Colorado § 14-5-319 - Receipt and disbursement of payments.

§ 14-5-319. Receipt and disbursement of payments.

(a) A support enforcement agency or tribunal of this state shall disburse promptly any amounts received pursuant to a support order, as directed by the order. The agency or tribunal shall furnish to a requesting party or tribunal of another state or a foreign country a certified statement by the custodian of the record of the amounts and dates of all payments received.

(b) If neither the obligor, nor the obligee who is an individual, nor the child resides in this state, upon request from the support enforcement agency of this state or another state, the support enforcement agency of this state or a tribunal of this state shall:

(1) Direct that the support payment be made to the support enforcement agency in the state in which the obligee is receiving services; and

(2) Issue and send to the obligor's employer a conforming income-withholding order or an administrative notice of change of payee, reflecting the redirected payments.

(c) The support enforcement agency of this state receiving redirected payments from another state pursuant to a law similar to subsection (b) of this section shall furnish to a requesting party or tribunal of the other state a certified statement by the custodian of the record of the amount and dates of all payments received.

Source: L. 93: Entire article R&RE, p. 1594, § 1, effective January 1, 1995. L. 2003: Entire section amended, p. 1255, § 25, effective July 1, 2004. L. 2015: (a) amended, (HB 15-1198), ch. 173, p. 553, § 26, effective July 1.

COMMENT

The first sentence of subsection (a) is truly hortatory in nature, although its principle is implemented insofar as support enforcement agencies are required by federal regulations promulgated by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). The second sentence confirms the duty of the agency or tribunal to furnish payment information in interstate or international cases.

As an exception to the usual provisions in Article 3, subsections (b) and (c) are applicable only to interstate cases. The procedure described was inspired by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is designed to speed up receipt of support payments. Support enforcement agencies are directed to cooperate in the efficient and expeditious collection and transfer of child support from obligor to obligee. Over two-thirds of all child support payments currently are made through direct income withholding actions, whereby an out-of-state IV-D agency sends direct notice to an employer in the obligor's state to withhold funds to satisfy the support obligation. Nonetheless, this section remains viable for those situation in which the direct withholding encounters a glitch. Further, there are ongoing problems in states not having income withholding payments go to the state disbursement unit. This section is intended to solve the problem by directing the payments to the most logical disbursement unit, i.e., the state with continuing exclusive jurisdiction.

PART 4

ESTABLISHMENT OF SUPPORT ORDER OR DETERMINATION OF PARENTAGE

COMMENT

A fundamental principle of U.S. jurisprudence is that our courts are open to litigants with a valid cause of action. This article makes clear this principle applies to support actions, whether initiated by a resident of the United States or of a foreign nation.