Child Support Enforcement Act

The act establishes a state's child support enforcement program, setting out the services it provides, who is eligible for them, and the plan and recordkeeping systems through which obligations are tracked and payments collected and distributed — among them a parent locator service, a central registry for support payments, a case registry, and a directory of newly hired employees. Its central enforcement mechanisms are administrative rather than judicial: liens and attachments reaching bank accounts, inmate accounts, and insurance settlements; offsets against state tax refunds, vendor payments, lottery and gambling winnings, and unclaimed property; reporting of support debts to consumer reporting agencies; and the denial, suspension, or revocation of drivers', professional, occupational, and recreational licenses. It also addresses the confidentiality of information held by the program, recovery of public assistance paid on a child's behalf, enforcement of support obligations across state lines, review and modification of existing orders, and the duty to maintain health insurance for a child.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.