20-6-106. Powers and duties of department regarding collection of support.
(a) By signing an application for, or being a recipient of, aid under the personal opportunities with employment responsibilities (POWER) program, a support obligee assigns to the department, by operation of law, all rights that person and all other members of the household have to child and spousal support, whether accrued, present or future, and their right to medical support.
(b) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(c) The department has the power of attorney to act in the name of any recipient of public assistance in endorsing and cashing all drafts, checks, money orders or other negotiable instruments received by the department representing support payments for children on whose behalf public assistance has been previously paid.
(d) For purposes of prosecuting any civil action under this act or other applicable state statutes relating to the enforcement of child support obligations, the department is the assignee of support rights to the extent of any public assistance provided to an obligee. No act of the obligee shall prejudice the rights of the department or the dependent child in any action or proceeding related to enforcement of child support services hereunder.
(e) No agreement between any obligee and any obligor purporting to relieve the obligor of any duty of support or to settle past, present or future support or obligations either as settlement or prepayment will reduce or terminate any rights of the department to recover from the obligor for support provided by the department unless the department has consented to the agreement in writing or unless it has been approved by the court with notice to the department.
(f) The department, in its own name, or on behalf of an obligee, obligor or a child may petition a court for modification of any court order establishing a support obligation.
(g) If a court orders support to be paid by an obligor, the department shall be subrogated to the debt created by the order. This subrogation interest shall apply to all orders of support including child support orders, medical support orders, temporary spouse support orders, family maintenance and alimony orders. The subrogation shall extend to the amounts paid by the department in public assistance to or for the benefit of a dependent child and the amount of medical support provided by or through another division of the department of family services or the department of health.
(h) The department may enforce, or, subject to the approval of the court, may compromise or settle any claim or judgment for a support obligation owed to or assigned to the department as may be in the best interest of the dependent child and the public.
(j) The department may offer each county a cooperative agreement relating to the services to be provided by clerks of district court or child support authorities in child support enforcement cases. The department shall enter into a cooperative agreement with the department of workforce services to recover sums owed under a support order from unemployment benefits awarded to an obligor.
(k) The department may contract with private vendors for services necessary to carry out its responsibilities under Title IV-D, applicable federal regulations, this act and its rules and regulations as they relate to child support enforcement.
(m) The department may:
(i) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(ii) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(iii) Seek collection of child, medical and spousal support arrears, through the federal offset program under Title IV-D and all applicable federal regulations;
(iv) Repealed By Laws 1997, ch. 193, § 3.
(v) Request a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency pursuant to section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681b, provided the individual named in consumer report is associated with a IV-D support case, the report received by the department is kept confidential except to the extent needed to accomplish the purposes of this paragraph and the report is needed to:
(A) Locate the individual's whereabouts;
(B) Establish the individual's capacity to pay child support; or
(C) Establish, enforce or modify the appropriate level of child support payments.
(vi) In appropriate circumstances, petition the court to order the child, mother or alleged father to submit to genetic tests to establish paternity, or, in the alternative, to require the testing on its own order;
(vii) Issue subpoenas for information requested under paragraph (v) of this subsection and impose administrative penalties not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for any person failing to respond;
(viii) Require all persons, including government, private for-profit employers and not-for-profit employers and public utility companies to respond to a request by the department for information on social security number, address, employment, compensation and benefits of any individual for any individual who owes or is owed support, or against or with respect to whom a support obligation is sought, and who is employed by the person as an employee or contractor, in accordance with rules adopted by the department. Any person who fails to respond to any request for information may be sanctioned by the department by imposing administrative penalties not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00). The department shall enter the employer information into the state directory of new hires within five (5) business days after receipt of the employer information. The department may issue administrative subpoenas for financial or other information needed to establish, modify or enforce a support order and impose administrative penalties not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for any person failing to respond. The department may administratively subpoena the customer records of public utility companies for the names and addresses of individuals who owe or are owed support, or against or with respect to whom a support obligation is sought. The department shall notify the supervisor of any employee of a governmental agency if the employee fails to respond to a request under this paragraph. Any person who, acting in good faith, provides information to the department under this paragraph shall not be liable for civil damages as a result of the information provided. The department shall deposit any penalties collected under this paragraph in the public school fund of the respective counties;
(ix) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(x) Issue an income withholding order, if an income withholding order has not previously been issued. The department shall file the order with the clerk of court who shall mail copies of the order as provided by W.S. 20-6-204(c);
(xi) Seize assets when an arrearage exists by:
(A) Intercepting or seizing periodic or lump sum payments from a state or local government agency, including unemployment compensation, workers' compensation and other benefits or judgments, settlements and lottery winnings;
(B) Attaching and, pursuant to a court order, seizing assets owned solely by the obligor that are held in financial institutions or national chartered credit unions;
(C) Attaching public and private retirement funds pursuant to state law; and
(D) Imposing liens and, in appropriate cases, petitioning a court to force the sale of property and distribution of the proceeds.
(xii) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(xiii) In any case where there exists child support arrearages and for which payments are allowed or required, petition the district court for an increase or decrease in the required payments due on the arrearages;
(xiv) Petition a court to void fraudulent transfers, or obtain a settlement in the best interests of a child support creditor when a prima facie case is established that the obligor has transferred income or property to avoid payment to the child support creditor;
(xv) Appear in any judicial proceeding on behalf of the state when any obligee or obligor makes application for IV-D services, in order to establish, enforce or modify a child support order, medical support order or a spousal support order, if the spousal support issue is considered in conjunction with the child support or medical support issues, provided the department shall not be required to participate in visitation, custody, property settlement or other issues between the parties. The department shall certify that the obligee, obligor or child has applied for or is receiving Title IV-D services. Initial pleadings filed by the department or its contractors shall state that the action is being taken pursuant to this act or Title IV-D;
(xvi) If an obligee receives child support which has been assigned to the department, recover the child support payments out of current or future child support payments due to the obligee which are unassigned until the assigned sums have been fully paid;
(xvii) Allocate and distribute child, medical and spousal support whether accrued, present or future pursuant to regulations.
(n) The department shall adopt reasonable rules and regulations to carry out the provision of this act, including rules and regulations governing:
(i) The provision of services pursuant to the program;
(ii) The distribution of child support collected by the department;
(iii) Due process safeguards;
(iv) The administration of child support income;
(v) Requirements for adequate record keeping;
(vi) Tracking and monitoring of program statistics and support payments.
(o) If a court, on its own motion or pursuant to a request from the department, orders an able-bodied obligor who is unemployed and otherwise unable to fulfill his court-ordered child support obligation to participate in the personal opportunities with employment responsibilities program administered by the department, the department shall permit the obligor to participate pursuant to the court order without regard to the program eligibility requirements under title 42 or the department rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
(p) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(q) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(r) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(s) The department shall not enforce any administrative procedures contained in this act until it has implemented rules providing due process safeguards, including requirements for notice, opportunity to contest the action and an opportunity to appeal to the district court. Any obligor may recover costs and reasonable attorney fees from the department or its child support collection contractor for costs incurred in any administrative hearing or subsequent court appeal if:
(i) It is found that the obligor did not owe an arrearage and had paid all required support to the clerk.
(ii) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(t) The department of health and the department of family services shall through rules and regulations develop procedures to allow the sharing of birth and paternity records for purposes of establishing paternity and child support obligations.
(u) The department shall, to the extent required by federal law, have access to any information used by the state to locate an individual for purposes relating to motor vehicle laws or law enforcement and enter into agreements with financial institutions, national chartered credit unions, benefit associations, insurance companies, safe deposit companies, money market mutual funds or similar entities authorized to do business in the state as provided in W.S. 13-1-205 to develop and operate an automated data match system to obtain identifying information for each obligor who maintains an account at the institution and who owes past due child support in an amount equal to at least triple the current monthly child support obligation and to allow assets to be encumbered as provided by law.
(w) The department shall report to any consumer reporting agency as defined in section 603(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681a(f) information regarding the amount of overdue support owed by an obligor.
(y) The department shall, to the extent an obligor is resident in the state or owns real or personal property in the state, have a lien by operation of law against that real or personal property. After an obligor is in arrears at least triple the current monthly child support obligation, the department shall perfect and enforce a lien authorized by this section in the same manner as liens are perfected for the specific type of real or personal property upon which the lien is claimed. In the event there are competing liens or encumbrances on any property upon which a lien is attached pursuant to this section, the priority of the competing liens or encumbrances shall date from the date of filing or perfection. The state of Wyoming shall accord full faith and credit to a lien arising in another state as a result of child support arrearages when the other state or an agency thereof seeks to enforce such lien, provided the lien was properly filed and recorded under the laws of the state in which the lien was created.
(z) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.