Glossary

This is money that a child support program participant owes to the State because of a payment adjustment on his or her child support case.

A man who claims, or is claimed by another person, to be the father of a child, but who has not been legally determined to be the father of that child.
 

The terms "arrears", and "arrearage", mean child support obligation amounts that are overdue and unpaid.

The legal process by which an child support obligee receiving public assistance agrees to turn over to the state any right to child support. This includes arrears that accrue while the person receives public assistance. To qualify for cash assistance or other benefits, obligees must assign their support rights to the state. The state may keep collected arrears only up to the amount of public assistance received by the obligee.
 

Once an attorney files a Certificate of Representation, that attorney remains the Attorney of Record for a person until a court order dismisses the attorney or until the attorney formally withdraws from the file.

This allows obligors to authorize the Child Support Division to automatically deduct payments from a specific checking account or savings account. Once the withdrawal is set up, the bank electronically withdraws the support payments from the obligor's bank account. Then the bank automatically sends the payment to the Child Support Payment Center. The obligor must be the owner of the account. The obligor authorizes the Child Support Payment Center to automatically withdraw support payments once or twice per month, on the 5th or 20th of the month. Applicants for automatic recurring withdrawal must include a blank, voided check or a pre-printed savings account deposit slip with their completed authorization.

Basic support, when used in the context of child support, means expenses relating to the child's care, housing, food, clothing, and transportation. The amount is determined by applying the parent's combined parental income for determining child support (PICS) and the number of joint children to the basic support guidelines table. The basic support obligation does not include payment toward arrears.

A biological father is the man who provided the paternal genes of a child.

A birth record is information collected at the time of birth which includes the child's name, date of birth, place of birth, and parents' names. The Minnesota Department of Health, Office of Vital Records keeps the original record.

In Minnesota, a legal guardian is a person appointed by the court to make decisions for another person who can't make their own decisions. This could be due to age, disability, or other reasons