Receiving Child Support Payments
What Options Are Available For Receiving Support?
There are two options for you to receive support electronically. Child support payments can be deposited directly into your checking or savings account. You may also choose to receive a Way2Go Card. The Way2Go Card works like an ATM debit card. For more information about the Way2Go Card, click on the following links:
Regardless of which option you choose, electronic payments are sent to the bank within two business days after a collection is received.
If you choose not to receive payments electronically, you will receive a check. Checks are also mailed within two business days of a collection being received. All checks are delivered by the United State Postal Service.
How Do I See If A Payment Has Been Received?
Information about your payments is available through Customer Connect. You can access Customer Connect online at www.cse.ca.gov/CustomerConnect/login. You can also receive information about the most recent payments by calling the automated Customer Connect system at 866-901-3212. This information is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for your convenience.
Will I Receive All Payments Collected On My Case?
The Ventura County Department of Child Support Services does not retain any of the funds collected for child support for itself. Almost all payments are sent directly to the parent who is collecting support. However, when a parent receives cash assistance from the Human Services Agency, child support is “assigned” to the state. This means, the state has the right to collect the child support that would have been owed for the children receiving aid. When this occurs, the state becomes the child support payee as long as the children are receiving aid.
If the children receive other kinds of aid such as MediCal or Food Stamps, child support payments will still go to the parent receiving support. Only recipients of cash assistance assign their child support rights to the state.
Beginning in 2011, certain cases will be charged an annual fee of up to $35. This fee is charged by the Federal government if the children on a case have never received public assistance and the case payee received at least five hundred dollars in child support during the previous year. The fee is assessed once each year and is collected from child support payments in the following year. This fee is paid to the Federal government to offset the cost of the child support program.
Why Are Tax Intercepts Held?
All other support payments must be disbursed within two business days of receipt. The rules for IRS tax intercepts are different. The Department of Child Support Services must hold certain payments for a period of up to six months. When we intercept a tax refund, the IRS notifies us if the parent paying support filed a joint return. If the parent paying support filed a joint tax return with his/her spouse, the spouse may be entitled to a portion of the refund. This is because the parent paying support is obligated to pay child support, not the spouse.
Before we are permitted to release these collections, we must receive notice that the IRS has sent the spouse the portion of the refund that is owed to them. If the spouse does not claim their portion of the refund within six months, we will release the entire collection. We do not have authority to release these collections early, even if the spouse does not want the refund.
If the parent paying support’s spouse claims his/her portion of the refund after we have paid child support to the parent receiving support, we will ask the parent receiving support to repay the amount received.
