A Quick Summary of Title IV-D Funding and Incentives

US CODE TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 7 > SUBCHAPTER IV > Part D > § 655. Payments to States

Provides for 66 percent pa yments to cover basically all expenses related to child support establishment,

payment handling, etc.

This is the big direct payment to the states from the federal government. The more work there is to do,

the more the federal government repays the states. T o maximize program income, the child support

enforcement agency should maximize the number of cases, and the number of dollars and processing

time per case. It is therefore necessary to discourage parents from making their own arrangements for

payment, and to strongly encourage divorces or a breakup of cohabitation between parents.

Joint custody laws have been s hown to cut the divorce rate. It is unsurpri sing that most child s upport

agencies often strongly oppose t hem, along with most family lawyers.

From various newspaper articles, it seems that the Michigan F riend of the Court (Assists Michigan

courts in enforcing child support and parenting time orders) sends to the federal government

documentation for wages and benefits of full time equivalent employ ees. Each hour a that FOC

enforcement officer works, 66% of his/her pay comes from the federal go vernment (plus incentive

payments based on performance). I do not believe that the FOC distinguishes between time spent

collecting fines, which go to the FOC itself, and time spent collecting child support, which go to the