(1) In a joint effort to facilitate the collection and payment of past due support, the Department of Revenue, in cooperation with the Department of Financial Services, shall identify persons owing support collected by the department who are presumed to have unclaimed property held by the Department of Financial Services.
(2) The Department of Financial Services shall periodically provide the department with an electronic file of unclaimed property accounts. The department shall use the data to identify obligors with unclaimed property accounts and shall provide the Department of Financial Services with an electronic data file that includes the names and other personal identifying information of the obligors.
(3) As the state’s Title IV-D agency under s. 409.2557(1), the department is authorized to submit claims for unclaimed property to the Department of Financial Services for the purpose of collecting past due support and shall do so in accordance with the standards established by the Department of Financial Services.
(4) Before paying an obligor’s approved claim, the Department of Financial Services shall notify the department that such claim has been approved. Upon confirmation that the Department of Financial Services has approved the claim or a claim submitted by the department, the department shall send a notice by regular mail to the obligor advising the obligor of the department’s intent to intercept the property up to the amount of the past due support, and informing the obligor of the obligor’s right to request a hearing under chapter 120. If there is a hearing, the Department of Financial Services shall retain custody of the property until a final order has been entered and any appeals thereon have been concluded. If the obligor fails to request a hearing, the department shall inform the Department of Financial Services to transfer to the department the property up to the amount of past due support owed. Upon transfer, the Department of Financial Services shall be released from further liability related to the transferred property.
(5) This section provides a supplemental remedy, and the department may use this remedy in conjunction with any other method of collecting support.
History.—s. 26, ch. 98-397; s. 37, ch. 2001-158; s. 12, ch. 2002-173; s. 444, ch. 2003-261; s. 8, ch. 2021-103.