Title FAM, California Fam. Code

The Department of Child Support Services is hereby created within the California Health and Human Services Agency. The department shall administer all services and perform all functions necessary to establish, collect, and distribute child support. (Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 478,…

(a) The department is hereby designated the single organizational unit whose duty it shall be to administer the Title IV-D state plan for securing child and spousal support, medical support, and determining paternity. State plan functions shall be performed by other agencies as r…

The department consists of the director and such division or other administrative units as the director may find necessary. (Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 478, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2000.)

The department shall ensure that there is an adequate organizational structure and sufficient staff to perform functions delegated to any governmental unit relating to Part D (commencing with Section 651) of Subchapter 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code, includi…

(a) The department shall reduce the cost of, and increase the speed and efficiency of, child support enforcement operations. It is the intent of the Legislature to operate the child support enforcement program through local child support agencies without a net increase in state G…

The department shall ensure that the local child support agency offices and services are reasonably accessible throughout the counties, and shall establish systems for informing the public, including custodial and noncustodial parents of dependent children, of its services and op…

The department shall administer the Child Support Assurance Demonstration Project established by Article 5 (commencing with Section 18241) of Chapter 3.3 of Part 6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and the county demonstration projects to provide employment and training servi…

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to protect individual rights of privacy, and to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of the child and spousal support enforcement program, by ensuring the confidentiality of support enforcement and child abduction records, and to thereb…

(a) Each parent of a child has an equal responsibility to maintain, to the extent of their ability, their child of whatever age who is incapacitated from earning a living and without sufficient means. (b) The court may order that a support payment be paid to a special needs trust…

(a) With the consent of the Senate, the Governor shall appoint, to serve at the Governor’s pleasure, an executive officer who shall be director of the department. In making the appointment the Governor shall consider training, demonstrated ability, experience, and leadership in o…

The director shall do all of the following: (a) Be responsible for the management of the department. (b) Administer all federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to the administration of child support enforcement obligations. (c) Perform all duties as may be prescribed by…

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, contained in Part D (commencing with Section 651) of Subchapter 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code, requires that there be a single state agency for child…

To address the concerns stated by the Legislature in Section 17303, each county shall establish a new county department of child support services. Each department is also referred to in this division as the local child support agency. The local child support agency shall be separ…

(a) In order to achieve an orderly and timely transition to the new system with minimal disruption of services, the director shall begin the transition from the office of the district attorney to the local child support agencies pursuant to Section 17304, commencing January 1, 20…

(a) The Department of Child Support Services shall develop uniform forms, policies, and procedures to be employed statewide by all local child support agencies. Pursuant to this subdivision, the department shall: (1) Adopt uniform procedures and forms. (2) Establish standard case…

(a) Commencing with the 2019–20 fiscal year, the department shall implement a revised local child support agency funding methodology that was developed in consultation with the California Child Support Directors Association. The methodology shall consist of both of the following …

(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the Department of Child Support Services has the authority and discretion to prevent, correct, or remedy the effects of changes in the timing of the receipt of child support payments resulting solely from the initial implementati…

The director shall assume responsibility for implementing and managing all aspects of a single statewide automated child support system that will comply with state and federal requirements. The director may delegate responsibility to, or enter into an agreement with, any agency o…

Effective October 1, 1998, the state shall operate a State Disbursement Unit as required by federal law (42 U.S.C. Secs. 654 (27), 654a(g), and 654b). (Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 387, Sec. 10. Effective January 1, 2004.)

(a) An employer who is required to withhold and, by electronic fund transfer, pay tax pursuant to Section 19011 of the Revenue and Taxation Code or Section 13021 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, shall make child support payments to the State Disbursement Unit by electronic fun…

(a) The director shall formulate, adopt, amend, or repeal regulations and general policies affecting the purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the department that are consistent with law and necessary for the administration of the state plan for securing child support a…

(a) The Child Support Payment Trust Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury. The department shall administer the fund. (b) (1) The state may deposit child support payments received by the State Disbursement Unit, including those amounts that result in overpayment of child su…

(a) The department may enter into a trust agreement with a trustee or fiscal intermediary to receive or disburse child support collections. The trust agreement may contain provisions the department deems reasonable and proper for the security of the child support payments. Any tr…

(a) Any payment required to be made to a family through the State Disbursement Unit shall be made directly to the obligee parent in the child support order requiring the payment, the conservator or guardian of the obligee parent, a special needs trust for the benefit of the oblig…

(a) The department shall adopt regulations, orders, or standards of general application to implement, interpret, or make specific the law enforced by the department. Regulations, orders, and standards shall be adopted, amended, or repealed by the director only in accordance with …

(a) Subject to the State Civil Service Act (Part 2 (commencing with Section 18500) of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the director shall appoint any assistants and other employees that are necessary for the administration of the affairs of the department and shall …

No person, while holding the office of director, shall be a trustee, manager, director, or other officer or employee of any agency performing any function supervised by the department or any institution that is subject to examination, inspection, or supervision by the department.…

Except as otherwise expressly provided, Part 1 (commencing with Section 11000) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, as it may be added to or amended from time to time, shall apply to the conduct of the department. (Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 478, Sec. 1. Effective Janu…

The department shall coordinate with the State Department of Social Services to avoid the imposition of any federal penalties that cause a reduction in the state’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families grant, payable pursuant to Section 603(a)(1) of Title 42 of the United States…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, if child support payments are directly deposited to an account of the recipient’s choice, as authorized under the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1693 et seq.), the payments may only be deposited to an account tha…

A parent does not have the duty to support a child of the parent’s child. (Amended by Stats. 1993, Ch. 219, Sec. 132. Effective January 1, 1994.)

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that there is no single statewide database containing statistical data regarding child support orders. (b) The California Child Support Enforcement System or its replacement may be utilized to provide a single statewide registry of all child…

(a) The department shall develop an implementation plan for the Statewide Child Support Registry. The Statewide Child Support Registry shall be operated by the agency responsible for operation of the California Child Support Enforcement System or its replacement. The Statewide Ch…

(a) The Judicial Council shall develop any forms that may be necessary to implement the Statewide Child Support Registry. The forms may be in electronic form or in hardcopy, as appropriate. The forms shall be developed so as not to delay implementation, and shall be available no …

The Judicial Council shall develop the forms necessary to implement this article. (Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 474, Sec. 13. (AB 2882) Effective January 1, 2017.)

If a parent neglects to provide articles necessary for the parent’s child who is under the charge of the parent, according to the circumstances of the parent, a third person may in good faith supply the necessaries and recover their reasonable value from the parent. (Enacted by S…

(a) A parent is not bound to compensate the other parent, or a relative, for the voluntary support of the parent’s child, without an agreement for compensation. (b) A parent is not bound to compensate a stranger for the support of a child who has abandoned the parent without just…

If a parent chargeable with the support of a child dies leaving the child chargeable to the county or leaving the child confined in a state institution to be cared for in whole or in part at the expense of the state, and the parent leaves an estate sufficient for the child’s supp…

The property rights of spouses prescribed by statute may be altered by a premarital agreement or other marital property agreement. (Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 82, Sec. 19. (SB 1306) Effective January 1, 2015.)

A minor may make a valid premarital agreement or other marital property agreement if the minor is emancipated, is otherwise capable of contracting marriage pursuant to Section 302 or 303, or has entered or is entering a marriage that is valid in the jurisdiction where the marriag…

(a) A premarital agreement or other marital property agreement that is executed and acknowledged or proved in the manner that a grant of real property is required to be executed and acknowledged or proved may be recorded in the office of the recorder of each county in which real …

Nothing in this chapter affects the validity or effect of premarital agreements made before January 1, 1986, and the validity and effect of those agreements shall continue to be determined by the law applicable to the agreements before January 1, 1986. (Enacted by Stats. 1992, Ch…

This part may be cited as the Family Conciliation Court Law. (Enacted by Stats. 1992, Ch. 162, Sec. 10. Operative January 1, 1994.)

The purposes of this part are to protect the rights of children and to promote the public welfare by preserving, promoting, and protecting family life and the institution of matrimony, and to provide means for the reconciliation of spouses and the amicable settlement of domestic …

(a) This part applies only in counties in which the superior court determines that the social conditions in the county and the number of domestic relations cases in the courts render the procedures provided in this part necessary to the full and proper consideration of those case…

This part applies to a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, for nullity of marriage, or for legal separation of the parties. (Enacted by Stats. 1992, Ch. 162, Sec. 10. Operative January 1, 1994.)