Montana Code Annotated
Part 9. Centralized Child Support Registration and Payment
40-5-901. Definitions

40-5-901. Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply:
[(1) "Date of hire" means the first day that an employee starts work for which the employee is owed compensation by the payor of income.]
(2) "Department" means the department of public health and human services provided for in 2-15-2201.
[(3) (a) "Employee" means a person 18 years of age or older who performs labor in this state for an employer in this state for compensation and for whom the employer withholds federal or state tax liabilities from the employee's compensation.
(b) The term does not include an employee of a federal or state agency performing intelligence or counterintelligence functions if the head of the agency has determined that reporting pursuant to 40-5-922 with respect to the employee could endanger the safety of the employee or compromise an ongoing investigation or intelligence mission.]
(4) "Employer" means a person, firm, corporation, association, governmental entity, or labor organization that engages an employee for compensation and withholds federal or state tax liabilities from the employee's compensation.
(5) "Foreign support order" means a support order entered or last modified by a court or administrative agency of another state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, an Indian tribe, or a foreign jurisdiction.
(6) "Income withholding" generally means procedures for directing a payor to withhold from an obligor's income an amount sufficient to pay the obligor's support obligation and to defray arrears that are or may become due. Specifically:
(a) when preceded by "IV-D", income withholding means the procedures set out in Title 40, chapter 5, part 4; and
(b) when preceded by "non IV-D", income withholding means those cases in which an immediate income-withholding order is issued under 40-5-315 after January 1, 1994.
(7) "Interstate case" means a case referred to the department by, or from the department to, another IV-D agency.
[(8) "Labor organization" means a labor union, union local, union affiliate, or union hiring hall.]
(9) "Obligee" means the payee under a support order or a person or agency entitled to receive support payments.
(10) "Obligor" means a person who is obligated to pay support under a support order.
(11) "Payor" means:
(a) an employer or person engaged in a trade or business in this state who engages an employee for compensation; or
(b) when used in context with income withholding, means a person, firm, corporation, association, employer, trustee, political subdivision, state agency, or agent paying income to an obligor on a periodic basis.
[(12) "Rehire" means the first day, following a termination of employment, that an employee begins to again perform work or provide services for a payor. Termination of employment does not include temporary separations of less than 60 days from employment, such as unpaid medical leave, an unpaid leave of absence, or a temporary or seasonal layoff.]
(13) "Support order" means a judgment, decree, or order, whether temporary or final, that:
(a) is for the benefit of a child or a state agency;
(b) provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, or reimbursement;
(c) may include related costs and fees, interest, and similar other relief; and
(d) may include an order for maintenance or other support to be paid to a child's custodial parent.
(14) "IV-D" or "IV-D case" means a case in which the department is providing services under the provisions of Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and the regulations promulgated under that act. A IV-D case also includes a case in which the department is collecting a support debt assigned to this or another state or an Indian tribe under Title IV-D. (Bracketed language terminates on occurrence of contingency--sec. 1, Ch. 27, L. 1999; sec. 11, Ch. 203, L. 2013.)
History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 552, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 16, Ch. 579, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 15, Ch. 21, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 203, L. 2013.