The definitions contained in this section, and definitions applicable to Division 9 (commencing with Section 3500), shall govern the construction of this division, unless the context requires otherwise.

(a) “Child support debt” means the amount of money owed as child support pursuant to a court order.

(b) “Child support order” means a court order for the payment of a set or determinable amount of support by a parent or a court order requiring a parent to provide for health insurance coverage. “Child support order” includes any court order for spousal support or for medical support to the extent these obligations are to be enforced by a single state agency for child support under Title IV-D.

(c) “Court” means any superior court of this state and any court or tribunal of another state that has jurisdiction to determine the liability of persons for the support of another person.

(d) “Court order” means a judgment, decree, or order of any court of this state that orders the payment of a set or determinable amount of support by a parent. It does not include any order or decree of any proceeding in which a court did not order support.

(e) “Department” means the Department of Child Support Services.

(f) “Dependent child” means any of the following:

(1) Any person under 18 years of age who is not emancipated, self-supporting, married, or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(2) Any unmarried person who is at least 18 years of age but who has not reached 19 years of age, is not emancipated, and is a student regularly attending high school or a program of vocational or technical training designed to train that person for gainful employment.

(g) “Director” means the Director of Child Support Services or an authorized representative.

(h) “Local child support agency” means the county department of child support services created pursuant to this chapter and with which the department has entered into a cooperative agreement, to secure child and spousal support, medical support, and determine paternity. Local child support agency includes county programs in multiple counties that have been consolidated into a single agency pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 17304.

(i) “Parent” means the natural or adoptive father or mother of a dependent child, and includes any person who has an enforceable obligation to support a dependent child.

(j) “Public assistance” means any amount paid under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code), or any Medi-Cal benefit, for the benefit of any dependent child or the caretaker of a child.

(k) “Public assistance debt” means any amount paid under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act, contained in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, for the benefit of a dependent child or the caretaker of a child for whom the department is authorized to seek recoupment under this division, subject to applicable federal law.

(l) “Title IV-D” or “IV-D” means Part D of Title IV of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 651 et seq.).

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 115, Sec. 140. (AB 1817) Effective January 1, 2020.)