Effect of Child Support

The purpose of a child support recoupment is to repay the aid paid to an AU. When a child support recoupment results in the repayment of a full months grant, the AU’s CalWORKs time-on-aid clock is adjusted to remove that month from counting in the AU’s time-on-aid clock. When an overpayment exists, the child support recoupment is excluded when recomputing grant and cannot be used to offset an overpayment.

The following examples illustrate how to apply a child support recoupment when a CalWORKs AU has an OP:

Applying Child Support Recoupment to Untick a Full Month of Aid

An AU received a CalWORKs grant in January, February, March, April, May and June. It is later determined that the AU should not have received a grant for February and March and an OP is established for the two months. An OP NOA is sent and the grant is reduced effective August 1. A child support recoupment collects for April - July and is enough to fully repay January, April, and May but not enough to full repay June. The child support recoupment must be applied in the following manner:

Month	January	February	March	April	May	June
Grant	Eligible	OP- Not Eligible	OP-Not Eligible	Eligible	Eligible	Eligible
Action	Apply child support and untick month	Child support not applied- collect an OP	Child support not applied- collect an OP	Apply child support and untick month	Apply child support and untick month	Tick month

Because February and March are OP months, the child support recoupment is not applied to these two months and applies to the next eligible months starting with April. OP collection efforts continue for February and March until the OP is repaid. Once the OP is fully repaid, February and March are eligible to be excluded from the client’s 60-month time clock.

When a child support recoupment is used to untick a full month of aid, EWs must subtract any money, excluding child support recoupment, received by the county and credit the amount against the aid payment from the aid actually paid. Therefore child support recoupments cannot be used to repay CalWORKs OPs.

Note: In the event that no remaining months are left to reimburse, the excess child support should be returned to the recipient.

Child Support Recoupment and Overpayment Collection to Untick a Full Month of Aid

An eligible adult received a CalWORKs grant in January, February, March, April, May and June. At a later time it is determined that the client was not eligible for the full grant in February and March and a partial OP is established for these two months. A child support recoupment collects for April - July however not enough child support is recouped to repay May and June. The child support recoupment must be applied in the following manner:

Month	January	February	March	April	May	June
Grant	Eligible	Partial Eligibility/ Partial OP Month	Partial Eligibility/ Partial OP Month	Eligible	Eligible	Eligible
Action	Apply child support and untick month	Child support applied to eligible portion of grant. OP recoupment applied to OP portion. Untick month once fully reimbursed.	Child support applied to eligible portion of grant. OP recoupment applied to OP portion. Untick month once fully reimbursed.	Apply child support and untick month	Tick month	Tick month

Since February and March are partial OP months, the child support recoupment is applied to the eligible portion of the grant the client was entitled to receive. OP collection efforts continue for the portion of the grant that was overpaid until fully reimbursed. The time clock for February and March will be unticked and not count once the OP is fully repaid.

Child support collected can only be used to repay the portion of the grant that the client was entitled to receive when a month of aid has been determined to have a partial OP month. Time-on-aid for that month cannot be unticked until the aid paid in the month is fully reimbursed.

Closed Cases

Arrearages to recoup months of aid paid to the family may be used for closed cases however the amount of the arrearages cannot exceed the UAP. Once the UAP balance is at $0, any remaining child support amount must be sent to the family. Any current child support payments collected on behalf of families who are no longer receiving cash assistance must go to the family.

Establishing an Overpayment for a Month Already Reimbursed by Child Support

An eligible adult received a CalWORKs grant in January, February, March, April, May, and June. Child support is later collected for April - July and applied to January, February, March, and April and the time-on-aid clock is unticked for these months. May and June are not unticked as not enough child support recoupment was received to repay these months. It is later determined that the client was ineligible for a grant in February and March and an OP was established. The child support received is applied in the following manner:

Grant

January

February

March

April

May

June

Grant

Eligible

OP Month (determined after Child Support Applied)

Eligible

Action

Unticked by Child Support

Remove child support and pursue OP collection. Tick month. Apply child support to the next available eligible month.

Remove child support and pursue OP collection.

Tick month. Apply child support to the next available eligible month.

Unticked by child support.

Apply child support and untick month

Since February and March are OP months, the child support reimbursement is removed and applied to the next eligible months of May and June. OP collection efforts are pursued for February and March and the time-on-aid would be unticked when the overpayment is fully repaid for each month.

If an OP is found for a month that was previously reimbursed by child support collection, then the reimbursed child support must be excluded from the OP month and applied to the next eligible month of aid.

Effect of Child Support

Applying Child Support Recoupment to Untick a Full Month of Aid

Child Support Recoupment and Overpayment Collection to Untick a Full Month of Aid

Closed Cases

Establishing an Overpayment for a Month Already Reimbursed by Child Support

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