C.M.R. 10, 144, ch. 351, 2
As used in this Manual, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings:
Administrative Decision: An administrative decision issued by the Department that establishes or modifies a responsible parent's child support obligation or which adjudicates an appeal of agency action.
AFDC: Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
Alternative Method of Support Enforcement ("Alternative Method"): Title 19-A, Article 3, of the Maine Revised Statutes ( 19-A M.R.S. §§2251 - 2453) .
Amendment Hearing: A hearing to determine whether to modify an administrative decision prospectively to change either or both the amount of a current child support obligation and/or health insurance obligation.
Appeal Hearing: A hearing on the merits of the Division's action.
Applicant: An individual, state, political subdivision or instrumentality of a state, that seeks support enforcement services from the Department.
Arrears: A delinquency pursuant to an obligation determined under a court order, or an order of an administrative process established under State law, for support and maintenance of a child, which is owed to or on behalf of the child, or for the non-custodial parent's spouse (or former spouse) with whom the child is living, but only if a support obligation has been established with respect to the spouse, and the support obligation established with respect to the child is being enforced by the Department. May also be referred to as Overdue Support.
Assignment: Any assignment of rights to support required under 42 U.S.C. § 654(5)(A) (TANF), or 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(17) (Foster Care), or any assignment of rights to medical support and to payment for medical care from any third party as required under 42 C.F.R. § 433.146 (Medicaid).
Assigned Support Obligation: Any support obligation which has been assigned to the State as required under 42 U.S.C. § 654(5)(A) (TANF), or 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(17) (Foster Care), or any medical support obligation or payment for medical care from any third party which has been assigned to the State as required under 42 C.F.R. § 433.146 (Medicaid).
Assisted Reproduction: A method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse. After July 1, 2016, See 19-A M.R.S. §1832(3).
Child Support Debt Due the Department: The debt referred to by 19-A M.R.S. §2301, which may include assigned past necessary support, and may exceed the amount of TANF public assistance expended. The Department may establish/enforce/collect the debt for the State of Maine, another State or territory of the United States, another State or territory's IV-D agency, or a non-TANF client of the Department, and the Department must distribute pursuant to 19-A M.R.S. §2401. May also be referred to as "debt due the department," "debt for public assistance," "debt for TANF public assistance," or "TANF debt."
Collection-of-Support-Debt Mechanism: Any and every means by which a child support debt can be collected (See 14.1[A])
Compliance with a Support Order: The support obligor is no more than 60 days past-due in making payments in full for current support, in making periodic payments on a support arrearage pursuant to a written agreement with the Department or in making periodic payments as set forth in the support order and has obtained or maintained health insurance coverage if required by a support order.
Court Order: Court order or judgment for the support of dependent child(ren) issued by any court of the State of Maine or another state, jurisdiction, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or foreign government with which Maine has a reciprocal agreement, including an order in a final decree of divorce and an order established under URESA, RURESA or UIFSA.
Court of Proper Jurisdiction: The court that issued the original court order of support or in which the support order has been registered.
Current Support: Current support is money that a tribunal orders a non-custodial parent or other obligor to pay periodically to the custodial parent or other obligee to help pay the living expenses of the obligee's family. Current support may include child support, accompanying spousal support and/or medical support. If not paid on the date due, current support becomes an enforceable debt.
Custodial Parent: An individual who is the dependent child's legal primary residential care provider. May be abbreviated in this manual as "CP."
Debt Accrued or Accruing: As referred to in 19-A M.R.S. §2352, the ability of the Department to enforce the child support debt continually accruing following the successful service of the Notice of Debt, as well as and in addition to debt accrued as stated on the face of the Notice. Each accrual becomes a judgment due and payable at the time the accrual occurs.
Decision: An administrative decision that establishes or modifies a responsible parent's child support obligation or which decides the merits of an appeal of agency action under 19-A M.R.S. §2451.
De Facto Parent: After July 1, 2016, a person adjudicated to be a parent by meeting the criteria found in 19-A M.R.S. §1891. Adjudication as a de facto parent establishes parentage, and the court may concurrently or subsequently determine parental rights and responsibilities and financial support obligations.
Default Decision: An administrative decision that establishes or modifies a child support obligation in a proceeding in which the responsible parent either did not request a hearing or did not appear at the hearing.
Department: The Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Division: The Division of Support Enforcement and Recovery, Office for Family Independence, Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Donor: A person who contributes a gamete or gametes or an embryo or embryos to another person for assisted reproduction or gestation.
Gamete: A cell containing a haploid complement of deoxyribonucleic acid that has the potential to form an embryo when combined with another gamete.
Genetic Parent: A person whom genetic testing results disclose as having at least a 99% probability of paternity/maternity, using a prior probability of .50, as calculated by using the paternity/maternity index obtained in the testing, and a paternity/maternity index of at least 100 to 1.
Hearing Officer: Any person designated and authorized by the Commissioner to act as presiding officer at an administrative hearing to establish or modify a responsible parent's child support obligation or at a hearing concerning an appeal of agency action under 19-A M.R.S. §2451.
His: His or Her
Liquidated Debt: A support obligation which has been made certain as to the amount due by legal or administrative adjudication, by agreement of the parties or by operation of law. Examples of the ways in which a support debt can be liquidated are:
(1) Service of a Notice of Debt ( 19-A M.R.S. §2352) to which there is no response or the administrative review of which is decided adversely to the responsible parent;
(2) Service of an administrative decision that establishes or modifies a child support obligation;
(3) a civil judgment issued/rendered/docketed by a court of competent jurisdiction; or
(4) by a written agreement or promissory note signed by the responsible parent acknowledging the existence of a support debt in a specific amount, which has accrued pursuant to a support obligation established under the law of this or another state.
Marriage: The legally recognized union of two people. Gender-specific terms relating to the marital relationship or familial relationships are construed to be gender-neutral.
Medical Support: Amounts due an obligee under a court or administrative order for the payment of medical expenses of a dependent child, including reimbursement for qualified medical expenses awarded at an administrative hearing; and an obligation to provide and maintain health insurance coverage, including, if necessary, obtaining public health care coverage, for the medical, hospital, and dental expenses of a dependent child.
Non-Custodial Parent: The parent who is not the child's primary residential care provider. This is most often the parent from whom current support is sought to be established or modified in the proceeding or with respect to whom a debt for public assistance is sought to be established in a proceeding. May be abbreviated in this manual as "NCP."
Non-TANF Client: An individual receiving support enforcement services from the Department or from any other state's IV-D agency or instrumentality thereof, who does not receive public assistance from the TANF, IV-E Foster Care, or Medicaid Programs. Sometimes referred to as a "Non-Welfare Client."
Non-TANF Medicaid Recipient: An individual who has been determined eligible for or is receiving Medicaid under Title XIX of the Social Security Act but is not receiving, nor deemed to be receiving, TANF under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act.
Notice of Debt: Informs the responsible parent of debt accrued or accruing under an order of support, subject to the requirements of 19-A M.R.S. §2352.
Notice of Hearing: Informs parties of a hearing to establish or modify a child support obligation, establish a debt for past support, including medical expenses, and/or to establish an obligation to provide health insurance. See 19-A M.R.S. §2304.
Notice of Review Hearing: Informs parties of a hearing regarding an appeal of agency action. See 19-A M.R.S. §2451.
Obligee: Any person to whom a duty of support is owed.
Obligor: Any person owing a duty of support. May also be referred to in context as the "Responsible Parent."
OCSE: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
OFI: The Office for Family Independence, Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Other Order of Administrative Process: An administrative order, decision or judgment of a state (other than the State of Maine), territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Overdue Support: See Arrears.
Parent: After July 1, 2016, a person who has established a parent-child relationship with a child under Title 19-A, Ch. 61, or, in the absence of such a person, the legal guardian of the child.
Parentage: After July 1, 2016, the legal relationship between a child and a parent as established under Title 19-A, Ch. 61.
Past-due Support: The amount of support determined under a court order or an order of an administrative process established under State law for support and maintenance of a child, or of a child and the parent with whom the child is living, which has not been paid.
Paternity Proceeding: A proceeding initiated by the Division, seeking an order of relief pursuant to 19-A M.R.S. §1606. This proceeding seeks to establish paternity and support obligations.
Payee: In the context of collection and distribution of support payments, the person designated by a Court or administrative process to receive child support payments. Such persons may include, but are not limited to, the custodial parent, legal guardian, caretaker relative having custody of or responsibility for the child or children, conservator representing the custodial parent and child directly with a legal and fiduciary duty, or alternate caretaker designated in a record by the custodial parent.
Payor of Public Assistance: The Department, or such other U.S. state, territory, possession or commonwealth or political sub-division or instrumentality thereof, or the District of Columbia, on behalf of which the Division is acting, which has paid and/or is paying TANF public assistance for the dependent child(ren) of the responsible parent.
Person: Any individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, company, corporation, political subdivision of the State or instrumentality of the State.
Pre-offset Notice: The notification to the obligor and his or her spouse, if applicable, that past-due child support may be obtained from state tax refunds pursuant to 36 M.R.S. §5276-A, or from federal tax refunds pursuant to 45 C.F.R. §§ 302.60 and 303.72.
Presumed Parent: A person who, after July 1, 2016 and pursuant to 19-A M.R.S. §1881, is recognized as the parent of the child.
Proceeding(s): An administrative or judicial hearing, review or other action.
Public Assistance: Money payments and medical care furnished to or on behalf of dependent children by the State, including Medicaid, TANF and state supplemental income benefits provided under 22 M.R.S. §3271.
Qualified medical expenses: Necessary medical expenses incurred for care provided to a dependent child, and/or for birth related expenses, which have been paid by the obligee, the Department, or another payor of public assistance, and for which the obligee, the Department, or other payor of public assistance was not reimbursed by the obligor or his or her insurer, the child's(ren's) insurer or the obligee's insurer.
Recipient: Unless otherwise defined or given another meaning by its context, a recipient of TANF, Medicaid or Foster Care payments.
Record: Information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
Responsible parent: The natural, legal or adoptive parent of a dependent child. In context, the parent responsible for paying a child support obligation (See "Obligor," this Chapter).
Review Affidavit: An affirmation, signed under oath, served upon the other party along with a request for administrative review, stating the grounds upon which the request is based. If the party requesting a review is a responsible parent, a statement affirmed under the penalty for unsworn falsification may be used instead of an affidavit. See 19-A M.R.S. §2451.
RURESA:Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act.
Service by Mail: Whenever service of an administrative decision is permitted by United States Postal Service mail, the decision shall be mailed to the last known address of each parent. Service by mail is complete upon mailing and the parents are presumed to have received the decision within three (3) days of mailing.
Sign: To authenticate or adopt a record by executing or adopting a tangible symbol, such as a hand-written signature, or to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): A benefit under Title II of the Social Security Act paid to individuals who can no longer work because of a medical condition that is expected to last at least one (1) year or may result in death. SSDI is funded by and based upon the worker's income tax contributions to the Social Security Trust Fund.
Social Security Retirement (SSR): A benefit under Title II of the Social Security Act paid to eligible, retired workers as early as age 62 and is funded primarily by employment taxes.
State: The State of Maine.
Subsequent Debt: Debts accrued or accruing which were not included in a previous Notice of Debt. In the case of an ongoing support debt, the debt continues to accrue after the liquidation by the Notice of Debt. Any subsequent debt is continually added to the original adjudication to determine the total amount accrued and accruing. The absence of subsequent Notices of Debt does not invalidate the ongoing debt accrued and accruing since the original Notice of Debt was liquidated, even when/if the order is later modified or reduced to zero.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI): A benefit under Title XVI of the Social Security Act that is awarded to individuals with low income and limited resources who are 65 or older, blind, or disabled. SSI benefits are also available to disabled children whose income and resources fall within the eligibility requirements. SSI is a form of public assistance, funded by general tax revenues, intended to protect the recipient from poverty.
Support guidelines: The child support table and the criteria for application of the table established by the Department pursuant to 19-A M.R.S. §2011.
Support Obligation: The amount due an obligee or payor of public assistance for child and/or spousal support, including amounts due for medical support, under a court order, an administrative decision, or other order of administrative process, or a court order or order of administrative process of a foreign country (as and where enforceable), including any arrearages accrued thereunder.
Support Order: A judgment, decree or order, whether temporary, final or subject to modification, issued by a court or an administrative agency of competent jurisdiction for the support and maintenance of a child (including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state), or a child and the parent with whom the child is living, that provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages or reimbursement and may include related costs and fees, interest and penalties, income withholding, attorney's fees and other relief.
TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Title IV-A or IV-A: Title IV-A of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. §§ 601et seq.), which concerns the federal/state TANF Program.
Title IV-D or IV-D: Title IV-D of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. §§ 651et seq.), which concerns the federal/state child support enforcement program.
Title IV-D Agency or IV-D Agency: An agency authorized to provide child support enforcement services under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.
Title IV-E Agency or IV-E Agency: An agency authorized to provide foster care and adoption services under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act.
UIFSA: The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, (a) wherever in force, and (b) as embodied in 19-A M.R.S. §§2801 - 3401.
URESA: The Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act, (a) wherever in force, and (b) as embodied in former 19 M.R.S. §§331 - 420.
C.M.R. 10, 144, ch. 351, 2