Serve papers on the state

The State has a right to know when someone files a court case that may involve child support if someone in the case (called a party to the case) gets public assistance now or got it in the past. 

Public assistance here means Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Tribal TANF, or Medicaid (Apple Health). You don't have to serve the state if the only assistance you get is food stamps or Working Connections Child Care.

In family law cases, the county prosecuting attorney’s office represents the State. In larger counties, the prosecuting attorney has a Child Support Division to handle these cases. To serve the State, you serve the prosecuting attorney's office. 

You must serve the State if you, the other parent, or your children get public assistance (or got it in the past), and either of these is true:

• You’ve started (filed) a court case that involves child support. Examples: A divorce with children; a petition to decide parentage; contempt for failure to pay child support.
• You’ve received papers starting a court case (a petition and summons). The petition includes a request to get or change child support. You’re responding to the petition. 

You must also serve the State if the prosecuting attorney files a Notice of Appearance in your case, even if you don't think anyone has gotten public assistance.

Generally, you should serve the State at the same time you must serve the other parties to your case. You must also follow these special rules:

At least 20 days before any hearing to finalize a Child Support Order, you must serve a copy of each of these on the State: 

• Notice of Hearing
• Your Child Support Worksheets
• Your proposed Child Support Order (“proposed” means the judge hasn’t signed it yet; you’re going to ask the judge to sign it)
• Any other of your proposed final orders, such as a proposed Parenting Plan or Final Divorce Order 

If you want temporary family law orders, you must also serve a copy of each of the following on the State office at least 8 days (if by mail) or 5 days (if hand-delivered) before any temporary family law orders hearing about child support. When counting days, don’t include weekends or Federal holidays.

Answer a few questions on Get Family and Safety Forms to get the right forms for your situation.

There are two ways to do it: 

• Have a copy of the papers hand-delivered to the Prosecuting Attorney's office for your county. The Prosecuting Attorney's Child Support Division may have a different address from the main office. You can call them to confirm their address and hours; or
• Mail that office the papers by certified mail, return receipt requested. You can call them to confirm their mailing address. 

You don’t need a special court order to serve the State by certified mail. 

Don’t serve or mail the papers yourself. Have a friend or relative who’s at least 18 years old do it. If your server hand delivers the State’s copy, have them bring your copy of the papers with them and ask the Prosecuting Attorney's front desk staff to put a “received” date-stamp on your copy.

After your server serves the papers on the State, have them fill out and sign the Proof of Mailing or Hand Delivery form. Check to be sure your server filled out the date of service, who the papers were delivered to, and how they were delivered. Also be sure the form lists all documents that were served. If your server leaves out a form, you won’t have proof it was served. 

File your Proof of Mailing or Hand Delivery with the court clerk. Bring a copy to your hearing to show the judge.

A lawyer from the State will probably contact you to let you know if they agree with your proposed orders.  

• If the State agrees with your proposed orders, one of their lawyers can sign the Child Support Order and final order. You can bring these signed papers to your final hearing or trial.
• If the State doesn’t agree with your proposed orders, they won’t sign them. Their lawyer will come to the hearing or trial to argue for the amount of child support they think is right. The State's lawyer may propose their own orders. 

If you don’t get the State’s signature, you must prove at the final hearing or trial that you served a Notice of Hearing or Notice of Trial on the right office by the deadline.

The judge may refuse to sign your orders if you didn’t give the State advance notice when it was required. You may have to reschedule your hearing to give you time to serve the State. 

If the judge does sign your orders without proper notice to the State, the State may come back later and ask a judge to vacate (cancel) the orders.