36-5-115 - State registry of support cases.
36-5-115. State registry of support cases.
(a) For the purposes of this section, support order means an order in which there is a judgment, decree, or order, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, that is issued by a court of competent jurisdiction 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 state that issued the order and which order, judgment, or decree provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, or reimbursement, and which may include related costs and fees, interest, penalties, income withholding, attorneys fees, and other relief.
(b) All cases of support for which services are being provided pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, and all support orders that are established or modified on or after October 1, 1998, regardless of whether such orders result from cases being enforced pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, shall be contained in an automated state registry of support cases and support orders to be operated by the department of human services under such conditions, and containing such data elements, as are required by the secretary of the United States department of health and human services pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 654a.
(c) (1) (A) The clerk of a court who had opted out of the statewide child support computer system prior to March 1, 1998, and who maintains the records of support orders described in subsection (b) in non-Title IV-D cases, shall send a facsimile copy of the order, any necessary data elements required by the secretary of the United States department of health and human services, and any additional updated information regarding such data elements on the support case at such time as it is supplied to the clerk by the parties to the case, to the department or its contractor on a daily basis on a line and facsimile machine provided for such purpose by the department of human services. The machine shall be provided if the clerk's office does not have a facsimile machine as determined by the department through an equipment assessment. Line charges shall be the responsibility of the department either through use of a toll-free line or pursuant to the cost reimbursement requirements of § 36-5-117.
(B) As an alternative to provision by the clerk of the order and information as required by subdivision (c)(1)(A) by use of a facsimile machine, for those clerks who opted out of the statewide child support enforcement system pursuant to the former provisions of § 36-5-101(a), upon the request of the clerk, the department shall conduct a computer needs assessment of the clerk's office. Based upon the assessment, the department shall provide either adequate computer equipment and Tennessee Child Support Enforcement System (TCSES) software to permit the transfer of information required by the federal case registry provisions, or if the clerk has an existing computer system that is the same system as a clerk that is currently interfacing with the department of human services' TCSES system, that clerk shall be given the same opportunity to interface with the TCSES system, with the costs of any modifications required to transmit the required data elements or to otherwise meet the requirements of federal law needed for the interfacing system to be the responsibility of the department of human services.
(2) For clerks who operate under TCSES or under the TCSES interfacing system, including the model interfacing systems, the department will absorb the costs of modifications of the computer system necessary to receive and transmit information required by the federal law for the operation of the central case registry. For cases that are not subject to enforcement by the department pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, these clerks shall transmit to the department or its contractor on a daily basis on TCSES, or the TCSES interfacing system, including the model interfacing system, the necessary data elements for the support case registry required by the secretary of the United States department of health and human services and any additional updated information regarding such data elements at such time as it is supplied to the clerk.
(d) The clerks' costs for services of this section shall be paid according to the reimbursement process established pursuant to § 36-5-117.
[Acts 1998, ch. 1048, § 2.]