OAR 137-055-6021: Allocation, Distribution, and Disbursement: General Provisions

(1) The Department of Justice will disburse support payments within two business days after receipt if sufficient information identifying the payee is provided, except: (a) Support payments received from tax refund intercepts will be allocated, and, as appropriate, distributed and disbursed within 30 calendar days of receipt or, if applicable, within 15 calendar days of an administrative review or hearing. If the state is notified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury (the Secretary) or the Oregon Department of Revenue that an offset on a non-assistance case is from a refund based on a joint return, distribution or disbursement may be delayed, up to a maximum of six months, until notified by the Secretary or the Department of Revenue that the obligor's spouse has been paid their share of the refund; (b) Support payments received from a garnishment will be disbursed as provided in OAR 137-055-4520; (c) Support payments for future support, or any excess funds after arrears are paid in full, will be processed as provided in OAR 137-055-6260; (d) Support payments for less than $5: (A) May be delayed until a future payment is received which increases the payment amount due the family to at least $5; or (B) Will be retained by the Department if case circumstances are such that there is no possibility of a future payment, unless the obligee: (i) Has direct deposit; (ii) Receives ReliaCard payments; or (iii) Requests issuance of a check, if the obligee does not have direct deposit or has an exemption from receiving ReliaCard payments. (e) When an obligor contests an order to withhold, funds will be disbursed pursuant to OAR 137-055-4160(5). (2) The Department may redirect support payments designated for the obligee to another person or entity caring for the child in accordance with OAR 137-055-3495, or to a child who qualifies as a child attending school under ORS 107.108, pursuant to OAR 137-055-5110. (3) “Family support” or any other form of support that does not differentiate between child support and spousal support will be treated as child support for the purposes of OAR 137-055-6010 through 137-055-6024. (4) When there are multiple children on a single case with different assistance statuses, unless the order indicates a specified amount per child, current support payments will be prorated based upon the number of children and their assistance status. Support payments in excess of current support for these cases will be distributed and, as appropriate, disbursed as provided in OAR 137-055-6022. (5) When a federal tax refund intercept collection is received, the Department will credit the obligor's case for the full amount of the collection. The fee will be deducted from each disbursement in proportion to the amount of the payment applied to each state and family account. If there are multiple cases, the fee will be split equally between each case, and then prorated among the state and family accounts. (6) When a state tax refund intercept collection is received, the Department will credit the obligor's case for the full amount of the collection. The fee will be deducted from each disbursement in proportion to the amount of the payment applied to each case, and each account within a case. (7) Within each arrears type in the sequence of payment distribution and disbursement in OAR 137-055-6022, 137-055-6023 or 137-055-6024, the Department will apply the support payment to the oldest debt in each arrears type. (8) When a case converted from the Child Support Enforcement Automated System (CSEAS) to the Origin child support automated system, any combined child and spousal support arrears were converted by dividing the existing arrears into separate accounts based on the ratio of the current support obligation for both categories. When there was only child support or only spousal support accruing as current support at the time of conversion, this division was as follows: (a) If there was only a current child support obligation at the time of conversion, then child and spousal arrears were converted as child support arrears. (b) If there was only a current spousal support obligation at the time of conversion, then child and spousal arrears were converted as spousal support arrears. (9) Upon request of a party asserting that the conversion division between child and spousal arrears is inaccurate, the administrator will perform an audit and if appropriate adjust the converted balances.