§ 20-6-106 — Powers and duties of department regarding collection of support

(a) By signing an application for, or being a recipient
of, aid under the personal opportunities with employment
responsibilities (POWER) program, a support obligee assigns to
the department, by operation of law, all rights that person and
all other members of the household have to child and spousal
support, whether accrued, present or future, and their right to
medical support.
(b) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(c) The department has the power of attorney to act in the
name of any recipient of public assistance in endorsing and
cashing all drafts, checks, money orders or other negotiable
instruments received by the department representing support
payments for children on whose behalf public assistance has been
previously paid.
(d) For purposes of prosecuting any civil action under
this act or other applicable state statutes relating to the
enforcement of child support obligations, the department is the
assignee of support rights to the extent of any public
assistance provided to an obligee. No act of the obligee shall
prejudice the rights of the department or the dependent child in
any action or proceeding related to enforcement of child support
services hereunder.
(e) No agreement between any obligee and any obligor
purporting to relieve the obligor of any duty of support or to
settle past, present or future support or obligations either as
settlement or prepayment will reduce or terminate any rights of
the department to recover from the obligor for support provided
by the department unless the department has consented to the
agreement in writing or unless it has been approved by the court
with notice to the department.
(f) The department, in its own name, or on behalf of an
obligee, obligor or a child may petition a court for
modification of any court order establishing a support
obligation.
(g) If a court orders support to be paid by an obligor,
the department shall be subrogated to the debt created by the
order. This subrogation interest shall apply to all orders of
support including child support orders, medical support orders,
temporary spouse support orders, family maintenance and alimony
orders. The subrogation shall extend to the amounts paid by the
department in public assistance to or for the benefit of a
dependent child and the amount of medical support provided by or
through another division of the department of family services or
the department of health.
(h) The department may enforce, or, subject to the
approval of the court, may compromise or settle any claim or
judgment for a support obligation owed to or assigned to the
department as may be in the best interest of the dependent child
and the public.
(j) The department may offer each county a cooperative
agreement relating to the services to be provided by clerks of
district court or child support authorities in child support
enforcement cases. The department shall enter into a
cooperative agreement with the department of workforce services
to recover sums owed under a support order from unemployment
benefits awarded to an obligor.
(k) The department may contract with private vendors for
services necessary to carry out its responsibilities under Title
IV-D, applicable federal regulations, this act and its rules and
regulations as they relate to child support enforcement.
(m) The department may:
(i) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(ii) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(iii) Seek collection of child, medical and spousal
support arrears, through the federal offset program under Title
IV-D and all applicable federal regulations;
(iv) Repealed By Laws 1997, ch. 193, § 3.
(v) Request a consumer report from a consumer
reporting agency pursuant to section 604 of the Fair Credit
Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681b, provided the individual named in
consumer report is associated with a IV-D support case, the
report received by the department is kept confidential except to
the extent needed to accomplish the purposes of this paragraph
and the report is needed to:
(A) Locate the individual's whereabouts;
(B) Establish the individual's capacity to pay
child support; or
(C) Establish, enforce or modify the appropriate
level of child support payments.
(vi) In appropriate circumstances, petition the court
to order the child, mother or alleged father to submit to
genetic tests to establish paternity, or, in the alternative, to
require the testing on its own order;
(vii) Issue subpoenas for information requested under
paragraph (v) of this subsection and impose administrative
penalties not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for any
person failing to respond;
(viii) Require all persons, including government,
private for-profit employers and not-for-profit employers and
public utility companies to respond to a request by the
department for information on social security number, address,
employment, compensation and benefits of any individual for any
individual who owes or is owed support, or against or with
respect to whom a support obligation is sought, and who is
employed by the person as an employee or contractor, in
accordance with rules adopted by the department. Any person who
fails to respond to any request for information may be
sanctioned by the department by imposing administrative
penalties not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00). The
department shall enter the employer information into the state
directory of new hires within five (5) business days after
receipt of the employer information. The department may issue
administrative subpoenas for financial or other information
needed to establish, modify or enforce a support order and
impose administrative penalties not to exceed twenty-five
dollars ($25.00) for any person failing to respond. The
department may administratively subpoena the customer records of
public utility companies for the names and addresses of
individuals who owe or are owed support, or against or with
respect to whom a support obligation is sought. The department
shall notify the supervisor of any employee of a governmental
agency if the employee fails to respond to a request under this
paragraph. Any person who, acting in good faith, provides
information to the department under this paragraph shall not be
liable for civil damages as a result of the information
provided. The department shall deposit any penalties collected
under this paragraph in the public school fund of the respective
counties;
(ix) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(x) Issue an income withholding order, if an income
withholding order has not previously been issued. The department
shall file the order with the clerk of court who shall mail
copies of the order as provided by W.S. 20-6-204(c);
(xi) Seize assets when an arrearage exists by:
(A) Intercepting or seizing periodic or lump sum
payments from a state or local government agency, including
unemployment compensation, workers' compensation and other
benefits or judgments, settlements and lottery winnings;
(B) Attaching and, pursuant to a court order,
seizing assets owned solely by the obligor that are held in
financial institutions or national chartered credit unions;
(C) Attaching public and private retirement
funds pursuant to state law; and
(D) Imposing liens and, in appropriate cases,
petitioning a court to force the sale of property and
distribution of the proceeds.
(xii) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(xiii) In any case where there exists child support
arrearages and for which payments are allowed or required,
petition the district court for an increase or decrease in the
required payments due on the arrearages;
(xiv) Petition a court to void fraudulent transfers,
or obtain a settlement in the best interests of a child support
creditor when a prima facie case is established that the obligor
has transferred income or property to avoid payment to the child
support creditor;
(xv) Appear in any judicial proceeding on behalf of
the state when any obligee or obligor makes application for IV-D
services, in order to establish, enforce or modify a child
support order, medical support order or a spousal support order,
if the spousal support issue is considered in conjunction with
the child support or medical support issues, provided the
department shall not be required to participate in visitation,
custody, property settlement or other issues between the
parties. The department shall certify that the obligee, obligor
or child has applied for or is receiving Title IV-D services.
Initial pleadings filed by the department or its contractors
shall state that the action is being taken pursuant to this act
or Title IV-D;
(xvi) If an obligee receives child support which has
been assigned to the department, recover the child support
payments out of current or future child support payments due to
the obligee which are unassigned until the assigned sums have
been fully paid;
(xvii) Allocate and distribute child, medical and
spousal support whether accrued, present or future pursuant to
regulations.
(n) The department shall adopt reasonable rules and
regulations to carry out the provision of this act, including
rules and regulations governing:
(i) The provision of services pursuant to the
program;
(ii) The distribution of child support collected by
the department;
(iii) Due process safeguards;
(iv) The administration of child support income;
(v) Requirements for adequate record keeping;
(vi) Tracking and monitoring of program statistics
and support payments.
(o) If a court, on its own motion or pursuant to a request
from the department, orders an able-bodied obligor who is
unemployed and otherwise unable to fulfill his court-ordered
child support obligation to participate in the personal
opportunities with employment responsibilities program
administered by the department, the department shall permit the
obligor to participate pursuant to the court order without
regard to the program eligibility requirements under title 42 or
the department rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
(p) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(q) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(r) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(s) The department shall not enforce any administrative
procedures contained in this act until it has implemented rules
providing due process safeguards, including requirements for
notice, opportunity to contest the action and an opportunity to
appeal to the district court. Any obligor may recover costs and
reasonable attorney fees from the department or its child
support collection contractor for costs incurred in any
administrative hearing or subsequent court appeal if:
(i) It is found that the obligor did not owe an
arrearage and had paid all required support to the clerk.
(ii) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.
(t) The department of health and the department of family
services shall through rules and regulations develop procedures
to allow the sharing of birth and paternity records for purposes
of establishing paternity and child support obligations.
(u) The department shall, to the extent required by
federal law, have access to any information used by the state to
locate an individual for purposes relating to motor vehicle laws
or law enforcement and enter into agreements with financial
institutions, national chartered credit unions, benefit
associations, insurance companies, safe deposit companies, money
market mutual funds or similar entities authorized to do
business in the state as provided in W.S. 13-1-205 to develop
and operate an automated data match system to obtain identifying
information for each obligor who maintains an account at the
institution and who owes past due child support in an amount
equal to at least triple the current monthly child support
obligation and to allow assets to be encumbered as provided by
law.
(w) The department shall report to any consumer reporting
agency as defined in section 603(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting
Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681a(f) information regarding the amount of
overdue support owed by an obligor.
(y) The department shall, to the extent an obligor is
resident in the state or owns real or personal property in the
state, have a lien by operation of law against that real or
personal property. After an obligor is in arrears at least
triple the current monthly child support obligation, the
department shall perfect and enforce a lien authorized by this
section in the same manner as liens are perfected for the
specific type of real or personal property upon which the lien
is claimed. In the event there are competing liens or
encumbrances on any property upon which a lien is attached
pursuant to this section, the priority of the competing liens or
encumbrances shall date from the date of filing or perfection.
The state of Wyoming shall accord full faith and credit to a
lien arising in another state as a result of child support
arrearages when the other state or an agency thereof seeks to
enforce such lien, provided the lien was properly filed and
recorded under the laws of the state in which the lien was
created.
(z) Repealed By Laws 2000, Ch. 53, § 2.