[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to accounting for child support payments; amending RCW 26.09.170; and adding a new section to chapter 26.09 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 26.09 RCW to read as follows:

(1) A parent obligated to pay child support may file a motion with the court requesting an accounting of how the support is being spent by the receiving parent. The parent must include with the motion an affidavit stating with particularity the facts the parent relied upon in determining that an accounting is necessary. The motion and affidavit must be served upon the parent receiving support.

(2) If the court determines that the motion does not show good cause for ordering an accounting, the court may dismiss the motion and order the parent filing the motion to pay costs and reasonable attorneys' fees to the receiving parent responding to the motion.

(3) If the court determines that the motion shows good cause, the court may order the receiving parent to account for the expenditure and management of the child support funds received. The receiving parent shall not be obligated to account for more than the funds received in the two months immediately preceding the court order for an accounting. The receiving parent must submit the accounting to the court within the time period specified by the court.

(4) The court must review the accounting within a reasonable time. If the court determines that the receiving parent has not spent the child support for the benefit of the child, the court may:

(a) Order the receiving parent to file periodic accounting to the court as often as the court finds appropriate;

(b) Enter an order directing the receiving parent to spend the child support payments for the benefit of the child;

(d) Modify the order of child support under RCW 26.09.170.

(5) This section does not apply to the department of social and health services when, under RCW 74.20A.030, the department has been assigned the right of the child for support when public assistance money is paid to or for the benefit of the child.

Sec. 2. RCW 26.09.170 and 1997 c 58 s 910 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (7) of RCW 26.09.070, the provisions of any decree respecting maintenance or support may be modified: (a) Only as to installments accruing subsequent to the petition for modification or motion for adjustment except motions to compel court-ordered adjustments, which shall be effective as of the first date specified in the decree for implementing the adjustment; and, (b) except as otherwise provided in subsections (4), (5), (8), and (9) of this section, only upon a showing of a substantial change of circumstances. The provisions as to property disposition may not be revoked or modified, unless the court finds the existence of conditions that justify the reopening of a judgment under the laws of this state.

(2) Unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the decree the obligation to pay future maintenance is terminated upon the death of either party or the remarriage of the party receiving maintenance.

(3) Unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the decree, provisions for the support of a child are terminated by emancipation of the child or by the death of the parent obligated to support the child.

(4) An order of child support may be modified ((~~one year or more after it has been entered~~)) without showing a substantial change of circumstances:

(a) If the order in practice works a severe economic hardship on either party or the child;

(b) If a party requests an adjustment in an order for child support which was based on guidelines which determined the amount of support according to the child's age, and the child is no longer in the age category on which the current support amount was based;

(c) If a child is still in high school, upon a finding that there is a need to extend support beyond the eighteenth birthday to complete high school; ((or))

(d) If, under section 1 of this act, the court finds that the receiving parent is not spending the child support for the benefit of the child and modification of the child support obligation would more accurately reflect the amount of support needed for the child based on the parents' income, resources, and standard of living; or

(e) To add an automatic adjustment of support provision consistent with RCW 26.09.100.

(5) An order or decree entered prior to June 7, 1984, may be modified without showing a substantial change of circumstances if the requested modification is to:

(a) Require health insurance coverage for a child named therein; or

(b) Modify an existing order for health insurance coverage.

(6) An obligor's voluntary unemployment or voluntary underemployment, by itself, is not a substantial change of circumstances.

(7) The department of social and health services may file an action to modify an order of child support if public assistance money is being paid to or for the benefit of the child and the child support order is twenty-five percent or more below the appropriate child support amount set forth in the standard calculation as defined in RCW 26.19.011 and reasons for the deviation are not set forth in the findings of fact or order. The determination of twenty-five percent or more shall be based on the current income of the parties and the department shall not be required to show a substantial change of circumstances if the reasons for the deviations were not set forth in the findings of fact or order.

(8)(a) All child support decrees may be adjusted once every twenty-four months based upon changes in the income of the parents without a showing of substantially changed circumstances. Either party may initiate the adjustment by filing a motion and child support worksheets.

(b) A party may petition for modification in cases of substantially changed circumstances under subsection (1) of this section at any time. However, if relief is granted under subsection (1) of this section, twenty-four months must pass before a motion for an adjustment under (a) of this subsection may be filed.

(c) If, pursuant to (a) of this subsection or subsection (9) of this section, the court adjusts or modifies a child support obligation by more than thirty percent and the change would cause significant hardship, the court may implement the change in two equal increments, one at the time of the entry of the order and the second six months from the entry of the order. Twenty-four months must pass following the second change before a motion for an adjustment under (a) of this subsection may be filed.

(d) A parent who is receiving transfer payments who receives a wage or salary increase may not bring a modification action pursuant to subsection (1) of this section alleging that increase constitutes a substantial change of circumstances.

(e) The department of social and health services may file an action at any time to modify an order of child support in cases of substantially changed circumstances if public assistance money is being paid to or for the benefit of the child. The determination of the existence of substantially changed circumstances by the department that lead to the filing of an action to modify the order of child support is not binding upon the court.

(9) An order of child support may be adjusted twenty-four months from the date of the entry of the decree or the last adjustment or modification, whichever is later, based upon changes in the economic table or standards in chapter 26.19 RCW.