How Does Welfare Reimbursement Work in California?

Purpose

California law presumes that a child should not have to be on welfare if the non-custodial parent is paying child support as ordered. Thus, if a child is receiving welfare, Child Support Enforcement sues the non-custodial parent to get him to pay his child support arrears. Child Support Enforcement then uses a portion of the arrears, once paid, to reimburse California for the welfare paid for the child while the non-custodial parent was not paying child support.

As of July 2011, the statute of limitations on welfare reimbursement in California is one year. Thus, if the Department of Child Support Services files a lawsuit to compel a parent to pay child support, it may ask the court to require the parent to pay for welfare reimbursement for up to one year prior to the date DCSS filed the lawsuit.

Failure to obey a court order to pay for welfare reimbursement is treated similarly to any other failure to pay child support. If a non-custodial parent refuses to pay for welfare reimbursement as ordered, she may be held in contempt of court, have her driver's license suspended or passport revoked or lose her federal and state tax refunds. If DCSS sues a parent for welfare reimbursement and the parent disagrees that she owes money, she has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.

Welfare reimbursement in California does not directly pay back the state for welfare it provided to the child. Instead, welfare reimbursement orders require the parent to pay the child support he should have been paying while the child was on welfare, in addition to his current child support order. The majority of the back child support, but not the entire amount, then goes to the state of California.