[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR302.70]

[Page 232-234]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
    CHAPTER III--OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT (CHILD SUPPORT 
 
PART 302_STATE PLAN REQUIREMENTS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 302.70  Required State laws.

    (a) Required Laws. The State plan shall provide that, in accordance 
with sections 454(20) and 466 of the Act and part 303 of this chapter, 
the State has in effect laws providing for, and has implemented 
procedures to improve, program effectiveness:
    (1) Procedures for carrying out a program of withholding under which 
new or existing support orders are subject to the State law governing 
withholding so that a portion of the noncustodial parent's wages may be 
withheld, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Sec. 303.100 
of this chapter;
    (2) Expedited processes to establish paternity and to establish and 
enforce child support orders having the same force and effect as those 
established through full judicial process, in accordance with the 
requirements set forth in Sec. 303.101 of this chapter;
    (3) Procedures for obtaining overdue support from State income tax 
refunds on behalf of individuals receiving IV-D services, in accordance 
with the requirements set forth in Sec. 303.102 of this chapter;
    (4) Procedures for the imposition of liens against the real and 
personal property of noncustodial parents who owe overdue support;
    (5)(i) Procedures for the establishment of paternity for any child 
at least to the child's 18th birthday, including any child for whom 
paternity has not yet been established and any child for whom a 
paternity action was previously dismissed under a statute of limitations 
of less than 18 years; and
    (ii) Effective November 1, 1989, procedures under which the State is 
required (except in cases where the individual involved has been found 
under section 454(29) of the Act to have good cause for refusing to 
cooperate or if, in accordance with Sec. 303.5(b) of this chapter the 
IV-D agency has determined that it would not be in the best interest of 
the child to establish paternity in a case involving incest or forcible 
rape, or in any case in which legal proceedings for adoption are 
pending) to require the child and all other parties in a contested 
paternity case to submit to genetic tests upon the request of any such 
party, in accordance with Sec. 303.5 (d) and (e) of this chapter.
    (iii) Procedures for a simple civil process for voluntarily 
acknowledging paternity under which the State must provide that, before 
a mother and putative father can sign a voluntary acknowledgment of 
paternity, the mother and the putative father must be given notice, 
orally or through video or audio equipment, and in writing, of the 
alternatives to, the legal consequences of, and the rights (including 
any rights, if a parent is a minor, due to minority status) and 
responsibilities of acknowledging paternity, and ensure that due process 
safeguards are afforded. Such procedures must include:
    (A) A hospital-based program in accordance with Sec. 303.5(g) for 
the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity during the period immediately 
before or after the birth of a child to an unmarried mother, and a 
requirement that all public and private birthing hospitals participate 
in the hospital-based program defined in Sec. 303.5(g)(2); and
    (B) A process for voluntary acknowledgment of paternity in 
hospitals, State birth record agencies, and in other entities designated 
by the State and participating in the State's voluntary paternity 
establishment program; and
    (C) A requirement that the procedures governing hospital-based 
programs and State birth record agencies

[[Page 233]]

must also apply to other entities designated by the State and 
participating in the State's voluntary paternity establishment program, 
including the use of the same notice provisions, the same materials, the 
same evaluation methods, and the same training for the personnel of 
these other entities providing voluntary paternity establishment 
services.
    (iv) Procedures under which the voluntary acknowledgment of 
paternity creates a rebuttable or, at the option of the State, 
conclusive presumption of paternity, and under which such voluntary 
acknowledgment is admissible as evidence of paternity;
    (v) Procedures which provide that any objection to genetic testing 
results must be made in writing within a specified number of days before 
any hearing at which such results may be introduced into evidence; and 
if no objection is made, a written report of the test results is 
admissible as evidence of paternity without the need for foundation 
testimony or other proof of authenticity or accuracy;
    (vi) Procedures which create a rebuttable or, at the option of the 
State, conclusive presumption of paternity upon genetic testing results 
indicating a threshold probability of the alleged father being the 
father of the child;
    (vii) Procedures under which a voluntary acknowledgment must be 
recognized as a basis for seeking a support order without requiring any 
further proceedings to establish paternity; and
    (viii) Procedures requiring a default order to be entered in a 
paternity case upon a showing that process was served on the defendant 
in accordance with State law, that the defendant failed to respond to 
service in accordance with State procedures, and any additional showing 
required by State law.
    (6) Procedures which require that a noncustodial parent give 
security, post a bond, or give some other guarantee to secure payment of 
support, in accordance with the procedures set forth in Sec. 303.104 of 
this chapter;
    (7) Procedures for making information regarding the amount of 
overdue support owed by a noncustodial parent available to consumer 
reporting agencies;
    (8) Procedures under which all child support orders which are issued 
or modified in the State will include provision for withholding from 
income, in order to assure that withholding as a means of collecting 
child support is available if arrearages occur without the necessity of 
filing an application for services under Sec. 302.33 of this part, in 
accordance with Sec. 303.100(i) of this chapter;
    (9) Procedures which require that any payment or installment of 
support under any child support order, whether ordered through the State 
judicial system or through the expedited processes required by paragraph 
(a)(2) of this section, is (on and after the date it is due):
    (i) A judgment by operation of law, with the full force, effect, and 
attributes of a judgment of the State, including the ability to be 
enforced;
    (ii) Entitled as a judgment to full faith and credit in such State 
and in any other State; and
    (iii) Not subject to retroactive modification by such State or by 
any other State, except as provided in Sec. 303.106(b).
    (10) Procedures for the review and adjustment of child support 
orders:
    (i) Effective on October 13, 1990 until October 12, 1993, in 
accordance with the requirements of Sec. 303.8 (a) and (b) of this 
chapter; and
    (ii) Effective October 13, 1993, or an earlier date the State may 
select, in accordance with the requirements of Sec. 303.8 (a) and (c) 
through (f) of this chapter.
    (11) Procedures under which the State must give full faith and 
credit to a determination of paternity made by any other State, whether 
established through voluntary acknowledgment or through administrative 
or judicial processes.
    (b) A State need not apply a procedure required under paragraphs (a) 
(3), (4), (6) and (7) of this section in an individual case if the State 
determines that it is not appropriate using guidelines generally 
available to the public which take into account the payment record of 
the noncustodial parent, the availability of other remedies, and other 
relevant considerations. The guidelines may not determine a majority of 
cases in which no other remedy is being used to be inappropriate.

[[Page 234]]

    (c) State laws enacted under this section must give States 
sufficient authority to comply with the requirements of Sec. Sec. 
303.100 through 303.102 and Sec. 303.104 of this chapter.
    (d)(1) Exemption. A State may apply for an exemption from any of the 
requirements of section 466 of the Act by the submittal of a request for 
exemption to the appropriate Regional Office.
    (2) Basis for granting exemption. The Secretary will grant a State, 
or political subdivision in the case of section 466(a)(2) of the Act, an 
exemption from any of the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section 
for a period not to exceed three years if the State demonstrates that 
compliance would not increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its 
Child Support Enforcement program. Demonstration of the program's 
efficiency and effectiveness must be shown by actual, or, if actual is 
not available, estimated data pertaining to caseloads, processing times, 
administrative costs, and average support collections or such other 
actual or estimated data as the Office may request. The State must 
demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the program's 
effectiveness would not improve by using these procedures. Disapproval 
of a request for exemption is not subject to appeal.
    (3) Review of exemption. The exemption is subject to continuing 
review by the Secretary and may be terminated upon a change in 
circumstances or reduced effectiveness in the State or political 
subdivision, if the State cannot demonstrate that the changed 
circumstances continue to warrant an exemption in accordance with this 
section.
    (4) Request for extension. The State must request an extension of 
the exemption by submitting current data in accordance with paragraph 
(d)(2) of this section 90 days prior to the end of the exemption period 
granted under paragraph (d)(2) of this section.
    (5) When an exemption is revoked or an extension is denied. If the 
Secretary revokes an exemption or does not grant an extension of an 
exemption, the State must enact the appropriate laws and procedures to 
implement the mandatory practice by the beginning of the fourth month 
after the end of the first regular, special, budget or other session of 
the State's legislature which ends after the date the exemption is 
revoked or the extension is denied. If no State law is necessary, the 
State must establish and be using the procedure by the beginning of the 
fourth month after the date the exemption is revoked.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 
0960-0385)

[50 FR 19649, May 9, 1985, as amended at 51 FR 37731, Oct. 24, 1986; 54 
FR 15764, Apr. 19, 1989; 56 FR 8004, Feb. 26, 1991; 56 FR 22354, May 15, 
1991; 57 FR 30681, July 10, 1992; 57 FR 61581, Dec. 28, 1992; 59 FR 
66249, Dec. 23, 1994; 64 FR 6249, Feb. 9, 1999; 64 FR 11809, Mar. 10, 
1999; 68 FR 25303, May 12, 2003; 68 FR 53052, Sept. 9, 2003]