BILL REQ. #:  H-1765.1 

Read first time 02/12/09.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to day care expenses in child support obligations; and amending RCW 26.19.080.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 26.19.080 and 1996 c 216 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The basic child support obligation derived from the economic table shall be allocated between the parents based on each parent's share of the combined monthly net income.
     (2) Ordinary health care expenses are included in the economic table. Monthly health care expenses that exceed five percent of the basic support obligation shall be considered extraordinary health care expenses. Extraordinary health care expenses shall be shared by the parents in the same proportion as the basic child support obligation.
     (3) Day care and special child rearing expenses, such as tuition and long-distance transportation costs to and from the parents for visitation purposes, are not included in the economic table. These expenses shall be shared by the parents in the same proportion as the basic child support obligation. The parent incurring day care expenses shall attempt to notify the obligor and the department, if the department is enforcing the support obligation, of the day care expenses incurred within three months of the date the obligee first enrolls the child in a day care or within three months from the time there has been a significant change in the amount of day care expenses previously being paid or within three months of the day care expenses being incurred if the day care expenses were not previously known to the obligor. Notification may be by regular mail, in person, or any other reasonable method. If an obligor pays court or administratively ordered day care or special child rearing expenses that are not actually incurred, the obligee must reimburse the obligor for the overpayment if the overpayment amounts to at least twenty percent of the obligor's annual day care or special child rearing expenses. The obligor may institute an action in the superior court or file an application for an adjudicative hearing with the department of social and health services for reimbursement of day care and special child rearing expense overpayments that amount to twenty percent or more of the obligor's annual day care and special child rearing expenses. Any ordered overpayment reimbursement shall be applied first as an offset to child support arrearages of the obligor. If the obligor does not have child support arrearages, the reimbursement may be in the form of a direct reimbursement by the obligee or a credit against the obligor's future support payments. If the reimbursement is in the form of a credit against the obligor's future child support payments, the credit shall be spread equally over a twelve-month period. Absent agreement of the obligee, nothing in this section entitles an obligor to pay more than his or her proportionate share of day care or other special child rearing expenses in advance and then deduct the overpayment from future support transfer payments.
     (4) The court may exercise its discretion to determine the necessity for and the reasonableness of all amounts ordered in excess of the basic child support obligation.