Kentucky Statutes 15.802 – Duties of Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Enforcement — Office to process child support payments — State disbursement unit — Cooperation with courts and officials — Reporting of obligors — Denial, suspens…
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(1) The duties of the Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Enforcement, or its designee, shall include:
(a) Serve as state agency authorized to administer Part D of Title IV of the Social
Security Act, 42 U.S.C. secs. 651 to 669;
(b) Serve as the information agency as provided in the Uniform Interstate Family
Support Act, KRS Chapter 407;
(c) Serve as collector of all court-ordered or administratively ordered child support payments pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act;
(d) Serve as the agent for enforcement of international child support obligations, and respond to requests from foreign reciprocating countries;
(e) Establish and enforce an obligation upon receipt of a completed, notarized voluntary acknowledgment-of-paternity form;
(f) Enforce Kentucky child support laws, including collection of court-ordered or administratively ordered child support arrearages and prosecution of persons who fail to pay child support;
(g) Publicize the availability of services and encourage the use of these services for establishing paternity and child support;
(h) Pay the cost of genetic testing to establish paternity, subject to recoupment from the alleged father, when paternity is administratively or judicially determined; and obtain additional testing when an original test is contested, upon request and advance payment by the contestant;
(i) Establish child support obligations and seek modification of judicially or administratively established child support obligations in accordance with the child support guidelines of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as provided under KRS § 403.212;
(j) Administratively establish child support orders which shall have the same force and effect of law;
(k) Issue an administrative subpoena to secure public and private records of utility and cable companies and asset and liability information from financial institutions for the establishment, modification, or enforcement of a child support obligation;
(l) Impose a penalty for failure to comply with an administrative subpoena;
(m) Provide notices, copies of proceedings, and determinations of support amounts to any parties or individuals who are applying for or receiving Title IV-D services, or who are parties to cases in which Title IV-D services are being provided; and
(n) Issue interstate administrative subpoenas to any individual or entity for financial or other information or documents which are needed to establish,
modify, or enforce a child support obligation pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 651 et seq. An administrative subpoena lawfully issued in another state to an individual or entity residing in this state shall be honored and enforced in the Circuit Court where the individual or entity resides.
(2) The Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Enforcement, or its designee may promulgate administrative regulations to implement this section and adopt forms or implement other requirements of federal law relating to interstate administrative subpoenas, and may amend forms by technical amendment that are mandated by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and incorporated by reference in administrative regulation.
(3) The Office of the Attorney General shall maintain a system to receive and process all child support payments. The system shall include existing computer systems to record the payments. The automated system shall include a state case registry that contains records with respect to each case in which services are being provided by the office and each child support order established or modified in the state on or after October 1, 1998.
(4) The Office of the Attorney General shall establish and operate a state disbursement unit for the collection, disbursement, and recording of payments under support orders for all Title IV-D cases and for all cases initially issued in the state on or after January 1, 1994, in which a wage withholding has been court-ordered or administratively ordered, pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act. Establishment of the state unit may include the designation and continuation of existing local collection units to aid efficient and effective collection, disbursement, and recording of child support payments.
(5) After the establishment of the disbursement unit child support collection system, the Office of the Attorney General or its designee shall serve as collector of all court- ordered or administratively ordered child support payments pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act.
(6) Where establishment of paternity and enforcement and collection of child support is by law the responsibility of local officials, the Office of the Attorney General shall refer cases to the appropriate official for such action. The office may enter into cooperative arrangements with appropriate courts and law enforcement officials to assist the office in administering the program of child support recovery, including the entering into of financial arrangements with such courts and officials as provided for under the provisions of federal law and regulations. The local county attorney shall be considered the designee of the office for purposes of administering the program of child support recovery within a county, subject to the option of the county attorney to decline such designation. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Attorney General from taking such action, with prior written notice, as appropriate if the terms and conditions of the cooperative agreement are not met. When a cooperative agreement with a contracting official is canceled for good cause, the office may not offer that cooperative agreement to that official during the official’s tenure.
(7) Where the local county attorney, friend of the court, domestic relations agent, or
other designee of the Office of the Attorney General has been contracted for the purpose of administering child support enforcement pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, the contracting official shall be deemed to be representing the office and as such does not have an attorney-client relationship with the applicant who has requested services pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act nor with any dependent on behalf of the individuals for whom services are sought.
(8) The Office of the Attorney General shall determine the name of each obligor who owes an arrearage of at least two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). After notification to the obligor owing an arrearage amount of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), the office shall transmit to the United States secretary of health and human services the certified names of the individuals and supporting documentation for the denial, revocation, or limitation of the obligor’s passport. The office shall notify the identified obligor of the determination and the consequences and provide an opportunity to contest the determination.
(9) The Office of the Attorney General shall determine the name of an obligor owing an arrearage and shall indefinitely deny, suspend, or revoke a license or certification that has been issued if the person has a child support arrearage that equals or exceeds the amount that would be owed after six (6) months of nonpayment or fails, after receiving appropriate notice, to comply with subpoenas or warrants relating to paternity or child support proceedings as provided by 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(16).
(10) The Office of the Attorney General shall forward the name of the individual to a board of licensure or board of certification for the notification of the denial, revocation, or suspension of a driver’s license, professional license or certification, occupational license or certification, recreational license, or sporting license.
(11) The denial or suspension shall remain in effect until the child support arrearage has been eliminated or payments on the child support arrearage are being made in accordance with a court or administrative order, the person complies with the subpoena or warrant relating to paternity or child support proceedings, or the appeal of the denial or suspension is upheld and the license is reinstated.
(12) Except for cases administered by the Office of the Attorney General under 42
U.S.C. sec. 651 et seq. which shall be afforded the appeal process set forth by KRS
405.450(3), an individual who has a license or certification denied, revoked, or suspended shall have the right to appeal to the licensing or certifying board.
(13) A dispute hearing shall be conducted by the Office of the Attorney General in accordance with KRS § 405.450. The only basis for a dispute hearing shall be a mistake in fact.
(14) The Office of the Attorney General shall in its discretion enter into agreements with financial institutions doing business in the Commonwealth to develop and operate, in coordination with the financial institutions, a data match system as required by KRS § 15.844, 15.846, 15.848, and 15.850.
(15) The Office of the Attorney General may issue both intrastate and interstate administrative subpoenas to any individual or entity for financial or other information or documents that are needed to establish, modify, or enforce a child support obligation pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. sec.
651 et seq. An administrative subpoena lawfully issued in another state to an
individual or entity in this state shall be honored and enforced in the Circuit Court of the county in which the individual or entity resides.
(16) The Office of the Attorney General shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A to implement KRS § 15.055.
(17) The Office of the Attorney General shall compare a quarterly report provided by the Finance and Administration Cabinet of all tort claims made against the state by individuals with the child support database to match individuals who have a child support arrearage and may receive a settlement from the state.
(18) The Office of the Attorney General shall prepare and distribute to the office’s designee for the administration of the child support program information on child support collections and enforcement. The information shall include a description of how child support obligations are:
(a) Established; (b) Modified; (c) Enforced;
(d) Collected; and
(e) Distributed.
(19) The Office of the Attorney General’s designee for the administration of the child support program shall distribute, when appropriate, the following:
(a) Information on child support collections and enforcement; and
(b) Job listings posted by employment services.
Effective: July 1, 2025
History: Repealed, reenacted, renumbered, and amended 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 124, sec. 9, effective July 1, 2025. — Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 112, sec. 10, effective July 14,
2018. — Amended 2012 Ky. Acts ch. 158, sec. 30, effective July 12, 2012. — Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 21, sec. 3, effective July 15, 2008. — Amended 2005
Ky. Acts ch. 99, sec. 266, effective June 20, 2005. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 14, sec. 37, effective July 14, 2000; and ch. 430, sec. 5, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 255, sec. 5, effective July 15, 1998; and ch. 426, sec.
220, effective July 15, 1998. — Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 365, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1996. — Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 330, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1994. — Created 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 411, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1988.
Formerly codified as KRS § 205.712.
(a) Serve as state agency authorized to administer Part D of Title IV of the Social
Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 15.802
- Action: includes all proceedings in any court of this state. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Attorney: means attorney-at-law. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Domestic: when applied to a corporation, partnership, business trust, or limited liability company, means all those incorporated or formed by authority of this state. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
- Federal: refers to the United States. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
- Foreign: when applied to a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, business trust, statutory trust, or limited liability company, includes all those incorporated or formed by authority of any other state. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
- 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.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
Security Act, 42 U.S.C. secs. 651 to 669;
(b) Serve as the information agency as provided in the Uniform Interstate Family
Support Act, KRS Chapter 407;
(c) Serve as collector of all court-ordered or administratively ordered child support payments pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act;
(d) Serve as the agent for enforcement of international child support obligations, and respond to requests from foreign reciprocating countries;
(e) Establish and enforce an obligation upon receipt of a completed, notarized voluntary acknowledgment-of-paternity form;
(f) Enforce Kentucky child support laws, including collection of court-ordered or administratively ordered child support arrearages and prosecution of persons who fail to pay child support;
(g) Publicize the availability of services and encourage the use of these services for establishing paternity and child support;
(h) Pay the cost of genetic testing to establish paternity, subject to recoupment from the alleged father, when paternity is administratively or judicially determined; and obtain additional testing when an original test is contested, upon request and advance payment by the contestant;
(i) Establish child support obligations and seek modification of judicially or administratively established child support obligations in accordance with the child support guidelines of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as provided under KRS § 403.212;
(j) Administratively establish child support orders which shall have the same force and effect of law;
(k) Issue an administrative subpoena to secure public and private records of utility and cable companies and asset and liability information from financial institutions for the establishment, modification, or enforcement of a child support obligation;
(l) Impose a penalty for failure to comply with an administrative subpoena;
(m) Provide notices, copies of proceedings, and determinations of support amounts to any parties or individuals who are applying for or receiving Title IV-D services, or who are parties to cases in which Title IV-D services are being provided; and
(n) Issue interstate administrative subpoenas to any individual or entity for financial or other information or documents which are needed to establish,
modify, or enforce a child support obligation pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 651 et seq. An administrative subpoena lawfully issued in another state to an individual or entity residing in this state shall be honored and enforced in the Circuit Court where the individual or entity resides.
(2) The Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Enforcement, or its designee may promulgate administrative regulations to implement this section and adopt forms or implement other requirements of federal law relating to interstate administrative subpoenas, and may amend forms by technical amendment that are mandated by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and incorporated by reference in administrative regulation.
(3) The Office of the Attorney General shall maintain a system to receive and process all child support payments. The system shall include existing computer systems to record the payments. The automated system shall include a state case registry that contains records with respect to each case in which services are being provided by the office and each child support order established or modified in the state on or after October 1, 1998.
(4) The Office of the Attorney General shall establish and operate a state disbursement unit for the collection, disbursement, and recording of payments under support orders for all Title IV-D cases and for all cases initially issued in the state on or after January 1, 1994, in which a wage withholding has been court-ordered or administratively ordered, pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act. Establishment of the state unit may include the designation and continuation of existing local collection units to aid efficient and effective collection, disbursement, and recording of child support payments.
(5) After the establishment of the disbursement unit child support collection system, the Office of the Attorney General or its designee shall serve as collector of all court- ordered or administratively ordered child support payments pursuant to Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act.
(6) Where establishment of paternity and enforcement and collection of child support is by law the responsibility of local officials, the Office of the Attorney General shall refer cases to the appropriate official for such action. The office may enter into cooperative arrangements with appropriate courts and law enforcement officials to assist the office in administering the program of child support recovery, including the entering into of financial arrangements with such courts and officials as provided for under the provisions of federal law and regulations. The local county attorney shall be considered the designee of the office for purposes of administering the program of child support recovery within a county, subject to the option of the county attorney to decline such designation. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Attorney General from taking such action, with prior written notice, as appropriate if the terms and conditions of the cooperative agreement are not met. When a cooperative agreement with a contracting official is canceled for good cause, the office may not offer that cooperative agreement to that official during the official’s tenure.
(7) Where the local county attorney, friend of the court, domestic relations agent, or
other designee of the Office of the Attorney General has been contracted for the purpose of administering child support enforcement pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, the contracting official shall be deemed to be representing the office and as such does not have an attorney-client relationship with the applicant who has requested services pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act nor with any dependent on behalf of the individuals for whom services are sought.
(8) The Office of the Attorney General shall determine the name of each obligor who owes an arrearage of at least two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). After notification to the obligor owing an arrearage amount of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), the office shall transmit to the United States secretary of health and human services the certified names of the individuals and supporting documentation for the denial, revocation, or limitation of the obligor’s passport. The office shall notify the identified obligor of the determination and the consequences and provide an opportunity to contest the determination.
(9) The Office of the Attorney General shall determine the name of an obligor owing an arrearage and shall indefinitely deny, suspend, or revoke a license or certification that has been issued if the person has a child support arrearage that equals or exceeds the amount that would be owed after six (6) months of nonpayment or fails, after receiving appropriate notice, to comply with subpoenas or warrants relating to paternity or child support proceedings as provided by 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(16).
(10) The Office of the Attorney General shall forward the name of the individual to a board of licensure or board of certification for the notification of the denial, revocation, or suspension of a driver’s license, professional license or certification, occupational license or certification, recreational license, or sporting license.
(11) The denial or suspension shall remain in effect until the child support arrearage has been eliminated or payments on the child support arrearage are being made in accordance with a court or administrative order, the person complies with the subpoena or warrant relating to paternity or child support proceedings, or the appeal of the denial or suspension is upheld and the license is reinstated.
(12) Except for cases administered by the Office of the Attorney General under 42
U.S.C. sec. 651 et seq. which shall be afforded the appeal process set forth by KRS
405.450(3), an individual who has a license or certification denied, revoked, or suspended shall have the right to appeal to the licensing or certifying board.
(13) A dispute hearing shall be conducted by the Office of the Attorney General in accordance with KRS § 405.450. The only basis for a dispute hearing shall be a mistake in fact.
(14) The Office of the Attorney General shall in its discretion enter into agreements with financial institutions doing business in the Commonwealth to develop and operate, in coordination with the financial institutions, a data match system as required by KRS § 15.844, 15.846, 15.848, and 15.850.
(15) The Office of the Attorney General may issue both intrastate and interstate administrative subpoenas to any individual or entity for financial or other information or documents that are needed to establish, modify, or enforce a child support obligation pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. sec.
651 et seq. An administrative subpoena lawfully issued in another state to an
individual or entity in this state shall be honored and enforced in the Circuit Court of the county in which the individual or entity resides.
(16) The Office of the Attorney General shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A to implement KRS § 15.055.
(17) The Office of the Attorney General shall compare a quarterly report provided by the Finance and Administration Cabinet of all tort claims made against the state by individuals with the child support database to match individuals who have a child support arrearage and may receive a settlement from the state.
(18) The Office of the Attorney General shall prepare and distribute to the office’s designee for the administration of the child support program information on child support collections and enforcement. The information shall include a description of how child support obligations are:
(a) Established; (b) Modified; (c) Enforced;
(d) Collected; and
(e) Distributed.
(19) The Office of the Attorney General’s designee for the administration of the child support program shall distribute, when appropriate, the following:
(a) Information on child support collections and enforcement; and
(b) Job listings posted by employment services.
Effective: July 1, 2025
History: Repealed, reenacted, renumbered, and amended 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 124, sec. 9, effective July 1, 2025. — Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 112, sec. 10, effective July 14,
2018. — Amended 2012 Ky. Acts ch. 158, sec. 30, effective July 12, 2012. — Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 21, sec. 3, effective July 15, 2008. — Amended 2005
Ky. Acts ch. 99, sec. 266, effective June 20, 2005. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 14, sec. 37, effective July 14, 2000; and ch. 430, sec. 5, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 255, sec. 5, effective July 15, 1998; and ch. 426, sec.
220, effective July 15, 1998. — Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 365, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1996. — Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 330, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1994. — Created 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 411, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1988.
Formerly codified as KRS § 205.712.