dcl9713.htm

UIFSA

March 6, 1997

DCL-9713

TO ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

Dear Colleague:

This is to inform you of two items related to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA).

The first item regards the second UIFSA Retreat, sponsored by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), and held in Fairfax, Virginia September 18 through 20, 1996. This working meeting brought together major UIFSA players and attempted to develop consensus on many of the issues and questions regarding UIFSA. Approximately 100 representatives from State IV-D programs, the Federal OCSE, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), employer/payroll groups, and other entities attended the retreat.

In order to address as many issues as possible, participants were divided into four groups, each addressing a different topic. The four groups were: direct income withholding, modification, enforcement, and general provisions.

The attached notes summarize the discussions of each of the four groups. The consensus reached by group participants does not represent Federal policy and is not binding on other States. However, these notes may help States develop and agree upon a uniform interpretation of UIFSA, which will ultimately lead to greater standardization in interstate case processing.

We hope that the attached notes will be useful in helping to resolve many UIFSA-related issues. Even if your State has not yet implemented UIFSA, the notes address issues that may arise as you process interstate cases received from UIFSA States or send cases to responding UIFSA States.

We would like to thank those of you who attended or sent representatives to the meeting. All of the participants were actively involved and provided valuable information and insight. Although both UIFSA retreats were very helpful, there are additional issues to resolve as move toward a nationwide adoption of UIFSA. Therefore, we are anticipating holding another retreat before the end of the year.

The second item concerns the issuance of the revised UIFSA comments, which correspond to the July 18, 1996 revision of UIFSA, previously issued as DCL-9662.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 which was enacted on August 22, 1996 requires that effective on or after January 1, 1998, States must have in effect the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, as approved by the American Bar Association on February 9, 1993, together with any amendments officially adopted beforeJanuary 1, 1998 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

As previously announced in DCL-9662, NCCUSL adopted the attached version on July 18, 1996, modifying its 1992 version of UIFSA. However, the comments of the NCCUSL drafting committee were not available when the July 18, 1996 version of UIFSA was previously distributed. One of the purposes of this Dear Colleague Letter is to distribute the July 18, 1996 version of UIFSA together with its revised comments.

If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact Steve Cesar, (202) 401-5436.

Sincerely

/s/

David Gray Ross

Deputy Director

Office of Child Support

Enforcement

Attachments

cc: ACF Regional Administrators

Child Support Program Managers, Regions I-X