§ 4106. Assignment of rights

(a) When an assignment of the right to support is in effect pursuant to section 3902 of this title or pursuant to this section, or when payments are being made through the registry, the custodial parent shall be considered to have appointed the Director of the Office of Child Support as his or her attorney in fact to perform the specific act of endorsing over to the registry all drafts, checks, money orders, or other negotiable instruments for support of the child or to transfer any payments received by the registry to the registering tribunal of another state, as defined in 15B V.S.A. § 101(19), after a written request is received from the obligee or the other state on behalf of the obligee or under an assignment of rights.

(b) When an assignment is in effect, any amounts accrued under a 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 registry without further order of the Court.

(c) A person applying for IV-D services who is not receiving welfare assistance may assign support rights to the State, but such an assignment shall not be a condition of eligibility for IV-D services.

(d) Persons who have assigned their support rights to the State shall be informed of actions that will be taken on their behalf and shall be entitled to information concerning the progress or results of any such action. Thirty days prior to the initiation of any Court proceeding, the Office of Child Support shall give the assignor notice and provide the assignor the opportunity to timely raise claims, through the waiver process, that such actions would not be in the best interests of the children.

(e) If arrearages accrue after support rights have been assigned and the obligor and obligee subsequently reunite, the Office of Child Support may not take any action to collect the support arrearages, unless the reunited family has a gross income equal to or greater than 225 percent of poverty, as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

(f) When an assignment is in effect, the State shall be guided by the best interests of the child for whose benefit the action is taken.

(1) The amount of child support indicated by the guidelines shall be presumed to be in the child's best interest, but other relevant information which is readily available, including information provided by the parents shall be considered together with the factors set out in 15 V.S.A. § 659.

(2) If, after reasonable inquiry into the circumstances of the family, it is determined by the Office of Child Support that an action would not be in the best interests of the affected child, a support action should not be undertaken. (Added 1989, No. 221 (Adj. Sess.), § 13; amended 1993, No. 105, § 9; 1997, No. 63, § 25, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.)