KENTUCKY CHILD SUPPORT HANDBOOK
MILITARY
Section 13.000 CSHTL No. 229 7/10/08
13.010 Authority ………………………………………………………………………………………..1
13.020 Location of Military Personnel …………………………………………………………………1
13.030 Service of Process on Military Personnel ………………………………………………………5
13.040 Military Establishment of Paternity …………………………………………………………….8
13.050 Military Support Order Establishment ..………………………………………………………10
13.060 Military Medical Support Establishment ……………………………………………………...11
13.070 The Scope of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act …………………………………………..13
13.080 Military Enforcement ………………………………………………………………………….15
13.090 Web Site Resources ……………………………………………………………………………20
13.010 AUTHORITY
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK OPPORTUNITY RECONCILIATION ACT OF 1996 (PRWORA), PUBLIC LAW (P.L.) 104-193.
SOCIAL SECURITY ACT (SSA) Title IV-D, Sections 452, 454, 465, 466, 468.
UNITED STATES CODE (USC) Title 5 Chapter 5, Section 552.
UNITED STATES CODE (USC) Title 42 Chapter 7, Sections 654, 665, 666.
SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF ACT (SCRA) Title 50 U.S.C. Chapters 501-596.
UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT (1996) UIFSA.
CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR) 5 Part 581, 32 Part 54, 42 Part 433, 45 Parts 74, 301, 302, 303.
KENTUCKY REVISED STATUTES (KRS) 403, 407.
13.020 LOCATION OF MILITARY PERSONNEL
Authority: 5 USC 552, 45 CFR 303.
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) maintains regulations controlling locate activity in all IV-D cases, including cases involving the military. The regulations do not specifically address military cases, but are directly applicable to cases involving the military.
45 CFR 303.3 defines “location” as “information concerning the physical whereabouts of the noncustodial parent, or the noncustodial parent’s employer(s), other sources of income or assets, as appropriate, which is sufficient and necessary to take the next appropriate action in the case.”
Locate resources include:
· Kentucky Network (KY-NET), KY-Information Management System (KYIMS)
· Interstate Data Exchange Consortium (IDEC)
· Financial Institution Data Match (FIDM)
· Federal Case Registry (FCR)
· Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS)
· JusticeXchange - (https://www.justicexchange.com/jxp/) (A user ID and password are required for this website.)
· Credit bureau records
· Relatives and friends of the noncustodial parent
· Current and past employers and unions of the noncustodial parent
· Local telephone companies
· U.S. Postal Service
· Kentucky Department of Corrections
· Criminal records
Federal locate regulations require that within “no more than 75 calendar days” of a IV-D agency’s decision that locate action is needed, the agency must access all appropriate locate resources, including the FPLS. The federal locate regulations’ timeframes apply to non-military and military cases.
When locate attempts fail, federal regulations require the IV-D agency to repeat locate efforts on the case. Repeating locate efforts is required either quarterly or immediately upon the receipt of new information that may help the locate effort. For example, if a custodial parent contacts the IV-D office with updated address information, upon receiving the new information, the IV-D office must repeat locate activities immediately. However, there must be “adequate identifying and other information” in the case to justify repeating the locate efforts including: Social Security number (SSN); date of birth; last known complete address; last known employer; or the name and address of a parent, another relative, or a friend.
Federal regulation 45 CFR 303.11 allows the state IV-D agency to close a case when the noncustodial parent’s location is “unknown and cannot be identified after diligent efforts using multiple sources, in accordance with 45 CFR 303.3, all of which have been unsuccessful ….” The amount of time that the IV-D office must pursue locate efforts prior to closing a case depends upon the amount of information that the IV-D office has concerning the noncustodial parent.
If the IV-D office has sufficient information to initiate an automated locate effort (i.e., the noncustodial parent’s name and SSN), the case can be closed after three years of unsuccessful locate efforts. If the IV-D office does not have sufficient information on the noncustodial parent to initiate an automated locate effort, the case can be closed after one year of unsuccessful locate efforts.
Expanded Federal Parent Locator Service
45 CFR 303.70 allows the State Parent Locator Service (SPLS) to request information from the FPLS. The expanded Federal Parent Locator Service is the most important IV-D locate tool in military cases. In addition to many locate resources not available directly to the local IV-D office or SPLS; the expanded FPLS includes an exclusive interface with the federal Social Security Administration’s (SSA) database.
One of the services that the SSA provides the FPLS, is supplying or correcting, missing or inaccurate SSNs. It may be necessary to contact the FPLS in order to obtain a military member’s SSN before initiating specific locate activity with the military. However, an individual IV-D employee cannot request such services directly from the FPLS. According to federal regulations, only an SPLS (or any additional IV-D offices designated by the SPLS) may submit requests for information to the FPLS.
NOTE: Any request for wage or address information for an individual believed to be employed, or believed to be receiving benefits from the Department of Defense (DOD) is required to be submitted to SPLS through a KASES referral.
It is mandatory that child support staff notify the appropriate SPLS worker by mail message to request DOD information when they send a regular referral requesting DOD information. In order to receive a prompt response to the request, it is imperative that child support staff requesting DOD information inform the SPLS worker in the mail message that the request is “for military information only.” If a regular referral is made to SPLS without an appropriate mail message, the SPLS worker may not realize that military information is all that is needed and may choose to use resources other than FPLS, thus delaying location of the noncustodial parent.
Each month, the FPLS accesses records of the DOD for civilian employees of the DOD and military retirees. The FPLS accesses the records of the Veterans Administration (VA) on a weekly basis. The VA provides the address an individual has designated for receipt of VA benefits. Unlike the WorldWide Locator Services, the FPLS can obtain and disclose both duty station (work address) and home addresses of all military and civilian DOD employees.
NOTE: An SSN must be obtained BEFORE sending an employment verification request to a military branch, because the military will NOT respond to the request if an SSN is not available. A request without an SSN will be returned unprocessed. For the best results, always use the military member’s full name and SSN in all locate actions involving the military.
Due to the nature of military service, the residential address and duty station for members of the military frequently change. In addition, due to national security concerns, there are instances when the military is prohibited from disclosing the residential or work address for a given member. It is becoming more difficult to obtain address information from the military. In 2003, the U.S. Army’s WorldWide Locator Service stopped providing address information to the general public (including state and local IV-D offices).
Local military resources provide locate information that is more limited than national military resources. If staff can narrow the location of the military member to a particular installation, the local military resource may be the quickest.
The best local military locate resource is the military installation. An installation usually maintains a central locator office. Staff contact an installation’s locator office to obtain the service member’s military unit address. The telephone number for an installation’s locator office is available through the installation’s information operator. In order to obtain the individual’s military unit address, staff must have that person’s full name and SSN. The individual’s military unit address is important because it allows staff to contact the individual and, if the member fails to cooperate, his or her commanding officers.
The military’s legal assistance attorneys are another local locate resource. Most large military bases maintain legal assistance offices. Their duties include assisting spouses and dependent children in obtaining the military service member’s military address.
Recruiting offices may also provide locate information, but they are not the best starting point. Cities often have multiple recruiting offices. The caseworker must know which recruiting office enlisted the military member. The recruiter’s information is also very time sensitive, therefore, the recruiting office will only have records regarding the member’s initial duty station. If the member enlisted more than a year previous to a request, locate information from the recruiting office will not be very helpful.
WorldWide Locator Service
Each military branch maintains a WorldWide Locator Service and, except for the Army, all branches provide IV-D offices with locate information free of charge. For active duty members, the address information that the WorldWide Locator Service provides is the member’s unit address, which may include an APO (Army Post Office) or FPO (Fleet Post Office) address if the member is overseas. To determine the actual geographic location of an APO or FPO address, contact the U.S. Postal Service (www.usps.com) or the postal offices at the nearest military installation.
In addition to the military member’s full name and SSN, if the caseworker knows the member’s date of birth, rank, and location and time period of the member’s last duty station, that information should also be provided to the WorldWide Locator Service. In deciding when to contact a WorldWide Locator Service, staff should keep in mind that military records may run up to 90 days behind reassignments and most reassignments occur in the summer.
Usually the member’s military address is more useful than the member’s home address. The military member may be away from his or her home address for several months at a time, but the member is rarely away from his or her military address for more than two weeks at a time. The following is contact information for the WorldWide Locator Service for each military branch:
Air Force Army
AFPC/MSIMDL Army Worldwide Locator
550 C Street, West, Suite 50 US Army Enlisted Records & Evaluation Center
Randolph AFB, TX 78150-4752 8899 East 56th Street
(210) 565-2660 Indianapolis, IN 46249-5301
(703) 325-3732
Navy Marine Corps
Bureau of Navy Personnel Headquarters, U.S.M.C.
Attn: PERS-324 Personnel Mgmt. Support Branch MMSB-17
5720 Integrity Drive 2008 Elliot Road
Millington, TN 38055 Quantico, VA 22134-5030
(901) 874-3070 (703) 784-3942
Coast Guard
Commandant, US Coast Guard
2100 2nd Street SW
Washington DC 20593-0001
(202) 267-1340
NOTE: The DOD Military Mailing Addresses Web site is located in subsection 13.090, Web Site Resources.
If staff need a military member’s home address, direct the request to the installation personnel officer for the member’s duty station. If necessary, a IV-D office may also use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 USC 552a, to obtain the home address of a military member. All branches except the Army will accept the written FOIA request for this purpose. Direct a FOIA request for a service member’s home address to the General Counsel for the appropriate branch of the military.
NOTE: A “Sample Letter to Request Home Address” and a “Sample Freedom of Information Act Request for Pay Information” are included in “A Caseworker's Guide to Child Support Enforcement and Military Personnel” located in subsection 13.090, Web Site Resources.
If there is a need to locate a military member who is incarcerated in a military brig, contact the legal office or military police of the member’s last duty station. To assist them with their search, provide an approximate date of the member’s conviction.
The following Web site allows the user to input military address information and will provide the actual location of the facility/base/embassy. This site also contains information on APO/FPO, etc. abbreviations: http://www2.apobox.com/zip_restrictions.php.
For more information regarding location, see KCSH Section 7.000, SPLS.
13.030 SERVICE OF PROCESS ON MILITARY PERSONNEL
Authority: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) 50 U.S.C. 501-596, UIFSA, KRS 407.
The first step in establishing or enforcing a support obligation against a military member is location of the member; the next step is obtaining jurisdiction. Obtaining jurisdiction over military members is similar to obtaining jurisdiction over civilians, but military service creates other issues. Personal jurisdiction over the petitioner usually is not an issue. By bringing the legal action, the petitioner is consenting to the tribunal’s jurisdiction over him or her.
Jurisdiction based on physical residence is especially important in an interstate case. Every state has enacted the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). In both the long arm provision of UIFSA, as well as its definition of “continuing, exclusive jurisdiction,” the Act refers to “residence.” A tribunal may decide that a military member has two residences: his or her state of legal domicile and the state where he or she is physically stationed.
UIFSA and KRS 407.5201 authorize a tribunal to exercise jurisdiction over a nonresident if:
· the individual is personally served with a citation, summons or notice within the forum state;
· the individual submits to the jurisdiction of the forum state by consent, by entering a general appearance, or by filing a responsive document (pleading) having the effect of waiving any contest to personal jurisdiction;
· the individual resided with the child in the forum state;
· the individual resided in the forum state and provided prenatal expenses or support for the child;
· the child resides in the forum state as a result of the acts or directives of the individual;
· the individual engaged in sexual intercourse in the forum state and the child may have been conceived by that act of intercourse;
· the individual asserted parentage in the putative father registry maintained in the forum state by the appropriate agency (CHFS); or
· there is any other basis consistent with the constitutions of the forum state and the United States for the exercise of personal jurisdiction.
In order to obtain jurisdiction over an individual, due process under the United States Constitution also requires notice of the proceeding. “Process” is a legal document that compels an individual (or entity) to appear in court or to comply with a demand by a court. “Service” of process is the delivery of the document to the individual to notify him or her of a claim or charge against the individual, or to inform the individual of specific acts that he or she is required to perform.
Military members may live on an installation, but the majority live in the neighboring communities surrounding the installation. These members can be treated as any other person subject to a state's service of process procedures and jurisdictional requirements.
Methods for service of process include mail, voluntary acceptance of service, and personal service by a civilian authority, depending upon the type of action that is being brought. Under most state laws, establishment of an initial support obligation requires voluntary acceptance of service or personal