| (a) General
Rule. - The appropriate authorities of each State -
(1) shall
enforce according to its terms a child support order
made
consistently with
this section by a court of another State;
and
(2) shall
not seek or make a modification of such an order
except in
accordance
with subsections (e), (f), and (i).
(b)
Definitions. - In
this section:
''child''
means -
(A) a person under 18 years of age; and
(B) a person 18 or more years of age with respect to whom a
child support
order has been issued pursuant to the laws of a
State.
''child's
State'' means the State in which a child resides.
''child's
home State'' means the State in which a child lived
with a
parent or a
person acting as parent for at least 6
consecutive months
immediately preceding the time of filing of a
petition
or comparable
pleading for support and, if a child is
less than
6 months
old, the State in which the child lived from
birth
with any of them.
A period of temporary absence of any of
them is
counted as
part of the 6-month period.
''child
support'' means a payment of money, continuing support,
or
arrearages or the
provision of a benefit (including payment of
health
insurance, child
care, and educational expenses) for the
support
of a child.
''child
support order'' -
(A) means a judgment, decree, or order of a court requiring
the payment
of child support in periodic amounts or in a lump
sum; and
(B) includes -
(i) a permanent or temporary order; and
(ii) an initial order or a modification of an order.
''contestant''
means -
(A) a person (including a parent) who -
(i) claims a right to receive child support;
(ii) is a party to a proceeding that may result in the
issuance of a child support order; or
(iii) is under a child support order; and
(B) a State or political subdivision of a State to which the
right to
obtain child
support has been assigned.
''court''
means a court
or administrative agency of a State
that is
authorized
by State law to establish the amount of child
support
payable by
a contestant or make a modification of a child
support
order.
''modification''
means a change in a child support order that
affects
the amount,
scope, or duration of the order and modifies,
replaces,
supersedes,
or otherwise is made subsequent to the
child
support order.
''State''
means a State of the United States, the District of
Columbia,
the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico, the territories and
possessions of the
United States, and Indian country (as defined
in
section 1151 of
title 18).
(c)
Requirements of
Child Support Orders. - A child support order
made by a court of a
State is made
consistently with this section
if -
(1) a court
that makes the order, pursuant to the laws of the
State in
which the
court is located and subsections (e), (f), and
(g) -
(A) has subject matter jurisdiction to hear the matter and
enter such
an order; and
(B) has personal jurisdiction over the contestants; and
(2) reasonable
notice and opportunity to be heard is given to
the
contestants.
(d)
Continuing Jurisdiction.
- A court of a State that has made a
child support order
consistently
with this section has continuing,
exclusive
jurisdiction over the
order if the State is the child's
State or the
residence of any individual
contestant unless the
court of another
State, acting
in accordance with subsections (e)
and (f), has made a
modification
of the order.
(e)
Authority To Modify
Orders. - A court of a State may modify
a child support order
issued by a court
of another State if -
(1) the
court has jurisdiction to make such a child support
order
pursuant to subsection
(i); and
(2)(A) the
court of the other State no longer has continuing,
exclusive
jurisdiction
of the child support order because that
State no
longer is
the child's State or the residence of any
individual contestant;
or
(B) each
individual contestant has filed written consent with
the State
of continuing,
exclusive jurisdiction for a court of
another
State to modify
the order and assume continuing,
exclusive
jurisdiction
over the order.
(f)
Recognition of Child
Support Orders. - If 1 or more child
support orders have
been issued
with regard to an obligor and a
child, a court shall
apply the
following rules in determining which
order to recognize
for purposes
of continuing, exclusive
jurisdiction and
enforcement:
(1) If only
1 court has issued a child support order, the order
of that
court must
be recognized.
(2) If 2
or more courts have issued child support orders for
the same
obligor and
child, and only 1 of the courts would have
continuing, exclusive
jurisdiction under this section, the order
of that
court must
be recognized.
(3) If 2
or more courts have issued child support orders for
the same
obligor and
child, and more than 1 of the courts would
have
continuing, exclusive
jurisdiction under this section, an
order
issued by a court
in the current home State of the child
must be
recognized,
but if an order has not been issued in the
current
home State
of the child, the order most recently issued
must be
recognized.
(4) If 2
or more courts have issued child support orders for
the same
obligor and
child, and none of the courts would have
continuing, exclusive
jurisdiction under this section, a court
having
jurisdiction
over the parties shall issue a child support
order,
which must be
recognized.
(5) The
court that has issued an order recognized under this
subsection is the court
having continuing, exclusive jurisdiction
under
subsection (d).
(g)
Enforcement of Modified
Orders. - A court of a State that no
longer has
continuing, exclusive
jurisdiction of a child support
order may enforce the
order with
respect to nonmodifiable
obligations and
unsatisfied obligations
that accrued before the
date on which a
modification of
the order is made under
subsections (e) and
(f).
(h)
Choice of Law. -
(1) In general.
- In a proceeding to establish, modify, or
enforce a
child support
order, the forum State's law shall apply
except as
provided
in paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) Law
of state of issuance of order. - In interpreting a
child
support order
including the duration of current payments
and other
obligations
of support, a court shall apply the law of
the State
of the court
that issued the order.
(3) Period
of limitation. - In an action to enforce arrears
under a
child support
order, a court shall apply the statute of
limitation of the forum
State or the State of the court that
issued
the order, whichever
statute provides the longer period of
limitation.
(i)
Registration for
Modification. - If there is no individual
contestant or child
residing in
the issuing State, the party or
support enforcement
agency seeking
to modify, or to modify and
enforce, a child
support order
issued in another State shall
register that order
in a State
with jurisdiction over the nonmovant
for the purpose of
modification.
-SOURCE-
(Added Pub. L.
103-383, Sec. 3(a),
Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 4064;
amended Pub. L.
104-193, title
III, Sec. 322, Aug. 22, 1996, 110
Stat. 2221; Pub. L.
105-33, title
V, Sec. 5554, Aug. 5, 1997, 111
Stat. 636.)
-MISC1-
AMENDMENTS
1997 -
Subsec. (f)(4).
Pub. L. 105-33, Sec. 5554(1), substituted
''a court having
jurisdiction over
the parties shall issue a child
support order, which
must be recognized.''
for ''a court may issue
a child support
order, which must
be recognized.''
Subsec. (f)(5). Pub.
L. 105-33, Sec. 5554(2), inserted ''under
subsection (d)''
after ''jurisdiction''.
1996 -
Subsec. (a)(2).
Pub. L. 104-193, Sec. 322(1), substituted
''subsections (e),
(f), and (i)''
for ''subsection (e)''.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(2), inserted par. defining
''child's home
State''.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(3), inserted ''by a court
of a State'' before
''is made''
in introductory provisions.
Subsec. (c)(1). Pub.
L. 104-193, Sec. 322(4), inserted ''and
subsections (e), (f),
and (g)''
after ''located''.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(5), inserted
''individual'' before
''contestant''
and substituted ''subsections
(e) and (f)'' for
''subsection
(e)''.
Subsec. (e). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(6), substituted ''modify a
child support order
issued'' for
''make a modification of a child
support order with
respect to a
child that is made'' in
introductory
provisions.
Subsec. (e)(1). Pub.
L. 104-193, Sec. 322(7), inserted ''pursuant
to subsection (i)''
after ''order''.
Subsec. (e)(2). Pub.
L. 104-193, Sec. 322(8), inserted
''individual'' before
''contestant''
in subpars. (A) and (B) and
substituted ''with
the State of
continuing, exclusive jurisdiction
for a court of
another State to
modify the order and assume'' for
''to that court's
making the modification
and assuming'' in subpar.
(B).
Subsec. (f). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(10), added subsec. (f).
Former subsec. (f)
redesignated
(g).
Subsec. (g). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(11), substituted
''Modified'' for
''Prior'' in heading
and ''subsections (e) and
(f)'' for
''subsection (e)'' in
text.
Pub.
L. 104-193, Sec.
322(9), redesignated subsec. (f) as (g).
Former subsec. (g)
redesignated
(h).
Subsec. (h). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(12), inserted ''including
the duration of
current payments
and other obligations of support''
before comma in par.
(2) and ''arrears
under'' after ''enforce'' in
par. (3).
Pub.
L. 104-193, Sec.
322(9), redesignated subsec. (g) as (h).
Subsec. (i). Pub. L.
104-193, Sec. 322(13), added subsec. (i).
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1997 AMENDMENT
Amendment by
Pub. L. 105-33
effective as if included in
enactment of title
III of the Personal
Responsibility and Work
Opportunity
Reconciliation Act
of 1996, Pub. L. 104-193, see
section 5557 of Pub.
L. 105-33,
set out as a note under section
608 of Title 42, The
Public Health
and Welfare.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1996 AMENDMENT
For
effective date of
amendment by Pub. L. 104-193, see section
395(a)-(c) of Pub. L.
104-193,
set out as a note under section 654
of Title 42, The
Public Health
and Welfare.
CONGRESSIONAL
FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF
PURPOSE
Section 2 of Pub. L.
103-383 provided that:
''(a)
Findings. - The
Congress finds that -
''(1) there
is a large and growing number of child support cases
annually involving
disputes between parents who reside in different
States;
''(2) the
laws by which the courts of different jurisdictions determine
their authority
to establish child support orders are
not
uniform;
''(3) those
laws, along with the limits imposed by the Federal system on
the authority
of each State to take certain actions
outside
its own boundaries
-
''(A) encourage noncustodial parents to relocate outside the
States
where their children and the custodial parents reside to
avoid the
jurisdiction of the courts of such States, resulting
in an increase
in the amount of interstate travel and
communication
required to establish and collect on child
support
orders and a burden on custodial parents that is
expensive,
time consuming, and disruptive of occupations and
commercial
activity;
''(B) contribute to the pressing problem of relatively low
levels
of child support payments in interstate cases and to
inequities
in child support payments levels that are based
solely
on the noncustodial parent's choice of residence;
''(C) encourage a disregard of court orders resulting in
massive
arrearages nationwide;
''(D) allow noncustodial parents to avoid the payment of
regularly
scheduled child support payments for extensive
periods
of time, resulting in substantial hardship for the
children
for whom support is due and for their custodians; and
''(E) lead to the excessive relitigation of cases and to the
establishment
of conflicting orders by the courts of various
jurisdictions,
resulting in confusion, waste of judicial
resources,
disrespect for the courts, and a diminution of
public
confidence in the rule of law; and
''(4) among
the results of the conditions described in this
subsection are -
''(A) the failure of the courts of the States to give full
faith and
credit to the judicial proceedings of the other
States;
''(B) the deprivation of rights of liberty and property
without
due process of law;
''(C) burdens on commerce among the States; and
''(D) harm to the welfare of children and their parents and
other custodians.
''(b)
Statement of Policy.
- In view of the findings made in subsection (a), it is
necessary
to establish national standards under
which the
courts of the various
States shall determine their jurisdiction
to issue
a child support
order and the effect to be given by
each State
to child support
orders issued by the courts of
other States.
<>
''(c)
Purposes. - The
purposes of this Act (enacting this section and provisions
set
out as a note
under section 1 of this title) are
''(1) to
facilitate the enforcement of child support orders
among the
States;
''(2) to
discourage continuing interstate controversies over
child
support in the
interest of greater financial stability and
secure
family relationships
for the child; and
''(3) to
avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict among
State
courts in the
establishment of child support orders.''
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