Entering Child Support Expenses Data

Entering Child Support Expense Data in Support Expense Tab

This page is enabled when a Yes answer is given to the Support Expense question in the Income and Expenses Q and A Navigator.

Important: Always set any income as Garnished No in the Income Screens for Child Support Expenses.

Support Expense Tab

This tab is used to enter information about legally obligated support paid by a household member for or to another person who is a non-household member.

Warning: If the child support expense is to be used in the calculation of eligibility and benefit amount as a prospective expense, the Prospective Expense tab must be completed or the expenses will not be used in the EBC process.

This page can also be used to indicate whether the expense is allowable for SNAP. A separate allowable expense amount is allowed for each individual expense record created. EBC will use this information to calculate the support expense deduction.

Entering Support Expenses

  1. Access the Support Expense page. The Expense tab is selected by default.
  2. select the household member, who pays the expense from the Household Members list
  3. for Type, select an expense type from the following dropdown list:

    1. Note: Child support is the only allowable expense for SNAP.

  4. For Frequency, select the frequency of payment for the expense from the dropdown list
  5. for Allowable cash, if the expense is allowable for the cash program, select Yes. Otherwise, select no. The Allowable Cash radio buttons will be greyed out if it is a SNAP only case
  6. for allowable FS, if the expense is allowable for SNAP, select yes, otherwise, select no View/HideView/Hide

    Allowable Child Support Expense

  7. Period is a view only field that defaults to the frequency of payment period you selected in the frequency field.

    1. Warning: If you change information in the frequency field and click Save, the Period list rebuilds and all existing selections/entries in the list are removed. You must then reenter the expense amounts in the expense amount field.

  8. for Expense Amount, enter the dollar amount of the expense for the selected household member

    1. Important: BEACON adds a decimal point only for whole dollar amounts (if $40 is entered, BEACON adds the decimal point and it will show as $40.00). Add a decimal point when entering expenses that are not a whole dollar amount. ExampleExampleIf a weekly payment of $40.50 is made and you enter it in BEACON as 4050 BEACON will add a decimal point and make the amount $4050.00. Insert a decimal point manually ($40 + decimal point + 50) to capture the correct amount of $40.50. 

  9. for Entered, the system defaults to the date when the expense information was entered or the date it was changed
  10. Prospect the expense by clicking calculate on the Prospective Expense Tab. Click save, to save the record. 

    1. Note: When saving the record a BEACON prompt will state that a prospective calculation is required. If you select Yes you will be able to create a prospective expense. If you select No you will be able to exit the page, without creating a prospective amount, and continue with the workflow but the page will be set to re-edit (a pencil icon will appear).

  11. Start entering information for a new record immediately after saving the prior record by pressing the clear button and following steps 2-10 to add more expenses for other household members

    1. Note: Remember it is important, for demographic purposes, to enter the expenses for each household member who pays the expense.

  12. to save the information and go to the next page click Next, or
  13. to exit the page and the workflow, click Finish
  14. to continue entering dependent care information see the Prospective Tab

Prospective Expense Tab

This tab is used to calculate the monthly prospective child support expense amounts.

Add Information in the Support Expense Prospective Tab

  1. once the expense tab information has been entered, click on the Prospective tab to calculate the monthly prospective amount
  2. for Start, the start date for the prospective amount is defaulted to the current date and cannot be changed
  3. to select one or more expense amount records to be used in the calculation of the monthly prospective amount, check the Prospective Averaging checkbox next to each record
  4. to calculate the monthly prospective amount, click Calculate. The calculated amount will display in the Monthly Prospective Amount field View/HideView/Hide

    1. Note: In an existing monthly prospective amount record, if you select the wrong amount click the Refresh button and revisit steps 3-4.

    Monthly Prospective Amount

  5. click Save, to save the record
  6. start entering information for a new record immediately after saving the prior record by following steps 1-6 to add more expenses for other members
  7. click Next to save your entries or changes and go to the next page in the workflow, or to exit the page and the workflow, click Finish

Update a Support Expense Record

  1. select a client from the Household Members list and select the record to be updated from the select list
  2. update all relevant data, following steps 3-14 of Entering Support Expenses

End or Delete a Support Expense Record

  1. to delete, select the child support expense record to be deleted from the appropriate household member, and click Delete

    1. Important: Only records that have not been saved or used in a calculation can be deleted. If the record has been saved or used in a calculation you must end the record (see end a record below).

  2. to end, select the record to be end dated and click End.

    1. Important: When End is selected, a confirmation box displays. You can set a new end date by clicking the calendar icon and electing a date or you may accept the default date. Verify the date is correct. If not, change the date. If you wish to cancel out the end date procedure, click cancel. To view an end dated record click the History icon.

  3. click OK to confirm the end date
  4. click Save to save the end dated record to BEACON
  5. click Next to save your entries or changes and go to the nest page in the workflow or
  6. click Finish to save your entries or changes and to exit the page and the workflow

Note: 

The Verification on the Fly Icon is available on all workflow pages. Click on the Verification on the Fly icon to enable it (a blue check mark will appear). You will be able to verify any new or changed item on this page without leaving the page. To turn off the Verification on the Fly, click on the icon again (the blue check mark will no longer appear). If the Verification on the Fly icon is not enabled you will have to visit the Verification tab to record receipt of a verification.
The Case Notes icon is available on all the workflow pages. The Case Notes icon can be used to make notes, concerning the page, actions taken or actions to be taken, for anyone visiting the page. The Case Notes can only be viewed on the Narrative tab and not on the page itself.
The History icon is also available on all the workflow pages. The History icon displays a historical record of past EBC transactions and the date entered, from most recent action to the first application.

Last Update:  June 13, 2019