GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1989 SESSION
CHAPTER 490
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 110-130.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 110-130.1. Non-AFDC services.
(a) All child support
collection and paternity determination services provided under this Article to
recipients of public assistance shall be made available to any individual not
receiving public assistance in accordance with federal law and as contractually
authorized by the nonrecipient, upon proper application and payment of an
appropriate a nonrefundable application fee of ten dollars
($10.00). For applicants whose gross household income is equal to or
less than two hundred percent (200%) of the then currently established poverty
level applicable to the applicant's household size, the application fee shall
be five dollars ($5.00). For applicants whose gross household income exceeds
such poverty level, the application fee shall be twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
For purposes of this section, 'household income' means the
sum of the gross amount of periodically recurring income which accrues to the
members of a collective group of individuals living in one residence consisting
of a natural or adoptive parent who has custody of a dependent child or
children whose other natural or adoptive parent is absent from the residence,
the custodial parent's current spouse, and all other dependent children.
'Household size' means the sum of the persons specified as living in the
residence as described above.
(b) Except for
the application fee, the State shall not recover the costs or fees of providing
services to a non-AFDC client whose household income is equal to or less than
two hundred percent (200%) of the federal poverty guidelines.
(b1) The State shall
recover the actual costs of providing services to a non-AFDC client whose gross
household income exceeds two hundred percent (200%) of the then currently
established federal poverty level applicable to the client's household size
until all costs incurred on the client's behalf have been recovered. The rate
of accrual of such costs shall be computed annually by the Department of Human
Resources and disclosed at the time of application to the client as an hourly
dollar amount for administrative services and an hourly dollar amount for
attorney's services. Incurred costs may be recovered by any or all of the
following means:
(1) A ten
percent (10%) deduction from any support received;
(2) Voluntary
payments from either the responsible parent or client;
(3) Payments by
the responsible parent which the court may order, only if such payments do not
reduce the responsible parent's ability to pay current support and arrears.
The appropriate judicial official shall be informed of the
available cost recovery methods at the time a support order is sought.
A client from whom costs can be recovered pursuant to this
subsection shall be liable for prepayment of any necessary court filing fees
and paternity blood testing fees.
In all cases where ongoing enforcement services are being
provided to a client from whom costs can be recovered pursuant to this
subsection, or in cases in which ongoing enforcement services are no longer
being provided but for whom costs were incurred and can be recovered pursuant
to this subsection, or in In cases in which a public assistance debt
which accrued pursuant to G.S. 110-135 remains unrecovered, support payments
shall be transmitted to the Department of Human Resources for appropriate
distribution. When services are terminated and all costs and any public
assistance debts have been satisfied, the support payment shall be redirected
to the client.
Any costs incurred pursuant to this section shall
constitute a debt owed to the State by the client. Any costs ordered by the
court under subdivision (3) above shall constitute a debt owed to the State by the
responsible parent. Payment may be demanded from either or both of them.
(c) Actions or proceedings to establish or enforce a duty of support initiated under this Article shall be brought in the name of the county or State agency on behalf of the public assistance recipient or nonrecipient client. Collateral disputes between a custodial parent and noncustodial parent, involving visitation, custody and similar issues, shall be considered only in separate proceedings from actions initiated under this Article. The attorney representing the designated representative of programs under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act shall be deemed attorney of record only for proceedings under this Article, and not for such separate proceedings.
(d) Any fee imposed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue or the Secretary of the Treasury to cover their costs of withholding for non-AFDC arrearages certified for the collection of past due support from State or federal income tax refunds shall be borne by the client by deducting the fee from the amount collected.
Any income tax refund offset amounts which are subsequently determined to have been incorrectly withheld and distributed to a client, and which must be refunded by the State to a responsible parent or the nondebtor spouse, shall constitute a debt to the State owed by the client."
Sec. 2. This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of June, 1989.