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Public Assistance in Divorce / Custody Cases

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As part of initial pleadings in both custody and divorce cases, we MUST note whether any of the parties are receiving public assistance. 

Why does it matter if someone is on public assistance?

Minnesota law requires the petitioner to notify the public authority that they are filing a divorce or custody action when the public authority is paying assistance or is processing an application for assistance. The County wants to be part of the case because, eventually, they’ll want to make sure that child support is set appropriately and that they (the county) gets reimbursement from the parents for any public assistance the county is providing.

What qualifies as public assistance?

Public Assistance means MFIP (cash assistance, food assistance), Tribal TANF, General Assistance, MinnesotaCare,  Medical Assistance, or Child Care Assistance.

For more information on MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance and how to determine if you client is on one of these, see: Family Law – Medical Assistance (VA) vs. MinnesotaCare vs. MNSure and Public Assistance – K|H Law Wiki

How do I notify the County?

  1. Complete the document “Notice to Public Authority” which is a template located in MyCase.
    1. The form is very self-explanatory. The main thing to note would be that the notice itself will be addressed and sent to the County paying assistance, which is usually the County where the matter is venued, but could be different. For instance, maybe Petitioner and Respondent were living together in Blue Earth County and receiving child care assistance through Blue Earth County. However, Petitioner recently moved to Brown County and wants to file for divorce. The divorce could be venued (filed) in Brown County, but you would be notifying Blue Earth County of the public assistance, as they are the ones still paying for the assistance.
  2. Serve the “Notice to Public Authority” on the appropriate entity. Technically, these are supposed to be either hand delivered or mailed; however, I have found that email is generally the way most want these documents sent. Therefore, I’d suggest emailing the document to the child support office AND the county attorney (as they are technically attorney’s for the child support office).  It is possible you may get a response that they want it formally mailed, but I don’t think it’s likely. If you do, then you just mail it.
    1. To find the email address for the child support office, first try looking at our internal list: Notifying Public Authority – K|H Law Wiki
    2. If it’s not listed on that document, search the county’s website or just google it. If that doesn’t work, call the County’s Human Services and ask  if there is a general email address for Child Support. If you can’t find any email address at all, then mail it.
    3. To find the email address for the county attorney’s office, first try looking at our internal list: Notifying Public Authority – K|H Law Wiki
    4. If it’s not listed on that document, try looking at the county’s website or just googling it. If that doesn’t work, call the County Attorney’s office and ask if there’s a specific email address to send a Notification of Public Authority for a divorce/custody case.   If none of that works, then mail it.
  3. Draft an Affidavit of Mail or Affidavit of Email acknowledging you sent the document.
    1. You will file this with the initial pleadings

In any case where public assistance is involved, the County who is paying the public assistance will need to sign off of the MTA/Stipulation, indicating their approval as to child support.

Getting Public Authority approval of MTA/Stipulation

The County has an interest in child support when a party is on public assistance since the County wants to ensure that both parents are reimbursing the County for a portion of whatever public assistance the County is providing the children. Therefore, they want to review any agreements between the parties (MTA/Stipulations) and make sure that they (the County) is getting properly reimbursed for any public assistance payments.

You CANNOT reserve child support (specifically medical support) in cases where the family is on public assistance. You can either figure out the child support within the stipulation OR you can refer it to the expedited process.

How does the County approve the MTA / Stipulation?

Someone from the County Attorney’s office will have to sign the MTA/Stip in the specific area that is prepared for them. In our template, this is what the language looks like:

How do I get the County Attorney’s Office to sign the document?

  1. Make sure your MTA/Stip is approved by all parties and attorneys but DO NOT HAVE THEM SIGN IT YET.
  2. Find an email address for the County attorney. If the case is filed with the Court, you should be able to go on Odyssey/EFS and find an email address for someone who is signed up for eservice from the County Attorney’s Office – use that email address. Otherwise, see if you can find a general email address for the County Attorney’s Office by googling or looking at the County’s web page. You can always call the County Attorney’s office too and ask what attorney handles child support issues and get their email address.
  3. Email the MTA/Stip to the County Attorney, cc OPA/OPP, with language asking them to review and approve or let us know if there are any corrections or questions. Something like this:

Attached for your review and approval, please find our Stipulation and Order to Establish Custody, Parenting Time, and Child Support.  Please review the Stipulation and if it meets with your approval, please sign and complete the section for the County Attorney on p. 14.  If any changes are needed, please let me know.

OR

Please review the attached MTA as it involves Public Assistance through Le Sueur County. If approved, please sign and return to me to be filed with the Court. If there are any questions or changes that need to be made, please let us know. 

4. Wait to get the (hopefully) signed version back from the County Attorney. Set a task to follow up. Sometimes they aren’t prompt in responding. If you haven’t heard back in a week, follow up. If there are changes the County Attorney says have to be made, make sure that everyone is in agreement with those changes (OPA, OPP, client) before making them and sending back.

5. Once the document has been signed by the County Attorney, have the other parties (clients/attorneys) sign and file with the Court.

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