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Back Child Support & TANF

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tater_tot

Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

Hello. I am writing because my brother owes back child support, but part of the amount he owes is because his ex defrauded the state.
The ex has custody of 1 of the children and her father has custody of the other one, and neither child has my brothers last name, and her father is getting a social security check for either one or both of the children plus my brother has been paying child support for years now. He pays her and her father. For a long time she was recieving TANF, child support and a social security check for 1 or both children from her father for the same 2 children. Now my brother is suppose to pay the money to the state back, what can he file to have this looked into, and corrected, and have her held accountable for what she done instead of him. I do understand he owes some of the money for the back child support, but he shouldn't have to pay for her mistakes. Thanks for the help.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

Hello. I am writing because my brother owes back child support, but part of the amount he owes is because his ex defrauded the state.
The ex has custody of 1 of the children and her father has custody of the other one, and neither child has my brothers last name, and her father is getting a social security check for either one or both of the children plus my brother has been paying child support for years now. He pays her and her father. For a long time she was recieving TANF, child support and a social security check for 1 or both children from her father for the same 2 children. Now my brother is suppose to pay the money to the state back, what can he file to have this looked into, and corrected, and have her held accountable for what she done instead of him. I do understand he owes some of the money for the back child support, but he shouldn't have to pay for her mistakes. Thanks for the help.
I am not sure what you think it is that she has done wrong.

Collecting social security for the children on behalf of either herself or the grandfather would not mean that your brother didn't have to pay child support. Collecting Tanif and child support COULD be illegal if the child support was not being paid through the CSE. However, if it was paid through the CSE it would be diverted to cover the current Tanif being received.
 

Gracie3787

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

Hello. I am writing because my brother owes back child support, but part of the amount he owes is because his ex defrauded the state.
The ex has custody of 1 of the children and her father has custody of the other one, and neither child has my brothers last name, and her father is getting a social security check for either one or both of the children plus my brother has been paying child support for years now. He pays her and her father. For a long time she was recieving TANF, child support and a social security check for 1 or both children from her father for the same 2 children. Now my brother is suppose to pay the money to the state back, what can he file to have this looked into, and corrected, and have her held accountable for what she done instead of him. I do understand he owes some of the money for the back child support, but he shouldn't have to pay for her mistakes. Thanks for the help.
Did the mother report all income to the state including the CS and the SS benefits?

If she did, she did nothing wrong.
 

tater_tot

Member
Child Support

OK, can you even get TANF payments and child support payments at the same time? Also, no she isn't reporting the social security to anyone as income. The child support should be based on my brothers income and then her income which should include the social security check income, right?
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
OK, can you even get TANF payments and child support payments at the same time? Also, no she isn't reporting the social security to anyone as income. The child support should be based on my brothers income and then her income which should include the social security check income, right?
There is no way for her to "hide" the social security. That's another government payment that shows up and would be easily found out.

The only way that someone could get TANF payments and child support at the same time would be if the child support was NOT paid through the CSE or state, but paid directly to the custodial parent. That would be illegal. However, again if child support goes through the CSE or the state, the the child support payment would be rerouted to the state to repay the benefits received by the parent.

I get the impression that you are thinking that she should not get both social security and TANF for the child, and therefore the fact that she does indicates that she is cheating. That is NOT accurate and it would be an almost impossible thing to cheat about.

I also get the impression that you don't understand how the child support/TANF thing works, even though I have explained it. It is easier to cheat about that, but not if child support is paid through the CSE or state.
 

tater_tot

Member
No I don't understand exactly how the whole TANF & Child Support thing combined works, but please don't treat me like an idiot. So even though part of the child support and either all or part of the social security benefits are not going to the mother directly you're saying she still could not lie about it? Is that correct, because yes the child support is paid directly to the DCSE, at least now, but I'm not sure if it was at the time or not, and I understand TANF and Social Security are all government programs. I'm just saying part of the payments go to her and part of them are paid directly to her dad, but she was recieving them all plus TANF too. I just didn't think you could collect TANF and Child Support at the same time legally, and was wondering if my brother should have it looked into or not.
 
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LdiJ

Senior Member
No I don't understand exactly how the whole TANF & Child Support thing combined works, but please don't treat me like an idiot. So even though part of the child support and either all or part of the social security benefits are not going to the mother directly you're saying she still could not lie about it? Is that correct, because yes the child support is paid directly to the DCSE, at least now, but I'm not sure if it was at the time or not, and I understand TANF and Social Security are all government programs. I'm just saying part of the payments go to her and part of them are paid directly to her dad, but she was recieving them all plus TANF too. I just didn't think you could collect TANF and Child Support at the same time legally, and was wondering if my brother should have it looked into or not.
I apologize if you thought that I was treating you like an idiot. I was not. I was trying to explain things as clearly as possible, while making sure that I understood your exact questions.

The reason why she cannot lie about the social security benefits is because they are paid and reported under the child's social security number, and that database is checked by the welfare caseworkers before issuing welfare benefits. A parent must reapply for benefits every six months, so its going to get checked every six months at least.

Like I said the only possible way to cheat on these issues is when child support is not paid through the system. Therefore she is not getting both the child support and the TANF. Either the TANF stopped when your brother started paying child support, or your brother's child support is going to repay the TANF.
 

tater_tot

Member
Thank you for your help, and I will tell him all that I have found out and he can take it from there, and talk to the DCSE and find out exactly whats what. Thank you for your help.
 

annie123

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

For a long time she was recieving TANF, child support and a social security check
If she was on TANF then TANF took (intercepted) the child support from her and she would not have received anything or any check. At the most she might have got a $50 disregard if she was lucky.
It's not always what it appears and not all custodial parents are money grubbers. But in turn if the father did not provide medical then the state will go after the NCP for failing to provide that and they call it reimbursement for services.

But I can tell you that TANF sometimes pays more than child support and for custodial parents going through a hard time for whatever reason may need to go on TANF/medicaid etc. However TANF will usually cause the Social Security payment to be lowered and if the child is disabled the father is responsible past 18 years.
 

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