Child support: suspension of support order.

Prior law required, until July 1, 2015, the obligation of a person to pay child support pursuant to an order that is being enforced by a local child support agency under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act to be suspended for the period of time exceeding 90 days in which the person required to pay support is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, with specified exceptions. Prior law required that, upon the release of the obligor, the obligation to pay child support immediately resume in the amount otherwise specified in the child support order prior to the suspension of that obligation. Prior law required the court to provide notice to the parties of the support obligation suspension at the time the order was issued or modified. Prior law authorized an obligor, upon release from incarceration or involuntary institutionalization, to petition the court for an adjustment of the arrears pursuant to the suspension of the support obligation. This bill would enact similar provisions to require the suspension of a child support order to occur by operation of law when an obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, unless the obligor has the means to pay support, or the obligor was incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized for either an offense constituting domestic violence or the failure to pay child support. The bill would also authorize the local child support agency to administratively adjust account balances for a money judgment or order for support of a child that is suspended by operation of law if the agency verifies that arrears and interest were accrued in violation of these provisions, that specified conditions relating to the obligor's inability to pay while incarcerated and the underlying offense for which he or she was incarcerated do not exist, and neither the obligor nor the obligee object to the adjustment. The bill would require the local child support agency to give notice, as prescribed, of the adjustment to the obligor and obligee. If either the obligor or the obligee objects to the adjustment, the bill would require the agency to file a motion with the court to adjust the arrears and would allow the adjustment only after approval by the court. The bill would require the child support obligation to resume on the first day of the first full month after the release of the person owing support. The bill would require the Department of Child Support Services, in consultation with the Judicial Council, to develop forms to implement these provisions, and would require them to report specified information relating to these provisions to the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee on or before January 1, 2019. The bill would make these provisions operative only until January 1, 2020. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.