2005 West Virginia Code - §9-3-4. — Assignment of support obligations.

§9-3-4. Assignment of support obligations.
Any recipient of financial assistance under the program of state and federal assistance established by Title IV of the federal Social Security Act of 1965, as amended, or any successor act thereto, shall, as a condition of receiving such assistance, assign to the department of health and human resources all rights, title and interest the family member may have (on behalf of the family member or of any other person for whom the family member has applied for or is receiving such assistance) to the receipt of support and maintenance moneys from any other person, not exceeding the total amount of assistance provided to the family, which accrue (or have accrued) before the date the family ceases to receive assistance under the program. The assignment, on and after the date the family ceases to receive assistance under the program, does not apply with respect to any support (other than support collected pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §664) which accrued before the family received such assistance and which the state has not collected by the date the family ceases to receive assistance under the program.
Persons responsible for support and maintenance shall include all persons who under the laws of the state of West Virginia owe obligations of support or maintenance to a child or to the caretaker of a child. The assignment contemplated herein shall include all amounts of support and maintenance which accrued to the recipient of assistance and was not received prior to the recipient's receipt of assistance, and all amounts of support and maintenance which accrue during recipient's receipt of assistance: Provided, That subject to applicable federal and state laws, the assignment may not exceed the total amount of assistance provided to the family.
Each applicant for assistance subject to the assignment established herein shall (during the application process) be informed in writing of the nature of the assignment.
Any payment of federal and state assistance made to or for the benefit of any child or children or the caretaker of a child or children creates a debt due and owing to the department of health and human resources by the person or persons responsible for the support and maintenance of such child, children or caretaker in an amount equal to the amount of assistance money paid: Provided, That the debt shall be limited by the amount established in any court order or final decree of divorce if the amount in such order or decree is less than the amount of assistance paid.
The assignment hereunder shall subrogate the department of health and human resources to the rights of the child, children or caretaker to the prosecution or maintenance of any action or procedure existing under law providing a remedy whereby the department of health and human resources may be reimbursed for moneys expended on behalf of the child, children or caretaker. The department of health and human resources shall further be subrogated to the debt created by any order or decree awarding support and maintenance to or for the benefit of any child, children or caretaker included within the assignment hereunder and shall be empowered to receive such money judgments and endorse any check, draft, note or other negotiable document in payment thereof.
The assignment created hereunder shall be released upon closure of the assistance case and the termination of assistance payments except for such support and maintenance obligations accrued and owing at the time of closure which shall be necessary to reimburse the department for any balance of assistance payments made.
The department of health and human resources may, at the election of the recipient, continue to receive support and maintenance moneys on behalf of the recipient following closure of the assistance case and shall distribute such moneys to the caretaker, child or children. The department of health and human resources shall notify in writing all appropriate persons of the terms of the release of assignment hereunder.