Insurance companies in California must work with the Department of Child Support Services to report claims from people who owe overdue child support. If a claim involves economic benefits over $1,000, like life insurance or disability payments, insurers must notify the Department if the recipient owes child support. There are exceptions, such as payments for medical expenses or claims after a state emergency. Additionally, insurers can withhold up to 50% of disability payments for past-due child support but only after notifying the Department and receiving a lien or withholding order. Insurers are not required to act if they receive the notice after they've already paid the claim. This law also applies to fraternal benefit societies. Cooperation with the Department is encouraged but can be done voluntarily.

This law provides protection to insurance companies, their directors, agents, and employees, as well as insured individuals and authorized reporting organizations. If they act in good faith by releasing information, withholding payments, or making disbursements based on the latest child support information from the Department of Child Support Services as per Section 13550, they comply with the law and are protected from any legal claims or liabilities from the claimant or other parties regarding the payment.

This law section explains how data gathered under it is strictly for finding people who owe overdue child support. If the data shows no connection between a claimant and a child support debtor, the information must be destroyed immediately. Insurers handling this data must follow all state and federal privacy laws. Any data from insurers to the Department of Child Support Services is confidential and strictly for collecting overdue child support. Insurers can't use the data for other reasons, unless it's part of a child support lien or income withholding order. However, non-personal, summary data can be shared by the Department.

This law requires insurers to check if a person filing a claim owes past-due child support before paying out the claim. Insurers can use a central reporting organization to handle this process. If they don't use such an organization, they must manually check for child support debts before making the payment. For ongoing payments, this check is required before the first payment and annually afterward, or they can notify the Department of Child Support Services. If a central reporting organization finds a claimant with overdue child support, it must inform the Department of Child Support Services, which will take necessary actions according to related laws.

This law defines a 'central reporting organization' as a third-party service that helps automate the process of identifying claims or offers ways to look up claims interactively.