Colorado Child Support Commission Recommendations

The bill enacts recommendations from the state child support commission (commission), including the following:

• Requires that parents share the child's health insurance coverage information with each other and provides a time frame for parents to seek reimbursement for extraordinary medical expenses, including mental health expenses;
• Requires verbal and written advisement to parents and caretakers when child support orders are entered or modified and provides information to parents on child support law;
• Addresses penalties for fraud and failure to follow income withholding orders by reinstating a $1,000 fine for the issuance of a fraudulent income withholding order and authorizes judgment to be issued against an employer that willfully refuses to comply with an income withholding order for child support;
• Excludes funeral or burial expenses from life insurance settlements relating to past-due child support and requires burial costs to be covered;
• Requires appointment of 2 obligors and 2 obligees to the commission;
• Requires the commission, as part of its review, to evaluate the following: Establishment of state practices, making awards more equitable, and improving efficiency;
• Changes the income adjustment for maintenance to reflect existing maintenance calculation and accounts for tax-deductibility for some maintenance payments;
• Removes the requirement to order overdue debt in temporary orders that will be recalculated in a permanent order and enables caretaker overdue debt and monthly support obligations to survive an order when the parties marry each other;
• Enables retroactive support to be ordered through the month the child support obligation begins and provides continuity of retroactive support for orders that have future commencement dates;
• Requires a parent to notify child support services and the other parent, if applicable, when lump sum social security payments for the child, based on the obligor's disability, are received and ensures obligors receive credit on debt owed for the benefits received; and
• Modifies the number of hours parents are expected to work for the imputation of income to 32 hours a week and 50 weeks a year, and includes transportation as a barrier to be considered when assessing if imputation of income is appropriate.
  (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)