
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC667]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                       CHAPTER 7--SOCIAL SECURITY
 
 SUBCHAPTER IV--GRANTS TO STATES FOR AID AND SERVICES TO NEEDY FAMILIES 
              WITH CHILDREN AND FOR CHILD-WELFARE SERVICES
 
          Part D--Child Support and Establishment of Paternity
 
Sec. 667. State guidelines for child support awards


(a) Establishment of guidelines; method

    Each State, as a condition for having its State plan approved under 
this part, must establish guidelines for child support award amounts 
within the State. The guidelines may be established by law or by 
judicial or administrative action, and shall be reviewed at least once 
every 4 years to ensure that their application results in the 
determination of appropriate child support award amounts.

(b) Availability of guidelines; rebuttable presumption

    (1) The guidelines established pursuant to subsection (a) of this 
section shall be made available to all judges and other officials who 
have the power to determine child support awards within such State.
    (2) There shall be a rebuttable presumption, in any judicial or 
administrative proceeding for the award of child support, that the 
amount of the award which would result from the application of such 
guidelines is the correct amount of child support to be awarded. A 
written finding or specific finding on the record that the application 
of the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case, 
as determined under criteria established by the State, shall be 
sufficient to rebut the presumption in that case.

(c) Technical assistance to States; State to furnish Secretary with 
        copies

    The Secretary shall furnish technical assistance to the States for 
establishing the guidelines, and each State shall furnish the Secretary 
with copies of its guidelines.

(Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, title IV, Sec. 467, as added Pub. L. 98-378, 
Sec. 18(a), Aug. 16, 1984, 98 Stat. 1321; amended Pub. L. 100-485, title 
I, Sec. 103(a), (b), Oct. 13, 1988, 102 Stat. 2346.)


                               Amendments

    1988--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-485, Sec. 103(b), inserted ``, and 
shall be reviewed at least once every 4 years to ensure that their 
application results in the determination of appropriate child support 
award amounts'' before period at end.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100-485, Sec. 103(a), designated existing 
provisions as par. (1), struck out ``, but need not be binding upon such 
judges or other officials'' after ``within such State'', and added par. 
(2).


                    Effective Date of 1988 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 100-485 effective one year after Oct. 13, 1988, 
see section 103(f) of Pub. L. 100-485, set out as a note under section 
666 of this title.


                             Effective Date

    Section 18(b) of Pub. L. 98-378 provided that: ``The amendment made 
by subsection (a) [enacting this section] shall become effective on 
October 1, 1987.''


                      Study of Child-Rearing Costs

    Section 128 of Pub. L. 100-485 directed Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, by grant or contract, to conduct a study of patterns of 
expenditures on children in 2-parent families, in single-parent families 
following divorce or separation, and in single-parent families in which 
parents were never married, giving particular attention to the relative 
standards of living in households in which both parents and all of the 
children do not live together, and submit to Congress no later than 2 
years after Oct. 13, 1988, a full and complete report of results of such 
study, including recommendations for legislative, administrative, and 
other actions.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 666 of this title.
