If a family was previously on welfare, often there are support arrears owed to the family and arrears owed to welfare. In such cases, PACSES distributes arrears payments to the family first. (Note: DPW arrears accrue when a payee of a support action is a welfare recipient. This happens because DPW requires welfare recipients to assign their child support to DPW as a condition of receiving welfare benefits. When the family goes off public assistance, any arrears owed to DPW remain payable to DPW.)