‘Complex URA Verification’ Obligation/Balance Sharing

To determine proper balances for all custodial persons (CPs) and obligations, an arrearage computation (AC) is necessary. The following steps will help the worker complete an accurate AC:

1. Prepare arrearage computations for each CP using:
   1. All child support orders
   2. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant history (to help determine custody timeframes for the children)
   3. Receipt and payment history
2. Note the dates each child was included in each TANF grant along with the payee that received the grant.If a CP never had the children for the FGN on TANF (for example, in the case of a grandmother: she may have had her own children on TANF, but never her grandchildren), then you know immediately that if there are TANF balances, they will belong to a different custodial parent.
3. The AC will calculate the support that came due for all time frames. Some time frames may not be assigned, some permanently assigned and some conditionally assigned.Remember:

   Prior to 10/1998: Payee (CP) had to permanently assign all Non-PA arrears (Z).

   10/1998-09/2009: Payee (CP) had to conditionally assign all Non-PA arrears (D).

   10/2009-Present: Payee (CP) does not assign arrears at all.

   When multiple CPs share one obligation, a CP’s URA could have been reduced by payments that should have applied to another CP’s URA, even to the point of creating an erroneous URA credit.

4. Adjust each CP’s balances based on the ACs for each CP.If a receipt was applied to an incorrect balance, this could mean adjusting the balances at the district office level (e.g. P current support to P arrears), or sending a Finance Action Request if necessary.
5. If a receipt was applied to an incorrect CP, the worker will send a Finance Action Request to move the receipt to the correct obligation/CP sequence.This could result in a bad debt for a CP, or in the case of a retained TANF receipt, the receipt adjustment would also adjust the URA balance for each affected CP.

   For information on when to send an action request, see the manual: Distributed Adjustment Manual on the Center for Finance & Budget (CFB) page of the Infonet.