Proration of Child Support Collections

Policy 8.0

The Division of Child Support Service (DCSS) is required by federal and state law to take appropriate steps to assure: 1) The proper distribution of any support payments collected and 2) Account balances are adjusted properly.

State Authority / Reference

O.C.G.A. § 19-6-33(e)(11)
DHS Rule 290-7-1-.15

Federal Authority / Reference

45 CFR §§ 302.51; 302.52
OCSS-AT-97-17
OCSS-AT-07-05
OCSS-AT-09-03

Applicability

All Georgia child support offices receiving Title IV-D funds, including all private vendors contracted with the Department of Human Services to provide child support services.

Distribution of Support Collections

Federal law requires all state IV-D agencies to apply amounts collected, other than an involuntary payment, first as payment on the required support obligation for the month in which the support was collected. Any amount more than the current obligation due for the month is applied to child support arrearages that accrued during previous months. Child support agencies are required to establish procedures for the allocation of support among families when a noncustodial parent (NCP) supports children with multiple custodial parents (CP). All child support payments are prorated among all the NCP’s cases when posted by NCP’s SSN or IRN.

There are four passes in Proration:

First Pass: Proration satisfies current Support Ordered Amounts (SOA) first: If the payment is less than all of the current SOAs, then the current SOAs will be added together. Each case’s current SOA will be divided by the TOTAL of the SOAs to obtain the percentage due the case. This percentage will then prorate the payment and apply to each individual case. SOA balances are also key in this process. The DCSS database assures that the current SOA for the month is paid first.
Second Pass: Payment then applies to Repay SOAs: If all current support is satisfied and a portion of the payment remains, it applies to the Repay SOAs. If the remaining payment amount is less than the Repay SOAs, the Repay SOAs are added together, and the individual Repay SOAs will be divided by the total Repay SOA to obtain a percentage per DCSS case. This percentage is used to determine the amount of the payment that will apply to each individual case. The SOA balances are also a key part of this process.
Third Pass: Arrears Balances for NCP cases: If all Repay SOAs have been paid and a balance of the payment remains, the balance will prorate among all arrears balances for the NCP’s cases. The arrears balances are added together, and each individual case arrears balance is divided by the total arrears balance for all cases to obtain the percentage. This percentage is used to determine the amount of money to apply to each individual case.
Fourth Pass: NCP Refund: If all current and arrears balances are paid in full, an NCP refund will generate.