There are five basic types of services that support enforcement offers:

1) PARENT LOCATE SERVICE
2) PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT
3) ESTABLISHING ORDERS
4) ENFORCING ORDERS
5) COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION

1) PARENT LOCATE SERVICE:

One of the biggest challenges in the child support program is trying to locate and keep up with the non-custodial parents. The SES computer system, LASES, has  automated interface systems with various other state agencies and all programs within the Department of Social Services. There is also an automated interface with the Federal Parent Locator Service which provides information on persons who receive Social Security or Veterans Pensions, and persons who work or contract with the Federal Government, including Military personnel. Louisiana also belongs to the Electronic Parent Locate Network (EPLN). EPLN is a consortium of eighteen states which have agreed to combine information from various sources in each state into one data base which can be accessed on-line by participating states.

If the custodial parent wants locate services, $10.00 fee is required if the social security number is know, or $14.00 if the social security number of the biological father is unknown.

The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury charges a fee of $122.50 for Full Service IRS Collection.

2) PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT:

Each year SES receives approximately 18,000 to 20,000 new cases in which paternity is an issue. Under Louisiana law, a father of a child born outside of marriage is not responsible for child support payments until paternity has been established. Louisiana law allows paternity to be established by a court or by having the father sign an affidavit acknowledging that he is the father of the child. Many of the paternity establishments that are obtained by SES each year come through the acknowledgment process. Under State law, hospital personnel are required to provide the parents of children born outside of marriage the opportunity to sign an acknowledgment of paternity in the hospital at the time of the children's birth. If an alleged father refuses to sign an acknowledgment of paternity, SES attorneys or contract District Attorneys may file a paternity suit asking the court to determine paternity.

Prior to signing an acknowledgment of paternity, an alleged father may request a genetic test to determine if he is the biological father of the child. The cost of a paternity testing is $62.00 per person. SES has contracts with two laboratories for genetic testing purposes. The contracts require the labs to either exclude the alleged father, or return a probability of paternity of 99.9% or higher. This is the highest probability requirement in the nation and provides for a higher accuracy rate in determining paternity. Before an alleged father signs an acknowledgment of paternity, he is strongly encouraged to request a paternity test to establish beyond question that he is the biological father of the child.

3) ESTABLISHING ORDERS:

The Legislature established the Child Support Award Guidelines to determine the amount of child support. The amount of support is based on the income of both parties. A schedule is used to determine the total amount of support, and the noncustodial parent is required to pay an amount that is based on his percentage of the total income of both parties and specific needs and expenses of the child.

The Child Support Award Guidelines for Louisiana were enacted by the Louisiana Legislature, and provide a mathematical formula to determine the appropriate amount of support.

The premise of the guidelines is that child support is a continuous obligation of both parents. Children are entitled to share in the current income of both parents and should not be the economic victims of divorce or out-of-wedlock birth. It is very important that children not be forced to live in poverty because of family disruption and that they be afforded the same opportunities available to children in intact families, consisting of parents with similar financial means to those of their own parents.

The Income Share approach to the child support guidelines incorporates a numerical schedule of support amounts. The schedule provides economic estimates of child-rearing expenditures for various income levels and numbers of children in the household. The schedule is composed of economic data utilizing a table of national averages adjusted to reflect Louisiana´s status as a low-income state and to incorporate a self-sufficiency reserve for low-income payors to form the basic child support obligation.

In cases of joint custody, the court shall consider the period of time spent by the child with the nondomiciliary party as a basis for adjustment to the amount of child support to be paid during that period of time.

The Guidelines apply as a rebuttable presumption to all child support orders in Louisiana. Louisiana Revised Statute 9:315.1(B) allows the court to deviate from the guideline schedule if the application would not be in the best interest of the child or would be inequitable to the parties. The court shall give specific oral or written reasons for the deviation.

Gross income includes income from any source, including salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits, worker's compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, and spousal support received from a pre-existing spousal support obligation.

The gross income of each parent should be used when determining a child support award as specified below and entered on Line 1 of the Obligation Worksheet. The income of a spouse is not considered in this calculation.

The basic child support obligation is calculated considering the following factors:

• The amount of any preexisting court order for child support and spousal support paid is deducted from the gross income of the non-custodial parent.
• Net child care costs incurred due to employment or job search (minus the value of the federal tax credit for child care) is added to the basic obligation.
• If either parent carries health insurance for the child(ren) due support, the cost of that coverage is added to the basic child support obligation.
• A provision may also be made for extraordinary expenses of a child, such as medical or special or private schooling needs, by agreement of the parties or order of the court.

Visit here to view the Child Support Award Guideline Schedule.

Downloadable form: The following standard form can be downloaded to a disk and then completed on the user's PC. To download a form, simply select the desired title below, then follow the prompts given by your browser. (On most browsers, you will need to choose the "Save to Disk" option, and then choose the drive and directory you wish to save to.)

Note: The Adobe Acrobat document will be viewable in all formats. To view the Adobe Acrobat document please download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader at:

This form has been provided as a public service and has been successfully processed on a State computer system. However, we unfortunately cannot guarantee success for all users, due to the wide variety of browsers/platform in use. It is still the responsibility of the user to use this form appropriately and in a manner consistent within these limitations. No actual text of this form may be changed, and doing so may render it null and void. All relevant deadlines still apply.  

Visit here to download the Obligation Worksheet A (SES 330).

4) ENFORCING ORDERS:

Some of the tools that SES uses to enforce the payment of support are as follows: income assignment, interception of State and Federal tax refunds, interception of lottery winnings, suspension of occupational, professional, drivers', and hunting and fishing licenses, motor vehicle registration, contempt of court hearings, and passport denials. Over 65% of the money collected each year comes through the income assignment process.

5) COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION:

Payments for child support are collected by the Centralized Collection Unit and are posted Monday through Friday. Payments are distributed the day after they post to our system.

A $25.00 annual fee will be imposed in each case where an individual has never received FITAP and for whom the State has collected at least $500.00 of support in a Federal Fiscal Year.    

All fees and support payments must be made payable to the Department of Social Services (DSS). The payor shall include his/her name, address, and social security number and/or LASES number on the payment instrument.

Payments should be made by money order or cashier´s check and mailed to:

Centralized Collection Unit
Post Office Box 260222
Baton Rouge, LA 70826

Genetic Testing fees should be identified as "Genetic Test" when submitted to the Centralized Collection Unit.

When submitting application fees, contact one of the appropriate 12 SES Regional Offices serving the customer´s parish.

Exception:

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney´s Office, Child Support Enforcement, 1546 Gretna Blvd., Harvey, LA 70058-5366 processes the application and the application fee for Jefferson and East Jefferson Parish.

The East Baton Rouge District Attorney´s Office, 233 St. Ferdinand Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 accepts the application and the application fee for East Baton Rouge Parish only.

The following is information custodial parents should consider before hiring a Child Support Private Collection Agency (PCS).

A private collection agency (PCA) is a privately owned, for-profit business that, for a fee, helps custodial parents collect child support. Support Enforcement Services is not a party to any contract between the custodial parent and the PCA. The custodial parent is entitled to receive services with SES even if the custodial parent hires a PCA. If the custodial parent is receiving public assistance, foster care maintenance, or Medicaid, SES will be required to pursue support enforcement on behalf of the custodial parent.

Most PCA´s are paid on a "contingency fee" basis. This means that the custodial parent is not required to pay the PCA for its services in advance, but the PCA will take a percentage of the child support it receives on the cutodial parent´s behalf. These contingency fee rates generally range from 25 to 33 percent of all money collected. A PCA may collect fees on any amounts received by the PCA, even if the money was collected as a result of the work of SES. PCA´s may also charge application or processing fees or charge additional fees, such as, attorney fees, court cost, etc.

The custodial parent should get as much information about the PCA that they are considering and read their contract carefully before signing.

Customer Service Center

Support Enforcement Services enhanced its ability to serve its customer by instituting a Customer Service Center.  The Customer Service Center (CSC) provides customer service solutions such as the toll-free number, the automated voice response (AVR) system, and customer service representatives (CSRs).

The numbers for our Customer Service Center are: 

            1-800-256-4650 (Toll Free)
            1-225-922-8111 (Teletypewriter Hearing Impaired)
            1-225-922-8100 (Baton Rouge Local)

The automated voice response system and accompanying script provides payment receipt and disbursement information (on last five payments), arrearages, current financial obligation balances as well as general child support information.  AVR information is provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Experienced customer service representatives trained to handle case specific inquiries not addressed by the AVR can be accessed through the Customer Service Center numbers.