The Arrears Audit: Turning a Decade of Missed Payments Into One Defensible Number

Enforcement runs on a number nobody can shake. The arrears audit — every ordered amount, every payment, every interest calculation — is the foundation document of your entire collection campaign.

What California Law Says

Arrears determinations rest on the order history and payment records, with interest computed installment by installment at 10 percent. DCSS audits carry official weight; private reconstructions from the order, the disbursement records, and your ledger support court determinations where agency records are incomplete.

How to Collect, Step by Step

1. Assemble the sources: every order and modification, state disbursement unit printouts, your own payment log.
2. Build the month-by-month table: ordered, paid, shortfall, interest start date.
3. Run the interest per installment — the kit calculator handles the staggered accrual.
4. Request the official DCSS audit and reconcile it against your reconstruction line by line.
5. Get disputed balances judicially determined; a court-confirmed arrears figure ends the argument permanently.

Common Questions

DCSS shows a lower balance than my records. Which wins?

Neither automatically — reconciliation finds the gaps, commonly missed direct payments or unrecorded ordered increases, and a court determination settles genuine conflicts.

He claims cash payments I never received. How is that resolved?

His burden, his problem — undocumented cash claims fail against your traceable ledger, which is why the payment-records habit wins twice.