SECTIONS 17000 - California Statutes

FAMILY.CODE

SECTION 17000

17000. The definitions contained in this section, and definitions
applicable to Division 9 (commencing with Section 3500), shall govern
the construction of this division, unless the context requires
otherwise.
(a) "Child support debt" means the amount of money owed as child
support pursuant to a court order.
(b) "Child support order" means any court order for the payment of
a set or determinable amount of support by a parent or a court order
requiring a parent to provide for health insurance coverage. "Child
support order" includes any court order for spousal support or for
medical support to the extent these obligations are to be enforced by
a single state agency for child support under Title IV-D.
(c) "Court" means any superior court of this state and any court
or tribunal of another state that has jurisdiction to determine the
liability of persons for the support of another person.
(d) "Court order" means any judgment, decree, or order of any
court of this state that orders the payment of a set or determinable
amount of support by a parent. It does not include any order or
decree of any proceeding in which a court did not order support.
(e) "Department" means the Department of Child Support Services.
(f) "Dependent child" means any of the following:
(1) Any person under 18 years of age who is not emancipated,
self-supporting, married, or a member of the armed forces of the
United States.
(2) Any unmarried person who is at least 18 years of age but who
has not reached his or her 19th birthday, is not emancipated, and is
a student regularly attending high school or a program of vocational
or technical training designed to train that person for gainful
employment.
(g) "Director" means the Director of Child Support Services or his
or her authorized representative.
(h) "Local child support agency" means the new county department
of child support services created pursuant to this chapter and with
which the department has entered into a cooperative agreement, to
secure child and spousal support, medical support, and determine
paternity. Local child support agency includes county programs in
multiple counties that have been consolidated into a single agency
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 17304.
(i) "Parent" means the natural or adoptive father or mother of a
dependent child, and includes any person who has an enforceable
obligation to support a dependent child.
(j) "Public assistance" means any amount paid under the California
Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act (Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code), or any Medi-Cal benefit, for the
benefit of any dependent child or the caretaker of a child.
(k) "Public assistance debt" means any amount paid under the
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act, contained
in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9
of the Welfare and Institutions Code, for the benefit of any
dependent child or the caretaker of a child for whom the department
is authorized to seek recoupment under this division, subject to
applicable federal law.
(l) "Title IV-D" or "IV-D" means Part D of Title IV of the federal
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 651 et seq.).