42 U.S.C. § 654b — Collection and disbursement of support payments

(a) State disbursement unit. (1) The State agency must operate a “State disbursement unit” to collect and distribute support-order payments in (A) every case the State enforces under section 654(4) and (B) every case not enforced by the State when the order was first issued in the State on or after January 1, 1994, and the noncustodial parent’s income is subject to withholding under section 666(a)(8)(B). (2) The unit must be operated directly by the State agency, by two or more State agencies under a regional cooperative agreement, or, when appropriate, by a contractor directly responsible to the State agency. Except for paragraph (1)(B) cases, it must coordinate with the section 654a automated system. (3) It may link local units through an automated network if the Secretary agrees that the network will not cost more or take longer than a centralized system. Employers must have one location for sending withheld income. (b) Required procedures. To the maximum extent feasible, efficient, and economical, the unit must use automated procedures, electronic processes, and computer technology to collect and distribute support payments, including procedures (1) to receive payments from parents, employers, and other States and distribute them to custodial parents and other obligees, the State agency, and other States’ agencies; (2) to identify payments accurately; (3) to distribute the custodial parent’s share promptly; and (4) to give any parent, on request, timely information about the current status of support payments under an order requiring payments by or to that parent. For paragraph (1)(B) cases, it need not convert or maintain in automated form payment records kept under section 666(a)(8)(B)(iii) before this section took effect. (c) Timing. (1) Unless paragraph (2) applies, the unit must distribute amounts payable under section 657(a) within 2 business days after receiving them from an employer or other periodic-income source, if enough information identifies the payee. The collection date is the date the unit receives the money. If an employer withholds current support in the month due but the unit receives it later, the withholding date may be treated as the collection date. (2) The unit may delay distributing collections toward arrearages until a timely appeal about them is resolved. (d) “Business day” means a day when State offices are open for regular business.