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IV-D / Expedited Process for Child Support

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This information is copied from a handout titled Child Support A to Z: Introduction to IV-D Child Support. For the full handout, click here: 2025-01-09 Child Support Intro to IV-D

The IV-D / Expedited Process

The expedited process is a quick and accessible way to establish parentage and child support, and to review and enforce child support

How does an IV-D Child Support Case Open

A child support case can open in two ways.

  • Nonpublic Assistance Services – A person who is legally responsible for a child may request nonpublic assistance child support services. There is no application fee. There may be collection fees. Minn. Stat. §§ 518A.51 and 518A.53.
  • Public Assistance Services – Recipients assign their rights to child support when they receive certain forms of public assistance. Minn. Stat. § 256.741, Subd. 2

IV-D child support cases remain open until the applicant asks to close their case. A IV-D child support case cannot be closed if public assistance is open. Closing a IV-D child support case does not modify or end a child support obligation.

What are IV-D Child Support Services?

The services provided to establish parentage and to establish and enforce child support are commonly referred to as “IV-D services.” Nonpublic assistance and public assistance cases receive the same IV-D services.

What is included in IV-D Services?

  • Locating people and assets
  • Gathering information
  • Establishing parentage
  • Establishing and enforcing child support (basic, child care, medical)
  • Reviewing and moving to modify child support orders
  • Collecting, accounting for, and distributing child support
  • Genetic testing for parentage cases
  • Working with other States, Countries and Native American Tribes to accomplish all of the above

What is the County’s Role in Minnesota?

Child support offices provide case management services. County attorney offices provide legal services for county child support offices and represent the counties in court. County attorneys do not represent the parties or the child and cannot provide legal advice to them.

Counties initiate child support establishment and parentage actions and may intervene in existing family court actions. When a child support order is established, counties collect, distribute and account for payments, use both administrative and judicial enforcement remedies, and seek modifications of child support orders.

If your client has an open IV-D child support case, notify the county right away. Send any stipulation to the county attorney before your client signs.

Prohibited Issues in IV-D cases 

If the case is heard in the Expedited Child Support Process, the jurisdiction of the Child Support Magistrate cannot be expanded even if the parties are in full agreement of the prohibited issue. Child Support Magistrates have limited jurisdiction over the establishment, enforcement and modification of child support. Minn. R. Gen. Prac. 353 spells out what issues are mandated to be heard, may be heard, and cannot be heard in the Expedited Process. Prohibited issues will be referred to the District Court. The Child Support Magistrate may rule on what they have jurisdiction over and refer the prohibited issues or refer all issues. Rule 353.03 lists the issues that cannot be heard in the Expedited Process, including:

  • Property issues;
  • Attorney’s fees;
  • Tuition;
  • Child support for cases that do not have an open IV-D cases;
  • Constitutional issues.
  • Initiating dissolutions of marriage or legal separations
  • Establishing, enforcing, or modifying spousal maintenance
    • Spousal maintenance can be enforced, but not established or modified, if child support is being enforced.
  • Establishing or modifying custody and parenting time
    • Custody and parenting time can be established, but not enforced or modified, in a parentage establishment case if the parties agree to the terms. If there is not an agreement, the issues will be referred to the District Court.

How to know if there is an open IV-D child support case?

Ask your client whether they have an open IV-D child support case. You might have to ask some specific questions as it is not always obvious to the client:

  • Do you receive MFIP, MA, or child care assistance, or is your child in foster care?
  • Do you receive child support payments from the other parent through the state?
  • Have you ever been to court about child support?
  • Do you have a child support order (paying or receiving)?

When in doubt, call the county where your client lives. Provide a certificate of representation or consent so they can talk to you.

If your client has an open IV-D child support case, involve the county right away.

Counties are not automatically notified of legal actions involving child support in District Court. Parties must notify the county (the public authority) of all proceedings for dissolution of marriage, legal separation, determination of parentage, or custody of a child, if either party receives public assistance or applies for it after the action is commenced. After notice is provided to the county, the county may waive its right to be involved in particular hearings. Even when that happens, always be sure to serve the county with anything that affects child support (including custody and parenting time changes). The county may ask that the child support order to be vacated or modified if the county is not given an opportunity to review a stipulation. Minn. Stat. § 518A.45.

Child Support Referred to the Expedited Process

If you are in a District Court hearing where the Judge decides to refer the child support cases to the Expedited process, please ask that the order contain a statement about the issues being referred, a description of additional information needed, and the date, time and location of the hearing. Minn. R. Gen Prac. 353.02, Subd. 2. If there is a referral does not have a hearing date, the case may be lost and the hearing may not happen.

A District Court referral to the Expedited Process does not open a IV-D child support case. One of the parties must apply for IV-D child support services before the case can be heard in the Expedited Process.

Things for attorneys to keep in mind about the Expedited Process:

  • Certificate of Representation – File your certificate of representation, and remember to withdraw when you no longer represent the client.
  • Quick Orders – CSMs must issue decisions within 30 days of the close of the record; District Court Judges and Referees generally have longer to issue orders.
  • Relaxed Rules of Evidence – The Expedited Process is a court designed for self-represented litigants. The rules of evidence are relaxed and there are some other differences than what happens in District Court. Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 364.10
    • The CSM may admit any evidence that is relevant to the matter before the CSM. Legal privileges apply.
    • Unless a party objects and the objection is sustained, all evidence received during the hearing, evidence submitted timely after the hearing based on CSM approval, testimony, affidavits and anything else that is related to the issue of child support will be considered.
    • Financial documents prepared by the child support officer are admissible without laying foundation.
    • Copies of documents or excerpts of documents instead of originals may be received unless the CSM requires the original or full document.
    • CSMs may take judicial notice of facts that “are not subject to reasonable dispute” on the record to allow the parties to contest the facts.
  • Testimony – There is no need to request permission to present oral testimony as would be the case in district court proceedings. Minn. R. Gen. Prac. 364 and 372. CSMs may ask questions during the hearing to “ensure sufficient evidence to make required findings.” Minn. R. Gen. Prac. 364.13
  • Discovery – Allowable discovery is specifically enumerated and differs from District Court rules (i.e. depositions, interrogatories, requests for production of documents and requests for admissions require approval of the CSM). Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 361.02, Subds. 1 and 3. If a party fails to comply with a discovery request for items that are requested without the requirement of CSM approval, the party may serve and file a motion. The other party may serve and file a response within 7 days. There is no hearing. Examples of CSM discovery orders include the exchange of information, ordering other discovery, setting or continuing a hearing, or denying the motion. Effective 11/22/23, parties must file a motion to get a subpoena for a witness or production of documents
  • Filing deadlines – Expedited Process filing and response timelines are found in Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 372. Some timelines are different from motion practice in other family court proceedings.
  • Review and Appeal – In the Expedited Process, a party may choose to appeal directly to the Court of Appeals or seek a Motion for Review either before the CSM who heard the case or a District Court Judge. A party also may request a Motion to Correct Clerical Mistakes with a Motion for Review. Minn. R. Gen. Prac. 377. The order granting
  • Automatic COLA – IV-D child support cases are subject to automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) every two years. A notice is sent automatically in late March or early April and parties must contest COLA by timely filing a motion before May 1st, which is the effective date of the COLA. When there is a contest, the COLA is stayed until the CSM files their decision granting the COLA in whole or in part or denying the COLA.
  • Effective Dates – Generally, the effective date of a child support order is the date the motion was served. Exceptions include:
    • The initiation of a parentage or establishment of child support action may include a request for past support for up to two years prior to the initiation of the case. Minn. Stat. § 256.87, Subds. 1 and 55
    • Where a legal guardian has custody of the child(ren) with the consent of the parents or by court order
    • A decrease in child care is the only child support obligation that can be retroactively modified. Minn. Stat. § 518A.39, Subd. 7
  • Enforcement Remedies – Enforcement remedies can include civil contempt, driver’s license suspension and Financial Institution Data Match. There are different thresholds for the different enforcement remedies (i.e. an obligor must be in arrears in an amount equal to three months of child support before a driver’s license suspension enforcement action may commence).

Preparing for the hearing

  • Gather all documents relevant to the hearing (i.e. paycheck stubs, tax documents, proof of child care expenses, information about health care coverage, information about public assistance, list of monthly expenses).
  • Reach out to the other party and the county to discuss an agreement before the hearing. If this is not possible, sometimes CSMs will allow parties to use some limited hearing time for settlement negotiations in a Zoom breakout room.
  • It may be helpful to talk to their child support case worker prior to the hearing to understand the recommendations of the county.
  • Prepare clients to testify regarding their employment, public assistance (if any), their income, living expenses and parenting time.
  • Be prepared for the CSM to ask additional questions.
  • Any proposed exhibits needs to be served on the other party and proposed exhibits must be submit in MNDES.
  • The court may leave the record open for additional or updated documentation.

Expedited Process Child Support Filing Codes Index:

Handout-Expedited-Process-Child-Support-Filing-Codes-Index

Third District CSM Magistrate (expedited) hearings – Per 3rd district newsletter on 4/1/25,  ALL requests for continuance in CSM Magistrate hearings should be filed as “request for continuance” NEVER “request for continuance needed judicial approval”.

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