income withholding only services regardless of
whether income withholding is currently in place. The obligee
or obligor may reapply for either full IV-D services or income
withholding only services at any time. Unless the applicant is
a recipient of public assistance as defined in section 256.741,
a $25 application fee shall be charged at the time of each
application.

deleted text begin (e) deleted text end new text begin (f) new text end When a person terminates IV-D services, if an
arrearage for public assistance as defined in section 256.741
exists, the public authority may continue income withholding, as
well as use any other enforcement remedy for the collection of
child support, until all public assistance arrears are paid in
full. Income withholding shall be in an amount equal to 20
percent of the support order in effect at the time the services
terminated.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 518.6111, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:

new text begin Subd. 15a. new text end

new text begin Direct deposit. new text end

new text begin Upon the request of an
obligor, the public authority shall provide the direct deposit,
or similar electronic funds transfer, of income withheld from
the obligor to a bank account of the obligee.
new text end