Satisfaction of a money judgment for support shall be credited as follows:

(a) The money shall first be credited against the current month‘s support.

(b) Any remaining money shall next be credited against the principal amount of the judgment remaining unsatisfied. If the judgment is payable in installments, the remaining money shall be credited against the matured installments in the order in which they matured.

(c) Any remaining money shall be credited against the accrued interest that remains unsatisfied.

(d) In cases enforced pursuant to Part D (commencing with Section 651) of Subchapter 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code, if a lump-sum payment is collected from a support obligor who has money judgments for support owing to more than one family, effective September 1, 2006, all support collected shall be distributed pursuant to guidelines developed by the Department of Child Support Services.

(e) Support collections received between January 1, 2009, and April 30, 2020, inclusive, shall be distributed by the Department of Child Support Services as follows:

(1) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a), (b), and (c), a collection received as a result of a federal tax refund offset shall first be credited against the principal amount of past due support that has been assigned to the state pursuant to § 11477 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and federal law and then any interest due on that past due support, prior to the principal amount of any other past due support remaining unsatisfied and then any interest due on that past due support.

(2) The following shall be the order of distribution of child support collections through September 30, 2000, except for federal tax refund offset collections, for child support received for families and children who are former recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program benefits or former recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program benefits:

(A) The money shall first be credited against the current month’s support.

(B) Any remaining money shall next be credited against interest that accrued on arrearages owed to the family or children since leaving the AFDC program or the TANF program and then the arrearages.

(C) Any remaining money shall next be credited against interest that accrued on arrearages owed during the time the family or children received benefits under the AFDC program or the TANF program and then the arrearages.

(D) Any remaining money shall next be credited against interest that accrued on arrearages owed to the family or children prior to receiving benefits from the AFDC program or the TANF program and then the arrearages.

(f) Support collections received on or after May 1, 2020, shall be distributed by the Department of Child Support Services in accordance with Section 657(a)(2)(B) of Title 42 of the United States Code, as amended by Section 7301(b)(1) of the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, in such a manner as to distribute all support collections to families first to the maximum extent permitted by federal law.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 85, Sec. 1. (AB 135) Effective July 16, 2021.)