Finance Abatement Updates
Once it has been verified that the NCP is eligible for abatement using the criteria below, finance staff will update the system and abate child support.
- Oklahoma order
- currently incarcerated on 11/01/21 or later
- Incarcerated for at least 181 days
- Not serving time for a crime against the CP or child
- Not serving time for failing to pay child support
- Does not have the ability to pay child support
Step 1 – Complete an AC.
- Abatement starts the first of the following month following continuous For example, if 181 days of continuous incarceration began 07/12/22, child support is abated beginning 08/01/22.
- Payments made during incarceration:
- Full c/s amount – charge full child support amount
- Partial payment – abate up to the payment amount (e.g., $100 paid, charge $100 c/s)
- Amounts in excess of c/s – credit to past due If no pre-incarceration arrears exist, charge c/s for prior months up to the amount of payment
Judgments – if a judgment was obtained and it is later discovered that the NCP was incarcerated for all/part of that time period, we will abate and reduce/remove the judgment (this includes genetic test judgments taken while the NCP was incarcerated).
Step 2 – Adjust principal balances
Complete a multi-month CFAD adjustment to remove c/s for prior months. The worker will enter an adjustment description (e.g., “ADJ CS-ABATE”), enter the first month of abatement, and a Y in the MULTIPLE MONTHS field and press Enter.
From the 2nd page, the worker will enter the ending month of the adjustment, adjust c/s and any ordered medical amounts (this could be either removing c/s or reducing based on partial payments) and hit Enter. From page 3, enter an X to apply the adjustment.
Note: In addition to updating CFROPC/N, a multi-month CFAD adjustment will also adjust past due balances. Credits could be created. Use CFAR to adjust the system to match the A/C.
Use CFAJ to reduce judgment balances, as necessary.
Step 3 – Adjust, verify & type interest balances
Once the principal balances are updated with abatement, the worker will adjust, verify, and type interest balances. Workers can update interest month by month or through a lump adjustment. If adjusting through a lump sum adjustment the worker will:
- Update the interest total on the second to last month
- Update previous months with the BYPASS flag
Once the interest balance has been updated, the worker will type interest using ITU.
Step 4 – Update OBLA
Now that principal balances and interest are updated, the worker will update OBLA in order to abate child support moving forward for the remainder of the NCP’s incarceration.
The worker will enter the appropriate abatement code (ABATE IND), begin date (BEG DT), end date (END DT) and enter a caselog. Once everything has been updated, the worker will enter X to apply.
Note: Child support will automatically begin posting again 90 days from the date of release (DT TO POST date). This is based on the END DT.
Note: OBLA will not adjust c/s that has already posted for the current month (or next month, if it has already posted). The worker will use CFAD to adjust manually.
Abatement Codes:
- Y – Incarcerated and Abated
- F – Formerly incarcerated; formerly abated
- Spaces – Not incarcerated or not yet reviewed
Non-Abatement codes:
- C – NCP incarcerated; crime is failure to pay CS
- S – NCP incarcerated; making partial payments
- G – NCP incarcerated; making full payments
- L – NCP incarcerated; NCP has not been incarcerated 6 months
- X – NCP incarcerated; case is set for closure 04/09
- I – NCP incarcerated; order from another state; not abated
- E – NCP escaped; no abatement
- J – 06/08 status case with minor children
- V – NCP incarcerated; crime against participant
Other OBLA considerations:
- If the release date for the NCP changes, the worker will create a new OBLA entry
If child support is not being abated (non-abatement codes C through V listed above) the worker will still update OBLA with the appropriate code and enter a caselog.