FOR DISABLED AND LOW INCOME CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGORS HOW CAN YOU REDUCE YOUR CHILD SUPPORT DEBT?

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1 FOR DISABLED AND LOW INCOME CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGORS HOW CAN YOU REDUCE YOUR CHILD SUPPORT DEBT? This brochure is for you if you are a low income parent who owes a large child support debt to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and who is getting bills from the Department of Revenue. Our office gets many calls from parents, mothers and fathers, who owe child support. These parents have no money but are getting large bills and frightening letters from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division (DOR). The unpaid child support bills get larger and larger, even in cases when the children turned 18 many years ago. It is not unusual for an elderly or disabled person living on SSI disability benefits to get child support bills for over $25,000. Some of these parents who owe child support (child support obligors) lose their driver s licenses, or get money taken automatically from their bank accounts, or from their Social Security Disability checks. This happens even when the obligors are homeless, or living in poverty on a small amount of disability benefits. Some of the child support obligors who call us actually have custody of the children that DOR is collecting child support for In most cases, the growing child support debt is owed, not to the parent who has or had custody of the children (or custodial parent) but to the Commonwealth. This is usually because the custodial parent had to go on welfare benefits with the children, and the Commonwealth wants to get the money back somehow. 1. How do the debts get so high if the child support obligors income is low? Usually when the child support order is made by the court, the obligor is working. Child support is calculated based on the obligor s income at the time he or she is first in court for child support. Unfortunately, circumstances change. After court, the obligors may lose their jobs, become disabled, or get sent to jail. Some obligors get custody of the children they were paying support for. But the child support order doesn t stop just because the obligor s income goes down. Unless the obligor goes back to Probate and Family Court and files a child support modification case, the debt just grows and grows every week. When child support is not being paid, DOR adds penalties and interest every month, and just like a high interest credit card, the debt gets bigger and bigger. NOTE: If you have an ongoing child support order - that is ifyour children are still under 18, arzd are still supposed to be getting child support payments - the first thing you must do is file a modification case at the Probate and Family Court or the District Court where the original child support order was made. See our other brochure, Child Support, The Department of Revenue, and Non Custodial Parents for more information on finding out whether you have an ongoing child support order and on filing a modification case. If you are on SSI, Social

2 Security Disability, or welfare benefits, and you file a modification case, in most circumstances, the judge should change your child support order to zero. If you are on SSI benefits, and seeking to have your child support order stopped you can give the court the attached memorandum entitled Memorandum of Law Reaardinp Child Support - and SSI Benefits. If you are on Social Security Disability or Social Security Retirement Benefits but have a minor child, please also see the brochure from Hampshire Probate and Family Court called Social Securitv Disabilitv and the Child Supvort Guidelines, and the special Rosenberg Child Support Guidelines worksheet, attached. Stopping the ongoing child support order is a requirement in order to be eligible for some of the remedies discussed below. 2. What can I do to get my child support debt reduced if I am on SSI or was on SSI? A child support obligor on SSI has some good remedies. All these remedies apply whether you get $10 of SSI per month, and the rest of your income is Social Security, or whether your entire income is SSI. If you are on SSI, you can get your interest and penalties wiped out or waived, for every year you were on SSI for one month or more. (See Mass Regulations 830 CMR 119A.6.1 attached), That should reduce your debt. DOR will waive your penalties and interest retroactively. That is, if you send DOR proof you have been on SSI since 1995, they will wipe out all the penalties and interest that has been posted to your child support account since If you want DOR to continue to waive interest and penalties in the future you will have to remind DOR customer service every year that you are still on SSI. We suggest you do this in writing. Also, if you are on SSI, you can get on a list so that DOR will not levy on your bank account. Again, you have to renew this every year by notifying DOR that you are still on SSI. Lastly, if you are on SSI, DOR will put you on a list so that your driver s licence will not be taken away. Again, you have to remind DOR every year, in writing, that you are still on SSI so that your drivers licence does not get taken. Note: There are quite a few child support obligors who are eligible for both SSI and Social Security, but are only getting Social Security. These child support obligors may be getting Social Security alone because of their living arrangement or because there was an overpayment of their SSI benefits at some time. If you are an obligor who is getting under $693 in Social Security benejits, but are not getting SSI, you may want to contact a legal services advocate to see ifyou can become eligible for SSL Then you will be eligible for the remedies listed above. 3. Exactly how do I get DOR to waive interest and penalties, put me on the do not levy bank list, and let me keep my driver s licence? You can send a cover letter and an Administrative Review Form to DOR Customer Service.

3 (See the examples, attached). You should also go to the Social Security Administration and get a print out showing how long you have been on SSI. Submit that information, together with the Administrative Review Form and the cover letter, to the Department of Revenue. Make sure you keep a copy of everything. There is a blank Administrative Review Form in the materials, but you can also get one by calling DOR Customer Service at Is there any other way I can get my past penalty and interest waived? Yes. The regulations on waiver of penalty and interest are at 830 CMR 119A.6.1, (attached). These regulations clearly state that you can also get interest and penalties waived if you are getting benefits from a needs based program including, but not limited to SSI TAFDC, and State Veteran s Benefits. If you can prove to DOR that you were on SSI, TAFDC, EAEDC, or State Veteran s Benefits, then the interest and penalty for that time period will be waived by DOR. We have tried this ourselves, and know it works, and the procedure is not difficult. Other needs based benefits not specifically mentioned by the regulation which might get you a waiver of penalties and interest are fuel assistance, food stamps, mass health, subsidized housing, and daycare vouchers from the Office for Children. Under the regulation, if you were getting any of those benefits, it is worth trying to get the penalties and interests reduced for that time period. However, we ourselves have not tried to get interests and penalties waived for obligors who were on benefits other than SSI, TAFDC, or EAEDC, so we are not sure how easily it would work out in practice, I 5. How exactly would I get DOR to waive the penalties and interest? You would send a cover letter and an Administrative Review Form to DOR Customer Service along with proof of your receipt of the needs based benefit. For proof of dates you were on EAEDC, TAFDC, or food stamps, you can call the Department of Transitional Assistance Recipient Services line at , and ask them to search your history and write you a letter or send you a print out of the dates you were on benefits. For proof of dates you were on Mass health, call Mass health at , and for proof of Veteran s Benefits call your local Veteran s Services. For proof of receipt of fuel assistance, you can call the agency you applied with, and for proof of subsidized housing, you can call the housing authority, agency, or landlord which administered the housing subsidy. Make sure the proof you get includes the dates you got the benefits, and make sure you keep a copy of everything you send to DOR. 6. What if I was living with my children and had custody of them during the time the child support debt accrued? The regulations say you can get penalty and interest waived if you now have custody of, or live with, the children you owed child support for. You would need to provide proof you were living with the children. Here are some examples of proof you could use:

4 * a court order giving you custody of the children; * school or medical records showing you had care of the children; * a welfare print out showing you were on a food stamp or welfare grant with the children; * an affidavit (sworn statement) from someone, such as the other parent, who knew you had custody of the children or were living with them or; * records from DSS showing you were living with the children; 7. What if I wasn t on any sort of needs based benefit for poor people and I wasn t living with my children when the debt accrued? Is there any way I can get interest and penalty waived? The regulations say you can get interest and penalties waived if you can show have been unable to pay child support due to loss of employment, but are doing job training or job search and are not on worker s compensation or unemployment benefits. You can also get interest and penalties waived if you have been institutionalized in a psychiatric facility, if you have or had a disability that prevented you from earning (and can prove this) or if you are incarcerated and have completed job training and responsible parenthood classes while in jail. 8. How would I get DOR to waive penalties and interest under those circumstances? We haven t tried this ourselves yet, but probably you would send a cover letter and an Administrative Review Form to DOR Customer Service along with proof of incarceration, disability, or unemployment. Proof of unemployment could be an affidavit or sworn statement (see example, attached) along with a notice of denial of Unemployment Compensation benefits or Workman s Compensation benefits. For incarceration dates, you can call the Criminal History Systems Board at and ask for a copy of your CON. Ask your probation office about proof you completed job training or responsible parenting courses in jail. Ask your doctor to write a letter providing proof you have been disabled or institutionalized. Make sure you keep a copy of everything you send to DOR. 9. What if DOR refuses to waive my interest and penalties? See our other brochure, Child Support, The Department of Revenue, and Non Custodial Parents. That brochure explains that the decisions of DOR are appealable to the Probate and Family court.

5 10. What can I do to get my child support debt reduced if I am on Social Security Disability? You can get the past payment of Social Security Disability Dependent s benefits paid to your children credited against what you owe the state. First, if you are getting Social Security Disability, make sure your minor children are collecting on your account. This is not usually difficult to do, as custodial parents are usually eager to apply for, and collect, dependent s benefits. Also, you should make sure you file a modification case, as in question # 1 and get the child support order recalculated under the Rosenberg guidelines. This usually results in a child support order of zero. Once you have your modification judgment ask DOR for a credit. If your children have been collecting Social Security Dependent s Benefits on your account for years, you can usually get DOR to credit the Social Security money collected each month against the child support order which came due that month, as long as the money is owed to the State and not to the custodial parent. Sometimes this crediting of the Social Security Dependent s Benefits results in a wash, so the child support debt is reduced to zero. 11. Exactly how do I get DOR to credit the Social Security benefits paid to my children? You can send a cover letter requesting the credit and an Administrative Review Form to DOR Customer Service. (See the examples, attached). You should also go to the Social Security Administration, and request a print out of the benefits the children have been receiving since you got on Social Security Disability. Submit that information, together with the Administrative Review Form and the cover letter, to the Department of Revenue. Make sure you keep a copy of everything. NOTE: If you are over 62 and on Social Security Benefits for the elderly, but have a child under 18 who is collecting Social Security Benefits on your account, these Dependent s payments should be credited against your child support balance in just the same way. 12. I just got a notice that Social Security will be taking money directly from my Social Security Benefits before I even get the check. Is there anything I can do to stop this? First, make sure you have filed a modification case, so that if there is an ongoing child support order, the Rosenburg Child Support Guidelines are applied, and the order stops. Next, you can file a Hardship Testimony Form, Review and Adjustment Statement of Financial Conditions, and Request for Administrative Review (see attached) asking that DOR stop the garnishment of your Social Security Benefits. Make sure you submit supporting documentation, such as utility shut off notices, bills, statements of your expenses and rent, etc.

6 13. Is there anything else I can do to reduce my child support debt? In cases where the child support debt is owed to the Commonwealth, not to a custodial parent, and the child support obligor is unable to pay the debt, the obligor can apply for debt reduction under a new remedy called Equitable Adjustment of Arrearages. This is a very new procedure, and even DOR does not have all the steps down yet. We will advise you as best we can on how to apply for it. A copy of the equitable adjustment regulations, 830 CMR 119A.6.2 is attached. Under these regulations, DOR can wipe out part or all of the arrears that an obligor owes. DOR may reduce the debt in return for a repayment agreement from the obligor, or DOR may wipe out the debt entirely. Under the new regulations it looks as though wiping out or reducing the debt is entirely DOR s choice. That is, the obligor always has the right to apply, but DOR appears to have total decision making power as to whether they will wipe out the debt. An equitable adjustment is not something the obligor has a right to, the way he or she has a right not to have interest or penalties charged for a time when he or she was on SSI or welfare. Under the regulations, the main reason for reducing the debt is because: * it is uncollectible because the obligor has no money and no reasonable expectation of ever having any money to pay off the debt and; * equity (which means fairness) requires wiping out the debt. Examples of what might have caused a debt to accrue unfairly are as follows: * The debt built up when the obligor was on a federal or state needs based program. Examples of federal and state needs based programs are: SSI, Mass health, Food stamps, TAFDC, EAEDC, subsidized housing, fuel assistance, day care voucher subsidies, and Veteran s Benefits * The debt built up when the obligor was disabled, unemployed, or in jail, and the obligor could have obtained a modification from the court if he or she had filed a modification case, but did not do so. The obligor must have a good reason that he or she failed to file a modification case. Failure to understand the process due to a disability or inability to understand English is probably a good reason. * The obligor is living with the custodial parent or now has custody of the child who he or she owes support for.

7 14. How do I apply for an equitable adjustment? Attached you will find a Draft Request for Equitable Adjustment form, to be used if you are seeking to have DOR wipe out your debt. Fill it out, and write a cover letter making it clear to DOR Customer Service that you are applying for the equitable adjustment (see example attached). Also write an affidavit - sworn statement - about your situation, including your expenses and your income information, and whether you have any assets such as a house or a car. (see example of an affidavit, attached). Gather all your supporting documentation (see the answers to questions numbers # through #, above). Submit all the information, together with the Review and Adjustment Statement of Financial Conditions the cover letter, and your affidavit to the Department of Revenue. Make sure you keep a copy of everything. There is a blank Administrative Review Form and Financial Hardship Form in the materials, but you can also get one by calling the DOR Customer Service number. NOTE: If you are disabled and requesting an equitable adjustment for that reason, the severity and permanency of your health condition will be very important. This is because the uncollectability of the child support debt is a factor which DOR will consider in wiping out any of the arrears. If your disability is severe andpermanent, the chances of your ever recovering and earning money which DOR can take to pay off your child support debt are much smaller. For that reason, make sure you submit good medical documentation in your request for an equitable adjustment. It may not be enough to submit evidence that you are on SSI or Social Security Disability, as you can when asking for penalties and interest to be waived. Instead, specific information from your health care providers about your likelihood of recovery will be very important. The more disabled you are, the better your chances of getting an equitable adjustment due to disability. This is particularly true if you are seeking to have your entire child support debt wiped out. Brochdisabledobligors.wpd