Sec. 3. (a) Subject to subsection (f), a parent or guardian of the estate of a child adjudicated a delinquent child or a child in need of services is financially responsible as provided in this chapter (or IC 31-6-4-18(e) before its repeal) for any services provided by or through the department.

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Terms Used In Indiana Code 31-40-1-3

  • Clerk: means the clerk of the court or a person authorized to perform the clerk's duties. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Judgment: means all final orders, decrees, and determinations in an action and all orders upon which executions may issue. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • services: includes education, provision of necessary clothing and supplies, medical and dental care, counseling and remediation, or any other services or programs included in a dispositional decree or case plan ordered or approved by the juvenile court for the benefit of a delinquent child under IC 31-37. See Indiana Code 31-40-1-1.5
     (b) Each person described in subsection (a) shall, before a hearing under subsection (c) concerning payment or reimbursement of costs, furnish the court and the department with an accurately completed and current child support obligation worksheet on the same form that is prescribed by the Indiana supreme court for child support orders.

     (c) At:

(1) a detention hearing;

(2) a hearing that is held after the payment of costs by the department under section 2 of this chapter (or IC 31-6-4-18(b) before its repeal);

(3) the dispositional hearing; or

(4) any other hearing to consider modification of a dispositional decree;

the juvenile court may not order the child’s parents or the guardian of the child’s estate to pay for, or reimburse the department for the cost of services provided to the child or the parent or guardian unless the court makes a specific finding that the parent or guardian is able to pay.

     (d) Any parental reimbursement obligation under this section shall be paid directly to the department and not to the local court clerk so long as the child in need of services case or juvenile delinquency case is open. The department shall keep track of all payments made by each parent and shall provide a receipt for each payment received. At the end of the child in need of services or juvenile delinquency action, the department shall provide an accounting of payments received, and the court may consider additional evidence of payment activity and determine the amount of parental reimbursement obligation that remains unpaid. The court shall reduce the unpaid balance to a final judgment that may be enforced in any court having jurisdiction over such matters.

     (e) After a judgment for unpaid parental reimbursement obligation is rendered, payments made toward satisfaction of the judgment shall be made to the clerk of the court in the county where the enforcement action is filed and shall be promptly forwarded to the department in the same manner as any other judgment payment.

     (f) A parent is presumed indigent unless a court makes a specific finding that states otherwise.

[Pre-1997 Recodification Citation: 31-6-4-18(c), (e) part.]

As added by P.L.1-1997, SEC.23. Amended by P.L.273-1999, SEC.120; P.L.146-2008, SEC.667; P.L.182-2009(ss), SEC.388; P.L.101-2022, SEC.30; P.L.151-2023, SEC.1.

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