P.R. Laws tit. 8, § 501
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings stated hereinbelow:
(1) Title IV-D Agency.— Agency for the enforcement of the state child support program established under Title IV-D of the Federal Social Security Act. The Administration is the appointed Title IV-D Agency to enforce compliance with child support obligations in Puerto Rico.
(2) Administration.— The Child Support Administration created by this chapter and known by its acronym in Spanish, ASUME.
(3) Administrator.— The Administrator of the Child Support Administration, appointed pursuant to the dispositions set forth of this chapter.
(4) Obligor.— Means any person who, pursuant to the applicable provisions of law, is obliged to provide child support and health insurance coverage.
(5) Oblige.— Means any person who, pursuant to the applicable provisions of law, is entitled to receive child support and health insurance coverage, including any agency of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or of any other jurisdiction, to which a person has assigned his/her support rights and the former has supplied same.
(6) Indebted obligor.— Means any natural person having the legal obligation to pay child support who is in arrears in the payment of the support for an amount equal to one (1) month or more.
(7) Public assistance.— Comprises temporary federal and state assistance providing funds for the expenses of minors, to be recovered from the obligor.
(8) Account.— Means any type of account in a financial institution, including checks, deposits, savings, mutual funds, pensions, shares, bonds, certificates of deposit, credit reserves, lines of credit, credit cards and other similar instruments.
(9) Department.— Means the Department of the Family of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(10) Arrears.— Means the total amount of child support payments due and unpaid, including interest and incidental costs of the process and the health insurance coverage payments in those cases in which such payments are imposed.
(11) Workday.— Day in which the Government offices of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are open to render regular services.
(12) Employee.— Means any person who is considered to be employed pursuant to the definition of this term in Chapter 24 of the Federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, excluding federal, state and Commonwealth employees that perform duties of counterintelligence, if the chief of said agency has determined that information pertaining to such employees, pursuant to the provisions established in this chapter, may compromise the safety of the employee or any intelligence investigation or mission in progress.
(13) Financial institution.— Means any bank or savings association; federal or state cooperative savings and credit union; benefits, savings or pensions association; savings or pensions fund; insurance, mutual funds, stocks or bonds company; or similar others.
(14) Factual error.— In the context of appeals to the orders of the Administrator to the administrative judge, an error in the amount of the payment current or in arrears, or in the identity of the alleged obligor.
(15) State.— One of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or any territory or possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The term also includes:
(a) Any Native American tribe, and
(b) any foreign jurisdiction or country that has decreed or established procedures to promulgate and enforce support orders that are substantially similar to the procedures set forth in this chapter.
(16) Income.— Means any earnings, benefits, profits and revenues derived from salaries, day wages, or compensation for personal services, including remuneration received for services rendered as an official or employee of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Government of the United States, the District of Columbia, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, as permitted by applicable federal laws and regulations of any state of the union of the United States, or any political subdivision thereof, or of any agency or instrumentality of any of the aforementioned entities, in whatever way the payment is made; or from professions, occupations, industries, businesses, trade or sales; or property ventures, whether real or personal, that arise from the possession or use of the interest in such property; as well as those derived from the interest, rents, dividends, partnerships, securities, or the operation of any business operated for gain or profit; and earnings, benefits, funds, emoluments or compensation derived from any source, including compensation as an independent contractor; unemployment compensation, disability compensation, retirement and pension benefits, or any other payment received by an obligor from any natural or juridical person.
(17) Net income.— Means the income available to the obligor after deductions for income tax, social security, and others mandated by law. To the effects of determining the net income, the following shall also be taken into account when the obligee is the beneficiary: deductions for retirement plans, associations, unions and voluntary federations, as well as deductions or payments for life or accident insurance policy premiums, or for health plan payments. The final determination shall be made in accordance with all available evidence, including estimates, studies and projections of income, expenses, lifestyle and any other pertinent evidence.
(18) Administrative judge.— Means an attorney appointed as provided [by] this chapter, to intervene in adjudicative procedures regarding child support matters who is empowered, without it being understood as a limitation, to make findings of facts and conclusions of law, issue orders, resolutions and decrees with respect to child support, medical insurance coverage, collection or withholding of income, and certain controversies on filiation that arise within the expedited administrative procedure, and to take all those administrative measures for ensuring the payment of child support.
(19) Administrative judge coordinator.— Means an administrative judge appointed as provided by this chapter, who is in charge of the additional duty to coordinate and direct the administrative operations of the office of administrative judges.
(20) Minor.— Means any person of an age that is less than the legal age set forth in the Puerto Rico Civil Code who is entitled to receive child support services under this chapter.
(21) Attachment order.— Means any order, determination, resolution or mandate by a court of competent jurisdiction, or issued through the administrative procedure established in this chapter, requiring the attaching and remitting to the court or the Administration, as the case may be, of any real or personal property, including income or funds in the hands of a third party, which belong to the delinquent obligor.
(22) Support order.— Means any determination, resolution, order, mandate or ruling to fix, modify, review or execute the payment of the support and health plan, issued pursuant to the regulations and the Mandatory Guidelines to Fix and Modify Child Support in Puerto Rico adopted under this chapter and the applicable federal legislation by a court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or through the administrative procedure established in this chapter, or by a court or administrative body of any state or political subdivision of a territory or possession of the United States or the District of Columbia, duly empowered to issue it, or of a foreign country which has executed a reciprocity agreement.
(23) Withholding order.— Means any determination, resolution, order or mandate issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or issued through the administrative procedure established in this chapter, requiring an employer or disburser to withhold a given amount for child support or health plan expenses from the income of an obligor and to remit it to the Administration.
(24) Labor organization.— Has the meaning defined for the term in § 2(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, and includes any entity (or employment office) used by the organization and the employer to comply with the requirements set forth in § 8(F)(3) of the referenced law by agreement between the organization and the employer.
(25) Custodial person.— Natural or legal person, who could be a father, mother, relative or guardian, responsible for the daily care of the obligee and who administers the property of said obligee.
(26) Disburser or employer.— Means any natural or juridical, public or private person from whom an obligor is entitled to receive income, as defined in this section. For purposes of the State Register of New Employees, employer has the meaning set forth for said term in § 3401 of the Federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and includes any government entity and any labor organization.
(27) Expedited administrative procedure.— Means the speedy administrative procedure established in this chapter to fix, modify, review and execute support orders and determine filiation, within the parameters of time established in the applicable federal legislation and regulation which ensures the right to due process of law for the affected parties.
(28) Expedited legal procedure.— Procedure established in this chapter to establish, modify, review and execute child support orders in the Court of First Instance, within the parameters set forth by the applicable federal legislation and regulations. As used in this section, an expedited procedure means a process that reduces the time to process an order to establish or modify a support order or to ensure the effectiveness of the child support payments in such a manner that ninety percent (90%) of the cases are resolved within a maximum term of three (3) months; ninety-eight percent (98%) of the cases are resolved within a term of six (6) months, and one hundred percent (100%) of the cases are resolved within a term of twelve months (12). The terms set forth in this section begin on the date in which the notification of the petition is filed, as established in subsection (4) of § 514 of this title, until the date of its final resolution by the court.
(29) Deputy prosecutor.— Attorney appointed in accordance with this chapter to represent the Administration in the rendering of child support services pursuant to this chapter.
(30) Temporary Assistance Program.— The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program (TANF) as established under the Title IV-A of the Federal Social Security Act.
(31) Genetic testing.— Chemical analysis for the determination of paternity generally acknowledged as reliable by the accrediting organisms appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States performed by a laboratory approved by said accrediting entity.
(32) Pension review.— Reconsideration or review of the child support that takes place every three (3) years after being set forth or modified.
(33) Secretary.— Means the Secretary of the Department of the Family of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and any official, employee, agent or representative duly authorized by same to carry out the duties and responsibilities established in this chapter, and in the functions and regulations adopted by virtue of this chapter.
(34) Services or child support services.— Administrative and judicial assistance and proceedings of all sorts, authorized by this chapter to implement public policy on child support including, among other things, legal representation, location of persons bound by law to provide support, payment of certain costs incurred in the procedures, collection and distribution of child support.
(35) Court.— Any of the parts of the Court of First Instance, except when otherwise specified.
(36) Health insurance.— Health care coverage under the policy of the father or mother, as set forth in § 518 of this title.
History —Dec. 30, 1986, No. 5, p. 887, art. II, § 2; Apr. 24, 1987, No. 16, § 1, Aug. 17, 1994, No. 86, § 2; Aug. 12, 1995, No. 202, § 1; Dec. 18, 1997, No. 169, § 1; Aug. 1, 2003, No. 178, § 1.