CASE MANAGEMENT

02/14/00 Revised 03/07/23 Training Completed 03/21/23 Last Reviewed 02/04/25

Statutory Authority

U.C.A. 15-1-4 Interest on judgment states:

“(1) As used in this section, "federal postjudgment interest rate" means the interest rate established for the federal court system under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1961, as amended.

(2)(a) Except as provided in Subsection (2)(b), a judgment rendered on a lawful contract shall conform to the contract and shall bear the interest agreed upon by the parties, which shall be specified in the judgment.

(b) A judgment rendered on a deferred deposit loan subject to Title 7, Chapter 23, Check Cashing and Deferred Deposit Lending Registration Act, shall bear interest at the rate imposed under Subsection (3)(a) on an amount not exceeding the sum of:

(i) the total of the principal balance of the deferred deposit loan;

(ii) interest at the rate imposed by the deferred deposit loan agreement for a period not exceeding 10 weeks as provided in Subsection 7-23-401(4);

(iii) costs;

(iv) attorney fees; and

(v) other amounts allowed by law and ordered by the court.

(3)(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, or as governed by Subsection (4), all other final civil and criminal judgments of the district court and justice court shall bear interest at the federal postjudgment interest rate as of January 1 of each year, plus 2%.

(b) The postjudgment interest rate in effect at the time of the judgment shall remain the interest rate for the duration of the judgment.

(d) Interest paid on state revenue shall be deposited in accordance with Section 63A-3-505.

(e) Interest paid on revenue to a county or municipality shall be paid to the general fund of the county or municipality.

(4) A judgment under $10,000 in an action regarding the purchase of goods and services shall bear interest from the date on which the district court or justice court enters the judgment at 10% plus the federal postjudgment interest rate in effect on January 1 of the year in which the judgment is entered.”

Although by law interest may accrue on a child support debt, and the obligation to pay interest is included in some child support orders and judgments taken by the Office of Recovery Services\Child Support Services (ORS\CSS), CSS is unable to calculate and collect interest until such time that interest may be calculated automatically by the ORS computer system (ORSIS). In October, 2003, CSS removed reference to interest in administrative notices and orders to avoid giving the impression that CSS calculates and collects interest.

Interest is not calculated on state’s arrears. Prosecuting attorneys on criminal non-support (CNS) cases will attempt to obtain a restitution order for the amount of arrears owed to both the custodial parent (CP) and the state. Interest owed on a criminal case will be calculated by the CNS attorney or paralegal.

Collecting Interest

CSS will collect interest if one or more of the conditions below are met.

1. The interest amount has been reduced to a specific lump-sum amount in a judicial order or judgment. Since CSS does not provide this service, the noncustodial parent (NCP) or the CP will need to pursue a separate legal action to obtain a judicial order or judgment for interest;

2. A Non-IV-A case is referred by CSS for civil action and the court requests a specific dollar interest amount; the CP or his/her private attorney provides the interest calculation to the court and the court reduces the interest amount to a specific sum-certain judgment in the judicial order;

3. On an incoming intergovernmental case, the IV-D agency in the initiating agency has calculated and provided ORS a specific interest amount. If the initiating agency provides ORS with interest calculations and updates to support the interest being enforced, adjust the case accounting records accordingly;

NOTE: If ORS is notified of an interest amount that has been adjudicated, add the interest to the case debt(s) and adjust the case accounting records accordingly.

The initiating state is responsible to provide annual notice or notice upon request of interest amounts charged on all cases being enforced by another state, if the order was issued by the state [45 CFR 303.7 (c)(7)]. For more information, refer to subsection Initiating State Responsibility below.

4. On an outgoing intergovernmental case, ORS will not add interest to the debt(s), unless the interest amount has been adjudicated. If the responding state notifies ORS that interest has been adjudicated, add the amount to the case debt(s) and adjust the accounting records accordingly; and/or,

5. A case is referred for criminal nonsupport (CNS) prosecution and the court issues a restitution order for child support and interest. The restitution order will replace the existing child support debts. Interest owed on a CNS case will be calculated by the CNS attorney or paralegal. The CNS agent is responsible to load the obligation and debt in ORSIS. For more information, refer to CS 844P-2 Criminal Nonsupport: Phases of CNS Cases and Procedures.

Currently CSS forgives interest that has accrued on IV-A debts. If interest has accrued on a Non-IV-A debt, the NCP owes the interest to the CP and must pay the interest directly to the CP (or through a private attorney or agent), unless CSS is collecting the interest based on a condition listed above, or the Non-IV-A CP agrees to waive the interest (on a judicial judgment only). See CS 803P-2 Electronic Reporting of Liens to Court, Enforcement, Intergovernmental, Satisfaction of Judgment-Lien for more information.

To satisfy a judicial judgment, ask the AGO to prepare a Judicial Satisfaction order which will contain the interest waiver language. The CP must sign the interest waiver portion of the satisfaction before it is filed. Obtain the CP’s authorization to waive the interest before referring the case to the AGO to request a satisfaction. If the CP does not agree to waive the interest, the CP will need to collect the interest on his/her own, and the judgment cannot be satisfied until the CP gives his/her authorization

CSS treats interest in child support cases (in-state and intergovernmental) as additional child support owed on the case. When loading child support and interest on ORSIS, combine the child support arrears and the interest amount into a single child support debt, so that the entire amount of principal and interest can be collected and distributed as child support.

Initiating State Responsibility

Pursuant to 45 CFR 303.7(c):

“. . . The initiating State IV-D agency must:

(7) Notify the responding agency at least annually, and upon request in an individual case, of interest charges, if any, owed on overdue support under an initiating State order being enforced in the responding jurisdiction . . . .”

If ORS/CSS is enforcing an order issued by another state at the request of that state (incoming intergovernmental case) and that state charges interest on unpaid child support, the initiating state is responsible to calculate the interest owed and provide annual notice to ORS/CSS, or upon request.

Because ORS/CSS does not charge interest, the notice requirements are not applicable to the office on outgoing intergovernmental cases at this time.