SB 23-173

Senate Bill 23-173, which has been signed into law in Colorado, aims to improve child support laws by requiring parents to share health insurance information and set a timeframe for reimbursing extraordinary medical expenses. It also mandates that courts inform parents about their rights when setting or changing child support orders and imposes fines on employers who fail to comply with income withholding orders for child support. Additionally, the bill updates how maintenance payments are calculated and changes rules regarding retroactive support and funeral costs. Different parts of this law will go into effect at various times between June 2023 and July 2024. This legislation affects parents involved in child support disputes and employers who handle income withholding orders.

Official Summary

The act addresses recommendations from the state child support commission (commission), including the following: Requires that parents share a child's health insurance coverage information with each other; Provides a time frame for parents to seek reimbursement for extraordinary medical expenses, including mental health expenses; Requires a court to provide a verbal and written advisement to parents and caretakers and information to parents about child support law when the court enters or modifies a child support order; Requires a $100 civil infraction fine for the issuance of a fraudulent income withholding order and authorizes a court to issue a judgment against an employer that willfully refuses to comply with an income withholding order for child support; Excludes funeral or burial expenses from life insurance settlements relating to past-due child support and requires burial costs to be covered; Changes the income adjustment for maintenance to reflect existing maintenance calculation and accounts for tax-deductibility for some maintenance payments; Changes the survivability of an administrative process action to include retroactive support, unpaid support, and monthly support owed to the nonparent caretaker; Enables a court to order retroactive support through the month the child support obligation begins and provide continuity of retroactive support for orders that have future commencement dates; Modifies the number of hours parents are expected to work for the imputation of income to 32 hours a week and 50 weeks a year and includes transportation as a barrier the court must consider if imputation of income is appropriate; Requires appointment of 2 parent obligors and 2 parent obligees to the commission; and Requires the commission, as part of its review, to evaluate its internal policies and efficiency. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE June 2, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE August 1, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE September 1, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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