Fla. Admin. Code r. 12E-1.037 - Notification to Withhold Support From Reemployment Assistance

12E-1.037 Notification to Withhold Support from Reemployment Assistance.

(1) Definition. As used in this rule, the term “support obligations,” which is defined by Section 443.051(1)(b), F.S., means legally ordered payments or amounts due under a court order, administrative order, or judgment being enforced by the Department and that is issued by this state, another state, or a foreign country.

(2) Data exchange with the Florida Department of Commerce.

(a) The Department receives data files periodically from the Florida Department of Commerce and compares the reemployment assistance (formerly known as unemployment compensation) applicant information on the files to its own records of parents who owe support obligations and parents against whom the Department is seeking to establish a support obligation.

(b) If a name and social security number on a data file matches with a parent who has an open case in the Department’s records the Department adds the reemployment assistance information from the file to the parent’s child support case record.

(c) When a data file includes reemployment assistance applicants who do not match with a parent in the Department’s records the Department retains the nonmatching data for two years. The Department uses the data to perform data matching against parents with new cases opened by the Department during the two-year retention period.

(3) Notifying the Florida Department of Commerce of the withholding percentage.

(a) When the Department reports the names of reemployment assistance applicants owing support obligations as required by Section 443.051, F.S., the Department reports the withholding amount as a percentage of the reemployment assistance benefit amount.

(b) If a court enters a support order on or after July 1, 2006, that requires a reemployment assistance withholding percentage that is different than the 40 percent prescribed in Section 443.051(3)(b), F.S., the Department reports the court-ordered reemployment assistance withholding percentage.

(4) Maximum withholding percentage.

(a) The Department limits the reemployment assistance withholding percentage reported to the Florida Department of Commerce to no more than 40 percent per support order or a total of 50 percent of a parent’s reemployment assistance.

(b) When a parent has more than one support order requiring withholding from reemployment assistance, the Department adds the withholding percentages from each of the orders and reports the combined withholding percentage to the Florida Department of Commerce. If the combined withholding percentage exceeds 50 percent, the Department reports 50 percent as the withholding percentage. For example, if the parent has two support orders that each require withholding from reemployment assistance at a rate of 40 percent (totaling 80 percent), the Department reports 50 percent to the Florida Department of Commerce as the parent’s withholding percentage.

(5) Refunding collections that exceed the support obligation.

(a) If the withholding exceeds the parent’s total support obligation, including any delinquencies, arrearages, and retroactive support, the Department shall refund the amount of the excess withholding to the parent.

(b) In addition to refunding excess withholding amounts, the Department will calculate an adjusted withholding percentage that does not exceed the parent’s support obligation and notify the Florida Department of Commerce of the adjusted withholding percentage.

(c) If a subsequent reemployment assistance collection is withheld that exceeds the total support obligation as described in paragraph (5)(a), before the Florida Department of Commerce implements the adjusted withholding percentage, the Department will promptly refund the excess amount to the parent.

(6) To avoid withholding from reemployment assistance that exceeds the support obligation, the Department adjusts the withholding percentage when a parent who owes a support obligation contacts the Department if:

(a) The amount withheld exceeds the parent’s support obligations, in which case the Department reduces the reemployment assistance withholding percentage to the highest percentage that does not exceed the support obligations;

(b) The parent is paying the entire amount of the support obligation by income deduction from an income source other than reemployment assistance, in which case the Department adjusts the reemployment assistance withholding percentage to zero, or

(c) The deductions from an income source other than reemployment assistance satisfy only part of the support obligation, in which case the Department adjusts the reemployment assistance withholding percentage to the highest percentage that does not exceed the support obligation taking into account the deductions from the other income source.

(7) Support obligations for more than one case. When a parent owes support obligations for more than one child support case, the Department allocates each reemployment assistance withholding collection among the parent’s cases in the same proportion as the reemployment assistance withholding percentage for each of the parent’s support obligations. The following examples illustrate the allocation method.

(a) Example 1. If a parent has support obligations in two cases that have the same reemployment assistance withholding percentage, the Department splits the collection evenly and allocates the same amount to each case.

(b) Example 2. If a parent has support obligations in three cases that all have the same withholding percentage, the Department splits the collection evenly and allocates the same amount to each case.

(c) Example 3. If a parent has support obligations in two cases, and the withholding percentage is 20 percent in the first case and 40 percent in the second case, the Department allocates one-third of the collection to the first case and two-thirds of the collection to the second case.

(8) Bankruptcy. If the parent who owes support files bankruptcy, the withholding of current support from reemployment assistance may continue and is unaffected by the bankruptcy filing.

Rulemaking Authority 409.2557 FS. Law Implemented 409.2557, 443.051 FS. History–New 9-19-17, Amended 9-4-25.