§ 110-130.1. Non-Work First services.
§ 110‑130.1. Non‑WorkFirst services.
(a) All child supportcollection and paternity determination services provided under this Article torecipients of public assistance shall be made available to any individual notreceiving public assistance in accordance with federal law and as contractuallyauthorized by the nonrecipient, upon proper application and payment of anonrefundable application fee of twenty‑five dollars ($25.00). The feeshall be reduced to ten dollars ($10.00) if the individual applying for theservices is indigent. An indigent individual is an individual whose grossincome does not exceed one hundred percent (100%) of the federal povertyguidelines issued each year in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services. For the purposes of this subsection, the term"gross income" has the same meaning as defined in G.S. 105‑134.1.
In the case of an individualwho has never received assistance under a State program funded pursuant toTitle IV‑A of the Social Security Act and for whom the State hascollected and disbursed to the family in a federal fiscal year at least fivehundred dollars ($500.00) of support, the State shall impose an annual fee oftwenty‑five dollars ($25.00) for each case in which services arefurnished. The child support agency shall retain the fee from support collectedon behalf of the individual. However, the child support agency shall not retainthe fee from the first five hundred dollars ($500.00) collected. The childsupport agency shall use the fee to support the ongoing operation of theprogram.
(b) Repealed by SessionLaws 1989, c. 490.
(b1) In cases in which apublic assistance debt which accrued pursuant to G.S. 110‑135 remainsunrecovered, support payments shall be transmitted to the Department of Healthand Human Services for appropriate distribution. When services are terminatedand all costs and any public assistance debts have been satisfied, the supportpayment shall be redirected to the client.
(c) Actions orproceedings to establish, enforce, or modify a duty of support or establishpaternity as initiated under this Article shall be brought in the name of thecounty or State agency on behalf of the public assistance recipient ornonrecipient client. Collateral disputes between a custodial parent andnoncustodial parent, involving visitation, custody and similar issues, shall beconsidered only in separate proceedings from actions initiated under thisArticle. The attorney representing the designated representative of programsunder Title IV‑D of the Social Security Act shall be deemed attorney ofrecord only for proceedings under this Article, and not for the separateproceedings. No attorney/client relationship shall be considered to have beencreated between the attorney who represents the child support enforcementagency and any person by virtue of the action of the attorney in providing theservices required.
(c1) The Department ishereby authorized to use the electronic and print media in attempting to locateabsent and deserting parents. Due diligence must be taken to ensure that theinformation used is accurate or has been verified. Print media shall be underno obligation or duty, except that of good faith, to anyone to verify thecorrectness of any information furnished to it by the Department or countydepartments of social services.
(d) Any fee imposed bythe North Carolina Department of Revenue or the Secretary of the Treasury tocover their costs of withholding for non‑Work First arrearages certifiedfor the collection of past due support from State or federal income tax refundsshall be borne by the client by deducting the fee from the amount collected.
Any income tax refund offsetamounts which are subsequently determined to have been incorrectly withheld anddistributed to a client, and which must be refunded by the State to aresponsible parent or the nondebtor spouse, shall constitute a debt to theState owed by the client. (1983, c. 527, s. 1; 1985, c. 781, ss. 1‑5; 1985(Reg. Sess., 1986), c. 931, ss. 1‑3; 1989, c. 490; 1995, c. 538, s. 3;1997‑223, s. 2; 1997‑443, ss. 11A.118(a), 12.28; 2007‑460, s.1.)