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In North Carolina,
CSE services are available to anyone who wants or needs help in
collecting child support through a network of state and locally
run offices. CSE offers assistance in the following areas: Individuals
who receive services through Public Assistance (IV-A) or Foster
Care (IV-E) programs are eligible and automatically referred for
CSE services free of charge. Non-Public Assistance clients can inquire
about CSE services by telephone and receive an Application and Supplemental
Data Sheet to complete, or they can visit any local CSE office.
Clients are responsible for paying up to a twenty-five dollar ($25)
non-refundable application fee. The CSE program
is not authorized to help with some issues that might seem similar
to child support, such as custody, visitation, or property settlements.
Private attorneys and county Clerks of Superior Court also offer
certain support services. To learn more about what assistance is
available, you may contact these offices individually. NCPs must be
located before any actions to establish paternity and support or
to enforce a child support order can take place. Name, date of birth,
social security number, address, employer, and vehicle ownership
information can assist the CSE program in locating an NCP. Clients
are a primary source of information that CSE uses to locate NCPs. With these types
of information, the CSE program can access both state and national
computer databases to assist in location efforts. In addition, CSE
offices in other states can assist in locating parents and pursuing
a support order. For more information
and answers to your frequently asked questions, please contact your
local
child support office, county DSS
office, or navigate through the Child
Support Handbook.* . Establishing
a legal father for a child ensures certain rights for the child,
such as a greater sense of identity and access to paternal medical
information, social security benefits, death and insurance benefits,
and military benefits. A child support
order cannot be established for a child who is born to unmarried
parents, unless the alleged father acknowledges paternity or is
proven to be the father. Paternity can be established by voluntary
acknowledgment of paternity or by court order. The most convenient
time for parents to establish paternity for their child is in the
hospital when the child is born. The father must be present and
provide identification to have his name placed on the Affidavit
of Parentage. When this document is filed with Vital Records, both
parents' names are recorded on the birth certificate. Genetic (DNA)
testing is recommended if there are doubts regarding the paternity
of the child. Blood or tissue samples may be used for testing. The
most common method uses tissue swabbed from the inside of the cheek.
This test is highly accurate in determining the probability that
a man is the father of a child. Test results may provide peace of
mind to parents who establish paternity voluntarily or may be presented
as evidence in legal proceedings to establish paternity. If paternity
is not established voluntarily, legal action may be filed with the
courts. A formal complaint is served upon the alleged father, initiating
court action. A court hearing is held, and the court may enter an
order establishing paternity. For more information
and answers to your frequently asked questions, please contact your
local
child support office, county DSS
office, or navigate through the Child
Support Handbook.* Establishment
of Support Obligations A legal order
must be established that specifies the amount of support to be paid
for the benefit of a child. The successful establishment of a support
order depends upon several critical areas. The critical areas are:
States are required
to develop guidelines for determining child support amounts. In
North Carolina, CSE
Guidelines are determined by the North Carolina Conference of
Chief District Court Judges. These guidelines are based on the needs
of the child(ren) and on the ability of parents to pay. States must
use the guidelines, unless they can be shown to be unfair to the
child(ren). The CSE Guidelines
are used to compute a child support obligation based on the combined
gross income of the custodial parent/client and NCP. Either the
NCP can agree voluntarily to the amount of support or the obligation
can be established through court action. An obligation
to provide medical support in the form of health insurance through
the NCP's employer can be obtained either voluntarily or through
court action For more information
and answers to your frequently asked questions, please contact your
local
child support office, county DSS
office, or navigate through the Child
Support Handbook.* The collection
and distribution of child support payments are the primary objectives
of child support services. A court order for child support dictates
the amount of support to be paid and how often it should be paid. All child support
payments handled by N.C. CSE are sent to the Centralized
Collections Operation. Payments are received by various methods,
such as: Child support
payments are distributed and disbursed based on federal regulations
and state statutes. Then the NC
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) mails the checks
to the appropriate payees. For more information
and answers to your frequently asked questions, please contact your
local
child support office, county DSS
office, or navigate through the Child
Support Handbook.* Establishing
a child support order is no guarantee that the noncustodial parent
(NCP) will pay the support as ordered. NCPs could make partial payments,
skip payments, or never make a payment. N.C. CSE identifies these
cases and uses several enforcement tools to get payment as ordered. Income withholding
by employers is the single most effective method of child support
collection. Each pay period, the employer deducts a specified amount
from the NCP's income for the child support payment. The deducted
amount is sent to the NC Child Support Centralized
Collections (NCCSCC) within seven (7) days of the deduction.
Income withholding
can also be initiated with entities other than employers when the
NCP has other sources of income, such as unemployment insurance
benefits (UIB), Worker's Compensation, Social Security benefits,
and veteran's disability benefits. Employers are
required to withhold income for child support orders that are enforced
by other states, in accordance with the laws of the state where
the NCP is employed. Other enforcement
remedies include: For more information
and answers to your frequently asked questions, please contact your
local
child support office, county DSS
office, or navigate through the Child
Support Handbook.* *If
your web browser has the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in, the document
will open in your web browser. If not, you will be prompted to save
the file to your hard drive. After you have saved the file to your
hard drive, you will need to open the file with the free Adobe Acrobat
Reader application, available at www.adobe.com. |