Glossary
Accrue - to accumulate.
Agreed order – an order that has been agreed upon by all parties. Once the agreed order is signed by both parties and the attorneys involved, a judge will review it and, upon approval, sign it, allowing the parties to avoid a trial.
Arrears – child support that has not been paid.
Certify – to confirm as being true.
Clearinghouse – the branch of the Office of Child Support Enforcement that processes all child support payments for the State of Arkansas. Official name: Arkansas Child Support Clearinghouse. Also known as the State Disbursement Unit (SDU).
Contempt – willful disobedience of the authority of a court of law.
CP – custodial party
Disburse – the dispensing or paying out of a child support collection.
Emancipate – when a person is no longer considered a minor. In Arkansas, that is when a person turns 18 or marries; however, if the child is still attending high school, child support continues until the child graduates or the end of the school year after the child reaches 19 years of age, whichever is earlier, or otherwise emancipates under State law, unless the child support order states otherwise.
Enforcement remedy – an action taken to compel payment of child support.
Good cause – justification of a TEA or Medicaid recipient’s refusal to cooperate in child support enforcement activities.
Judgment – a court’s final determination of the rights and obligations of the parties in a case.
Modification – the act of changing a current court order.
NCP – noncustodial parent.
Non-obligated spouse – the current or ex-spouse of a noncustodial parent who filed taxes jointly with the noncustodial parent.
OCSE – Office of Child Support Enforcement
Overpayment – the amount of child support paid to a custodial parent that was either over the court-ordered child support amount or that was paid to him or her by mistake.
Putative – the alleged father of a child who was born outside of a marriage.
Rescind – to nullify.
SDU – see Clearinghouse.
