BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to the creation of a Washington state child support lien registry; amending RCW 26.18.055, 74.20A.060, and 65.08.070; and adding a new section to chapter 26.23 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 26.23 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The Washington state child support lien registry is created within the division of child support of the department of social and health services. The state child support lien registry shall:

(a) File and maintain a record of child support liens against personal and real property located anywhere in the state of Washington based on child support arrears in cases receiving full collection services from the division of child support or another state's child support enforcement agency. The record shall include the amount of the lien and date it was filed; and

(b) Be of public record and accessed, using the debtor's name and identifying number, by computer through the internet or by an automated telephone system. Inquiries made to the state child support lien registry are not of public record.

(2) The secretary of social and health services may adopt rules for filing liens in and administering the state child support lien registry created in this section.

Sec. 2. RCW 26.18.055 and 1997 c 58 s 942 are each amended to read as follows:

Child support debts, not paid when due, become liens by operation of law against all property of the debtor with priority of a secured creditor. This lien shall be separate and apart from, and in addition to, any other lien created by, or provided for, in this title. ((~~The lien attaches~~)) Liens filed with:

(1) A county auditor attach on the date of filing to all real and personal property of the debtor ((~~on the date of filing with the county auditor of~~)) in the county in which the ((~~property is located~~)) lien is filed; and

(2) The Washington state child support lien registry created in section 1 of this act attach on the date of filing to all real and personal property of the debtor within the state of Washington.

Sec. 3. RCW 74.20A.060 and 1997 c 58 s 906 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The secretary may assert a lien upon the real or personal property of a responsible parent:

(a) When a support payment is past due, if the parent's support order contains notice that liens may be enforced against real and personal property, or notice that action may be taken under this chapter;

(b) Twenty-one days after service of a notice of support debt under RCW 74.20A.040;

(d) Twenty-one days after service of a notice and finding of parental responsibility;

(e) Twenty-one days after service of a notice of support owed under RCW 26.23.110; or

(f) When appropriate under RCW 74.20A.270.

(2) The division of child support may use uniform interstate lien forms adopted by the United States department of health and human services to assert liens on a responsible parent's real and personal property located in Washington or another state.

(3) The claim of the department for a support debt, not paid when due, shall be a lien against all property of the debtor with priority of a secured creditor. This lien shall be separate and apart from, and in addition to, any other lien created by, or provided for, in this title. ((~~The lien shall attach~~)) Liens filed with:

(a) A county auditor attach on the date of filing to all real and personal property of the debtor ((~~on the date of filing of such statement with the county auditor of~~)) in the county in which ((~~such property is located~~)) the lien is filed; and

(b) The Washington state child support lien registry created in section 1 of this act attach on the date of filing to all real and personal property of the debtor within the state of Washington.

(4) Whenever a support lien has been filed and there is in the possession of any person, firm, corporation, association, political subdivision or department of the state having notice of said lien any property which may be subject to the support lien, such property shall not be paid over, released, sold, transferred, encumbered or conveyed, except as provided for by the exemptions contained in RCW 74.20A.090 and 74.20A.130, unless:

(a) A written release or waiver signed by the secretary has been delivered to said person, firm, corporation, association, political subdivision or department of the state; or

(b) A determination has been made in an adjudicative proceeding pursuant to RCW 74.20A.055 or by a superior court ordering release of said support lien on the basis that no debt exists or that the debt has been satisfied.

Sec. 4. RCW 65.08.070 and 1927 c 278 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

A conveyance of real property, when acknowledged by the person executing the same (the acknowledgment being certified as required by law), may be recorded in the office of the recording officer of the county where the property is situated. A child support lien may be recorded in the Washington state child support lien registry created in section 1 of this act. Every such conveyance not so recorded is void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee in good faith and for a valuable consideration from the same vendor, his heirs or devisees, of the same real property or any portion thereof whose conveyance is first duly recorded. An instrument is deemed recorded the minute it is filed for record.