N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 18 § 346.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 25, June 18, 2024

Section 346.1 - Local district support collection unit

(a) Each social services district shall establish a support collection unit (SCU). The SCU shall be under the supervision of a full-time employee who may be the supervisor of the child support enforcement unit established under section 347.3 of this Title. The SCU shall, in accordance with instructions issued by the department:

(1) collect, account for and disburse funds paid pursuant to an order of child support or child and spousal support issued under the provisions of article 3-A or section 236 or 240 of the Domestic Relations Law, or article 4, 5 or 5-A of the Family Court Act; provided, however, that the department, subject to availability of funds, will furnish centralized collection and disbursement functions for and on behalf of each social services district. Until such time as the department performs collection and disbursement functions for a particular social services district, that social services district will continue to perform those functions;

(2) inform the petitioner and respondent of any case in which a required child support payment has not been made within two weeks after it was due;

(3) assist in securing voluntary compliance with orders of support or in preparation and submission of a petition for violation of a support order unless an income execution is requested by the debtor pursuant to section 347.9 of this Title; and

(4) provide a notice of collection of assigned support to each individual who has assigned his or her right to support pursuant to Part 369 of this Title, unless no collection was made during the time period being reported by the notice, or the assignment was no longer in effect during the time period being reported by the notice and there were no longer any assigned arrearages during that time. Such notice must be provided monthly unless it is provided quarterly in conjunction with the department's provision of a toll-free automated voice response system. Such notice must be provided in relation to each absent parent from whom support was collected on behalf of the individual, and may be provided through the use of more than one document. Such notice must contain the following information:

(i) the amount of current support collected;

(ii) the amount of arrearages collected; and

(iii) the amount of support that was distributed.

(b) The financial functions of the SCU are defined as follows:

(1) collection, which includes issuing receipts for all payments, preparing the daily deposit of such payments, and reconciling deposit slips to the receipts issued each week;

(2) accounting, which includes posting the daily collections to the individual account records, maintaining the cash receipts journal, preparing a monthly report of all monies received and posted, and preparing bank reconciliations;

(3) disbursement, which includes preparing checks for disbursement, posting disbursements to individual account records, maintaining the cash disbursements journal, and preparing a monthly report of all monies disbursed; and

(4) administration, which includes making all deposits of collections on a daily basis, reviewing and affixing signatures to all disbursements, mailing all checks daily, reviewing all monthly reports, and obtaining information as required by sections 346.2 and 346.3 of this Part.

(c) In performing the functions in subdivision (b) of this section, the SCU must insure that adequate internal controls exist. Where sufficient staff are assigned, the four functions described in paragraphs (b)(1) through (4) of this section must each be performed by a separate individual. As a minimum, the functions defined in paragraph (b)(1) of this section shall be performed by a person not involved whatsoever in the other three functions, except in those circumstances where a waiver is requested and approved as outlined in section 346.7 of this Part.

(d) The SCU shall administer the tax refund offset process in accordance with section 346.9 of this Part.

(e) All information obtained by the SCU concerning applicants for or recipients of public assistance is subject to the confidentiality requirements as set out in section 347.19 of this Article.

(f) Information concerning the respondent's payment record may be disclosed to an individual or organization when authorized in writing by the respondent, or pursuant to section 347.19 of this Title.

(g) The SCU must administer the income execution process in accordance with section 347.9 of this Title.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 18 § 346.1