| (a) By accessing the Child Support Lien Network (CSLN)
database (http://www.childsupportliens.com), an insurer may determine
whether a claimant owes past-due child support.
(b) Secure access to the CSLN database will be approved
once the registration information and confidentiality statement have
been received and reviewed.
(c) Unless the insurer is participating in the CSLN
or the federal Office of the Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Automated
Data Match, the insurer must query the database prior to the payment
of the claim.
(1) For claims involving periodic payments after the
insurer has determined that benefits will be payable, the query must
be made only prior to the initial payment after the insurer has determined
that benefits are payable. No inquiry is required for each periodic
payment for 12 months thereafter. Examples of these types of claims
would include:
(A) periodic payments under a disability policy;
(B) workers' compensation policy;
(C) accident or health insurance policy involving periodic
payments; or
(D) payments to an annuitant for an annuitization including
systematic withdrawal.
(2) If additional information is required to be submitted
to continue periodic payments, this will not be considered a new claim
if the information is provided within 12 months of the initial determination.
(3) A claim involving different benefits or coverages
will be considered a new claim and the data base must be queried.
(d) Insurers are notified when a query of the database
results in:
(1) no match.
(2) a positive match, in which basic match data is
provided.
(3) multiple positive matches within one state, in
which the insurer is prompted to contact CSLN to identify the correct
obligor.
(4) multiple possible matches within more than one
state, in which the insurer is notified that CSLN will work with the
insurer and the affected states to determine the appropriate course
of action.
(e) When an interactive match occurs, CSLN notifies
the State child support enforcement agency of a match. CSLN or the
State child support agency will send a notice of child support lien
(or, in the case of workers' compensation claim, a withholding instrument)
to the insurer.
(f) As an alternative to CSLN, a life insurance company
can use OCSE's web-based application, the Debt Inquiry Service, to
submit information about life insurance beneficiaries who have filed
a claim prior to making a payout to determine if a beneficiary owes
past-due support. The information may be provided through individual
look-ups or by uploading a single file containing information about
multiple individuals. The information provided by the life insurance
companies is compared with individuals who owe past-due child support.
If there is a match, the life insurance company receives the name
of the State(s) where the individual owes past-due support and contact
information for that State. If the match identifies an individual
subject to a child support order being enforced by the Child Support
Division (CSD), the life insurance company may either contact the
CSD or await notice from the CSD concerning the match; however, no
payout will be made to the claimant unless authorized by the CSD.
(g) Apart from life insurance claims, the OCSE Debt
Inquiry Services portal does not provide enough information to satisfy
the insurance data match requirements under this subchapter.
|
| Source Note: The provisions of this §55.604 adopted to be effective June 10, 2003, 28 TexReg 4409; amended to be effective March 5, 2008, 33 TexReg 1762; amended to be effective March 16, 2010, 35 TexReg 2153; amended to be effective December 2, 2013, 38 TexReg 8639; amended to be effective May 12, 2022, 47 TexReg 2727 |
