Texas Labor Code Section 402.085 authorizes the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) to release claim information to governmental agencies/regulatory bodies in charge of locating absentee parents and/or enforcing child support obligations. Similarly, Texas Labor Code Section 408.203 states that workers’ compensation indemnity benefits are subject to liens for “court-ordered child support.”
In light of this clear legislative mandate, the state of Texas recently took an important step in helping collect past-due child support from delinquent parents.
Earlier this month, Rod Bordelon, the Texas Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation, signed a data sharing agreement with the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OSCE), the agency that “help[s] families by promoting family self-sufficiency and child well-being.”
Specifically, the agreement will allow the TDI-DWC to share information on the recipients of workers’ compensation benefits and the insurance carriers providing these benefits with the OSCE.
The OSCE will then use the information provided by the TDI-DWC to run a search in their extensive databases for delinquent parents and share any subsequent matches with the applicable state child support enforcement agencies (i.e., the Texas Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Division).
By signing the agreement with the OSCE, Texas officially became the 15th state to share its work comp information in the hope of enhancing child support enforcement.
Currently, the OSCE also receives work comp information from more than 465 commercial insurance companies. However, this information often fails to include work comp payments made by political subdivisions or other insurance carriers.
To learn more about nonpayment of child support or other post-divorce issues, contact an experienced and skilled legal professional.
Stay tuned for more from our Ft. Worth family law blog …
This post is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.
Related Resources:
Workers’ Compensation Data Assists in Child Support Enforcement (Texas Department of Insurance)
