- Why did CIC build a case with a particular legal status?
- Based on the information provided in an application or found during the initial research, CIC will build cases with the most appropriate legal status. Many cases will initially be assigned legal status M (paternity has not been established) because, although some information may infer otherwise, solid evidence does not exist for CIC to use another legal status. While CIC does complete the initial case research to build a case, it is ultimately the office’s responsibility to verify information and/or complete additional case research.
For example, an application will indicate that paternity has been acknowledged or established. However, neither an Acknowledgment of Paternity nor an Order of Paternity was provided. CIC will check the AOP database for an acknowledgement and OSCN for an order. If neither one of those can be found to support the information provided, CIC will not use a legal status that cannot be supported.
- I am reviewing the Pre-audit report. Do I need to update the Order Type?
- The Order Type field is initially updated on the EPOC screen when building a pended obligation to initiate an establishment action. When updating any information on OSIS we want to use the most accurate information. If the Order Type coding is not correct, it should be corrected. However, the Order Type coding does not affect our pre-audit outcomes in anyway.
See the EPOC cheat sheet for the Order Type codes to use.
- I often get confused about when to use Legal Type P and Legal Type S. How do I know which one is correct?
- It is very easy to get confused and stuck on the Legal Types (D=Divorce, S=Other Support, P=Paternity). The legal type will not be the factor to affect our audit outcome. The two factors that do affect our outcomes are the AP legal status and the OOW indicator. The legal type can be viewed as more of a guide to make sure you are staying on the correct path. The legal type should correspond to the progression of the AP Legal status (M → A, P → A, M → I → A, etc.
See article Paternity Pre-Audit: CMOD Report CS370M01 and Paternity Pre-Audit: Reviewing Reported Cases
- I have multiple children on a case and one or some of the children are coded as AP legal Status P and one or some of the children are coded as Legal Type M. Should the Legal Type be updated as S or P?
- If you have a new action with kids that have multiple legal statuses (P & M) it probably would not matter whether the obligation Legal Type is built with an S or P. It could be argued either way, but if the OOW indicator is Y, we will receive the paternity credit. Legal status P (AOP) cases give us paternity credit when they are built with legal status P. Legal status M cases give us paternity credit when they go from M → A, M → P and so on.For add-a-child cases, if the original obligation Legal Type was an S because paternity was established with an AOP, but the new child to be added needs a GT, just leave it as S, since the original order was a support order. Again, using the correct coding for the OOW indicator and legal status progression are the most important factors.
See article Paternity Pre-Audit: Reviewing Reported Cases
- The child’s legal status is incorrect. Why am I having trouble updating it?
- Corrections to the AP Legal Status can only be made within the current Federal Fiscal Year (FFY). If the time period for the status you are trying to correct falls within the previous FFY, it cannot be corrected. The FFY runs from October to September. You want to thoroughly case log in these situations.
- I have one case on the Order Type D tab of the Pre-Audit Report. The Divorce Decree states that three children were born of the marriage. The children were actually born prior to the marriage. The AP legal status of the children is M → A. The OOW indicator is Y for both children. What do I need to do?
- Since the divorce decree states the children were born of the marriage, you should update the AP legal status for the children to show M → I → A. The OOW indicator should also be updated to N to reflect that these are children of the marriage as stated in the divorce.
See article Paternity Pre-Audit: CMOD Report CS370M01
- I have a case on the report under the Yellow Misc. tab and I’m not sure why. What is wrong with it?
- Cases in the Yellow Tabs (Legal Type S and Misc.) may not have anything wrong with them. These are cases in which the office should review to verify that they are in fact Legal Type S cases (S=other support or order establishment) and not Legal Type P cases (P=paternity establishment).
One thing to take into consideration with cases on the Misc. tab is that these cases often have multiple obligations and the active obligation is not the first obligation because it is pending or in history. This pattern confuses the analyzer.The best practice for cases that fall within the Yellow Tabs (Legal Type S and Misc.) is to give them a quick review to verify if they are correct or make corrections as needed. Remember, OSIS may not provide enough information for you to make a determination. You may have to review the actual order.
See article Paternity Pre-Audit: CMOD Report CS370M01
- The CP on my case was married to another person when the child was born, but the NCP on my case signed an AOP and I can’t find a Denial of Parentage (DOP). Should the OOW indicator be Y or N?
- The child’s relationship to the NCP drives how we update the OOW indicator. Therefore, the child’s OOW indicator is specific to the FGN on which the child is listed.
For example, the OOW indicator on the AOP father case would be Y since the child was born out-of-wedlock in relation to the AOP father. On the presumed father case, the OOW would be N as the presumed father is legally considered to be the father unless there is a signed DOP. If the DOP was signed (before the child turns 2) or there is a court order stating child was not a child of the marriage, the OOW indicator would be updated to Y as paternity has been disestablished for the child. If paternity has been disestablished, do not forget to change the AP Legal Status to N