(750 ILCS 16/25)

Sec. 25. Payment of support to State Disbursement Unit; clerk of the court.

(a) As used in this Section, "order for support", "obligor", "obligee", and "payor" mean those terms as defined in the Income Withholding for Support Act.

(b) Each order for support entered or modified under Section 20 of this Act shall require that support payments be made to the State Disbursement Unit established under the Illinois Public Aid Code, under the following circumstances:

(1) when a party to the order is receiving child support enforcement services under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code; or

(2) when no party to the order is receiving child support enforcement services, but the support payments are made through income withholding.

(c) When no party to the order is receiving child support enforcement services, and payments are not being made through income withholding, the court shall order the obligor to make support payments to the clerk of the court.

(d) At any time, and notwithstanding the existence of an order directing payments to be made elsewhere, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services may provide notice to the obligor and, where applicable, to the obligor's payor:

(1) to make support payments to the State Disbursement Unit if:

(A) a party to the order for support is receiving child support enforcement services under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code; or

(B) no party to the order for support is receiving child support enforcement services under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code, but the support payments are made through income withholding; or

(2) to make support payments to the State Disbursement Unit of another state upon request of another state's Title IV-D child support enforcement agency, in accordance with the requirements of Title IV, Part D of the Social Security Act and regulations promulgated under that Part D.

The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall provide a copy of the notice to the obligee and to the clerk of the circuit court.

(e) If a State Disbursement Unit as specified by federal law has not been created in Illinois upon the effective date of this Act, then, until the creation of a State Disbursement Unit as specified by federal law, the following provisions regarding payment and disbursement of support payments shall control and the provisions in subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) shall be inoperative. Upon the creation of a State Disbursement Unit as specified by federal law, the payment and disbursement provisions of subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) shall control, and this subsection (e) shall be inoperative to the extent that it conflicts with those subsections.

(1) In cases in which an order for support is entered under Section 20 of this Act, the court shall order that maintenance and support payments be made to the clerk of the court for remittance to the person or agency entitled to receive the payments. However, the court in its discretion may direct otherwise where exceptional circumstances so warrant.

(2) The court shall direct that support payments be sent by the clerk to (i) the Department of Healthcare and Family Services if the person in whose behalf payments are made is receiving aid under Articles III, IV, or V of the Illinois Public Aid Code, or child support enforcement services under Article X of the Code, or (ii) to the local governmental unit responsible for the support of the person if he or she is a recipient under Article VI of the Code. In accordance with federal law and regulations, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services may continue to collect current maintenance payments or child support payments, or both, after those persons cease to receive public assistance and until termination of services under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code. The Department shall pay the net amount collected to those persons after deducting any costs incurred in making the collection or any collection fee from the amount of any recovery made. The order shall permit the Department of Healthcare and Family Services or the local governmental unit, as the case may be, to direct that support payments be made directly to the spouse, children, or both, or to some person or agency in their behalf, upon removal of the spouse or children from the public aid rolls or upon termination of services under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code; and upon such direction, the Department or the local governmental unit, as the case requires, shall give notice of such action to the court in writing or by electronic transmission.

(3) The clerk of the court shall establish and maintain current records of all moneys received and disbursed and of delinquencies and defaults in required payments. The court, by order or rule, shall make provision for the carrying out of these duties.

(4) (Blank).

(5) Payments under this Section to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services pursuant to the Child Support Enforcement Program established by Title IV-D of the Social Security Act shall be paid into the Child Support Enforcement Trust Fund. All other payments under this Section to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall be deposited in the Public Assistance Recoveries Trust Fund. Disbursements from these funds shall be as provided in the Illinois Public Aid Code. Payments received by a local governmental unit shall be deposited in that unit's General Assistance Fund.

(6) For those cases in which child support is payable to the clerk of the circuit court for transmittal to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (formerly Illinois Department of Public Aid) by order of court or upon notification by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (formerly Illinois Department of Public Aid), the clerk shall transmit all such payments, within 4 working days of receipt, to insure that funds are available for immediate distribution by the Department to the person or entity entitled thereto in accordance with standards of the Child Support Enforcement Program established under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. The clerk shall notify the Department of the date of receipt and amount thereof at the time of transmittal. Where the clerk has entered into an agreement of cooperation with the Department to record the terms of child support orders and payments made thereunder directly into the Department's automated data processing system, the clerk shall account for, transmit and otherwise distribute child support payments in accordance with such agreement in lieu of the requirements contained herein.

(Source: P.A. 94-88, eff. 1-1-06; 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)