24-7-121 - Child support payment records. - Tennessee Statutes

24-7-121. Child support payment records.

(a)  (1)  (A)  The department of human services child support payment records shall be the official records for all payments which have been appropriately sent to the central collection and distribution unit pursuant to § 36-5-116.

          (B)  Notwithstanding any other law or rule of evidence to the contrary, a computer printout or copy, by telecopier facsimile or otherwise, an electronic mail copy or copy obtained by way of Internet access, of the child support payment screen which is generated from the Tennessee child support enforcement system (TCSES) operated by the department or its contractors shall be admitted into evidence as a non-hearsay, self-authenticating document in all judicial and administrative proceedings without the need for certification by a records custodian.

     (2)  No conclusive presumption of correctness shall attach to such record following admission, but the record shall constitute prima facie evidence of its correctness and shall be subject to rebuttal by alternative or conflicting documentary evidence of payment of the support obligation.

(b)  (1)  In order to implement the provisions of subsection (a) and to provide access to any other requesting persons, the department shall develop child support program policies and procedures which allow the department, through its staff or its contractors, to provide copies of payment information from the TCSES child support payments screens utilized by the department or its contractors to any person requesting such information. The department may provide such information in any suitable manner which provides the information necessary for judicial or administrative proceedings under subsection (a) including, but not limited to, the transmission of the hard-copy prints of the TCSES child support payment screens by facsimile or by transmission by any electronic means, and may, specifically, make such payment records available through electronic mail of the record, or by Internet access to information contained on TCSES. The department may establish a reasonable fee for such services.

     (2)  Any individual who knowingly alters, or who assists any individual to alter, any information obtained from the department pursuant to this section and such altered information is utilized for the purposes of establishing, enforcing, or modifying child or spousal support or defending such actions, or for the purposes of defending or prosecuting any contempt action involving child or spousal support, commits a Class A misdemeanor.

(c)  For purposes of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), in title 36, chapter 5, parts 21-29, the department or its contractors shall be considered custodians of the support records subject to such act.

(d)  In the event that any testimony regarding payment records is required by any state officer, employee or contractor of the department in any child support case, no personal appearance shall be required and such officer, employee or contractor of the department shall have the option to appear in person or to testify by telephonic or other suitable electronic means or by affidavit. In no event shall any state officer, employee or contractor of the department be required to testify in any proceeding unless such officer, employee or contractor of the department has personal knowledge of the facts underlying such payment record.

[Acts 2000, ch. 922, § 2.]