5.__Department notification responsibilities.__As soon as practicable after the department knows that an obligor has become an assisted obligor, the department shall send notices to the obligor and obligee notifying them of:

A.__The obligor's status as an assisted obligor;

B.__The existence of the presumption in subsection 2;

C.__The child support obligation pursuant to subsection 3;

D.__The obligee's opportunities as set forth in subsection 4; and

E.__The location where forms for modification proceedings can be obtained.

In addition, the department shall include with the notices to the parties blank forms for use in initiating modification actions.

SUMMARY

This bill is a recommendation of the Family Law Advisory Commission.

Current law provides that a parent obligated under a court or administrative order to pay child support is not required to pay the support while receiving public assistance. This bill retains that effect by explicitly establishing a rebuttable presumption that an obligor receiving certain public assistance has no capacity to pay child support. The bill also provides, however, the opportunity for the person who is to receive the support under the order, the obligee, to have the court or hearing officer review whether the obligor actually has no capacity to pay child support. This bill uses the existing definition of "public assistance," except that it does not apply if the public assistance provided is medical care only.

The Department of Human Services is required to provide notices to the obligee and the obligor about the obligor's status, the presumption of no capacity to pay child support, the child support obligation resulting from the application of the presumption, the obligee's opportunity to modify the effect of the presumption and the location where forms for modification proceedings can be obtained. Blank forms for initiating modification actions must be included with the notices.