Vermont § 3902 - Assignment of support rights by public assistance recipients; proceedings to establish support obligation

§ 3902. Assignment of support rights by public assistance recipients; proceedings to establish support obligation

• (a) As a condition of eligibility for public assistance, each applicant or recipient shall
  assign to the Department any right to support from a responsible parent that has accrued
  at the time of the assignment and that the applicant may have in the applicant’s own
  behalf or on behalf of any other family member for whom the applicant is applying
  or receiving assistance. (b) An assignment in effect under this section shall be subject to the provisions of section 4106 of this title. (c) Whenever a support obligation is in effect against a responsible parent for the benefit
  of a dependent child or a custodial parent, payments required under the support obligation
  shall be sent to the Office of Child Support upon notice to the responsible parent,
  without further order of the court. When an assignment is in effect pursuant to subsection
  (a) of this section, any amounts accrued under the support obligation as of the date
  of assignment, and any amount accruing while the assignment is in effect, shall be
  owing to and payable to the Department for Children and Families without further order
  of the court. (d) An order of the court shall be effective on behalf of the assignee while any assignment
  is in effect, and on behalf of the dependent child and the custodial parent at all
  other times. The Office of Child Support shall, unless otherwise requested by the
  parent, act as agent for the parent and child to collect any amounts due from the
  responsible parent pursuant to the order after the assignment terminates and may,
  if required by the Social Security Act, deduct any costs incurred in collection. (e) If a support order has been entered and the legal custodian and obligee relinquishes
  physical responsibility of the child to a caretaker without modifying the physical
  rights and responsibilities order, the Office of Child Support may change the payee
  of support upon the caretaker’s receipt of Reach Up family assistance from the Department
  for Children and Families. The obligor’s obligation under the support order to pay
  child support and medical support continues but shall be payable to the Office of
  Child Support upon the caretaker’s receipt of Reach Up family assistance and shall
  continue so long as the assignment is in effect. The Office of Child Support shall
  notify the obligor and obligee under the support order, by first-class mail at last
  known address, of the change of payee. (Added 1977, No. 212 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1985, No. 63 § 17; 1989, No. 221 (Adj. Sess.), § 17, eff. Oct. 1, 1990; 1999, No. 147 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2003, No. 159 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; 2005, No. 174 (Adj. Sess.), § 115; 2007, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; 2021, No. 20, § 327.)