Indiana Code 31-40-1-6. Contracts for enforcement and collection of parental reimbursement obligations
(1) The prosecuting attorney of the county in which the juvenile court that ordered or approved the services is located or in which the obligor resides.
Terms Used In Indiana Code 31-40-1-6
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Attorney: includes a counselor or other person authorized to appear and represent a party in an action or special proceeding. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- in writing: include printing, lithographing, or other mode of representing words and letters. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
- 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
(3) A private collection agency licensed under IC 25-11.
(b) A contract entered into under this section is subject to approval under IC 4-13-2-14.1.
(c) Any fee payable to a prosecuting attorney under a contract under subsection (a)(1) shall be deposited in the county general fund and credited to a separate account identified as the prosecuting attorney’s child services collections account. The prosecuting attorney may expend funds credited to the prosecuting attorney’s child services collections account, without appropriation, only for the purpose of supporting and enhancing the functions of the prosecuting attorney in enforcement and collection of parental obligations to reimburse the department.
(d) Contracts between a prosecuting attorney, a private attorney, or a collection agency licensed under IC 25-11 and the department:
(1) must:
(A) be in writing;
(B) include:
(i) all fees, charges, and costs, including administrative and application fees; and
(ii) the right of the department to cancel the contract at any time;
(C) require the prosecuting attorney, private attorney, or collection agency, upon the request of the department, to provide the:
(i) source of each payment received for a parental reimbursement order;
(ii) form of each payment received for a parental reimbursement order; and
(iii) amount and percentage that is deducted as a fee or a charge from each payment on the parental reimbursement order; and
(D) have a term of not more than four (4) years; and
(2) may be negotiable contingency contracts in which a prosecuting attorney, private attorney, or collection agency may not collect a fee that exceeds fifteen percent (15%) of the parental reimbursement collected per case.
(e) A prosecuting attorney, private attorney, or collection agency that contracts with the department under this section may, in addition to the collection of the parental reimbursement order, assess and collect from an obligor all fees, charges, costs, and other expenses as provided under the terms of the contract described in subsection (d).
As added by P.L.273-1999, SEC.122. Amended by P.L.145-2006, SEC.363; P.L.146-2008, SEC.670; P.L.182-2009(ss), SEC.389.