The Florida Senate

409.2558  Support distribution and disbursement.--

(1)  DISTRIBUTION OF PAYMENTS.--The department shall distribute and disburse support payments collected in Title IV-D cases in accordance with 42 U.S.C. s. 657 and regulations adopted thereunder by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

(2)  UNDISTRIBUTABLE COLLECTIONS.--

(a)  The department shall establish by rule the method for determining a collection or refund to a noncustodial parent to be undistributable to the final intended recipient.

(b)  Collections that are determined to be undistributable shall be processed in the following order of priority:

1.  Apply the payment to any assigned arrears on the custodial parent's case; then

2.  Apply the payment to any administrative costs ordered by the court pursuant to s. 409.2567 associated with the custodial parent's case; then

3.  When the noncustodial parent is subject to a valid order to support another child in a case with a different custodial parent and the obligation is being enforced by the department, the department shall send by certified mail, restricted delivery, return receipt requested, to the noncustodial parent at the most recent address provided by the noncustodial parent to the tribunal that issued the order, a notice stating the department's intention to apply the payment pursuant to this subparagraph, and advising the noncustodial parent of the right to contest the department's proposed action in the circuit court by filing and serving a petition on the department within 30 days after the mailing of the notice. If the noncustodial parent does not file and serve a petition within the 30 days after mailing of the notice, or upon a disposition of the judicial action favorable to the department, the department shall apply the payment toward his or her other support obligation. If there is more than one such other case, the department shall allocate the remaining undistributable amount as specified by s. 61.1301(4)(c); then

4.  Return the payment to the noncustodial parent; then

5.  If the noncustodial parent cannot be located after diligent efforts by the department, the federal share of the payment shall be credited to the Federal Government and the state share shall be transferred to the General Revenue Fund.

(c)  Refunds to noncustodial parents that are determined to be undistributable shall be processed in the following manner:

1.  The federal share of the refund shall be sent to the Federal Government.

2.  The state share shall be credited to the General Revenue Fund.

(3)  UNIDENTIFIABLE COLLECTIONS.--

(a)  The department shall establish by rule the method for determining a collection to be unidentifiable.

(b)  Upon being determined to be unidentifiable, the federal share of unidentifiable collections shall be credited to the Federal Government and the state share shall be transferred to the General Revenue Fund.

(4)  RECLAIMING COLLECTIONS DECLARED TO BE UNDISTRIBUTABLE OR UNIDENTIFIABLE.--At such time as an undistributable or unidentifiable collection that has been transferred to the Federal Government and to the General Revenue Fund in the relevant method above becomes distributable or identified, meaning either the noncustodial parent or the custodial parent is identified or located, the department shall retrieve the transferred moneys in the following manner:

(a)  Offset the next credit to the Federal Government in an amount equal to the share of the collection which had been transferred; and

(b)  Offset the next transfer to the General Revenue Fund in an amount equal to the state share of the collection which had been transferred to the General Revenue Fund.

The collection shall then be processed, as appropriate.

(5)  RECONSIDERATION OF DISTRIBUTION AND DISBURSEMENT.--A recipient of collection and distribution services of the department's Child Support Enforcement Program may request a reconsideration by the department concerning the amount collected, the date collected, the amount distributed, the distribution timing, or the calculation of arrears. The department shall establish by rule a reconsideration procedure for informal review of agency action in distributing and disbursing support payments collected by the department. The procedures must provide the recipients of services with an opportunity to review the department's actions before a hearing is requested under chapter 120.

(6)  OVERPAYMENT.--If the department's records indicate that a support obligee has received an overpayment of support from the department due to either mistake or fraud, the department may take action to recover the overpayment. The department may establish by rule a procedure to recover overpayments.

(7)  RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.--The department may adopt rules to administer this section. The department shall provide a draft of the proposed concepts for the rule for the undistributable collections to interested parties for review and recommendations prior to full development of the rule and initiating the formal rule-development process. The department shall consider but is not required to implement the recommendations. The department shall provide a report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives containing the recommendations received from interested parties and the department's response regarding incorporating the recommendations into the rule.

History.--s. 21, ch. 98-397; s. 10, ch. 99-375; s. 28, ch. 2001-158; s. 10, ch. 2004-334.