Feds look into complaints about child support

Tuesday, July 18, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A federal auditor has started his examination into complaints that the state Welfare Division has misused and delayed child support payments that come from federal tax refund checks.

The regional office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dispatched an auditor July 10 to look at the state program after complaints were made by the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support (ACES).

In April ACES asked the Justice Department to investigate, but it turned the case over to Health and Human Services.

Last year the Welfare Division captured $7.7 million in tax refunds that were supposed to go to fathers or mothers who owe child support. Division Director Mike Willden said Monday that money is put into a separate account.

But ACES charges the tax refund is used for other purposes in the Welfare Division, such as administrative costs. And it accuses the agency of delaying payment to the families who are due the child support.

Willden said the tax refunds are segregated in a separate account. It is then determined how much money goes to the children and how much should be kept by the state to offset public assistance grants to those families.

No money is used from that account for other programs, he said. Those allegations, Willden said, are "dead wrong."

On the complaints about delays in making the payments, Willden said they involve tax refunds in cases in which the nonsupporting spouse may have remarried and a joint tax return is filed with the new spouse.

Willden said the division has six months under federal regulations to hold the tax refunds to see if the new spouse will claim a part of the refund in the joint tax return. If there is no claim, the money is released.

If the full tax refund is sent to the children immediately and the new spouse later claims half of the return, the state would be out that amount. It would have to pay the new spouse his or her share of the tax refund.

"They (ACES) have been unhappy with the policy, but we have saved the taxpayers $400,000," Willden said.

He said the Welfare Division has offered to meet with representatives from ACES to explain the process, but so far they have not responded.

ACES, in a press release Monday, is asking the public to contact its office in Reno to fill out complaint forms.

"We are gathering documentation from both custodial and noncustodial parents who have had problems for possible investigation and resolution of your child support case."

The ACES office is at 2900 Clear Acre Lane, Suite I-197, Reno, NV 89512. The telephone number is (775) 857 1815.