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When child receives assistance from the county
If a child receives, CalWORKs, Foster Care, or Medi-Cal benefits, the Health and Human Services Department refers the case to us. To be eligible for public assistance, parents who apply for CalWORKs must cooperate with our Department unless it places the parent or child in danger. In that case, no action will be taken to collect child support until the county Health and Human Services Department can investigate and make a decision on the claim for good cause.
The obligee must give the right to child support to the county in exchange for receiving CalWORKs or Foster Care along with Medi-Cal benefits. When a child support payment is collected, the obligee will get the first $50 of the child support payment and the county will get what remains. After the obligee is given the $50, the rest of the payment is used to pay back the county for the cost of the CalWORKs benefit.
The obligee’s $50 payment is called a disregard, and won’t change the amount of the CalWORKs benefit. Please note: due to recent federal law changes the disregard amount may change—contact our office or county welfare office for more information.
Foster Case and child support
When a child is placed in Foster Care, the right to child support payments belongs to the state. Any child support collected above what it costs the state to pay for Foster Care is either put into trust or used immediately for the child.
Medically needy only cases
In cases where the only public assistance provided is Medi-Cal, a obligee may decline child support services, but must cooperate in getting and enforcing a medical support order. If he or she accepts child support services, the obligee must cooperate fully in collecting child support from the obligor. Court-ordered medical support requires the obligor to enroll the child in a health insurance plan, if available at a reasonable cost.
An obligee with a medical support order may contact the health insurance company and the obligor’s employer directly to talk about insurance plan options.
After leaving CalWORKs
After CalWORKSs payments or Medi-Cal benefits end, the child support case remains open and current collections and arrears owed to the obligee are still enforced by our office.
If the obligee notifies our office in writing that child support services are no longer needed and requests the case be closed, we will continue to collect payments only for past-due child support owed to reimburse the county for CalWORKs or Medi-Cal benefits.
Credit for direct child support payments
The obligee must report to us any direct payments received from the obligor. In CalWORKs cases, the obligee must also report direct payments to the County Health and Human Services Department. Please note: When the obligor pays the obligee directly, the payments may not be credited toward the child support amount owed by the obligor.
Both parents should keep records of payments made and received, as well as receipts for purchases. Payments made for clothes, school supplies, rent, and other expenses are not credited as child support payments.
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