Handling Interstate Collection of Spousal And Child Support
Because alimony and child support obligations are the result of state court orders and the orders are most often enforced by state and county agencies, enforcing such orders across state lines has been a long-standing problem. The bureaucratic red-tape involved in enforcing a California child support order, for example, after the child and his mother move to Mississippi was often nearly fatal to attempts to collect the money owed.
To deal with this issue, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws created the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA) in 1950. This Act was designed to improve upon the Uniform Desertion and Non-Support Act of 1910 by allowing criminal and civil enforcement of support orders across state lines.
The idea was to enable parties to initiate legal action in their home state and the responding state would decide if the obligor (the person owing the money) actually had a duty to provide support. If so, the responding state would extradite the obligor back to the initiating state.
The problem with URESA, however, was that the responding state had only the evidence presented by the obligor himself. That is, when the ex-wife or mother initiated proceedings, she was not a party to the court hearings that took place in the responding state. As a result, the responding state often found in favor of the obligor, thus nullifying the intention of URESA.
In 1958, the Commission amended URESA and the Act became the Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (RURESA). This Act improved upon URESA by allowing claimants to take support orders that were issued in one state and register them in other states so that if a husband or father fled to another jurisdiction, the order was still enforceable. In addition, the claimant had the opportunity to present her case to the responding court so that the court had both sides of the story before issuing a ruling.
This created a new problem, however, since each state has the ability to modify and enforce the order within the constraints of their own laws. And because the states differ in guidelines governing support issues, it became possible to have multiple orders in various states, each separate and enforceable on their own.
In 1992, the Commission drafted the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) which enhanced RURESA by requiring responding states to honor the initiating state’s continuing exclusive jurisdiction (CEJ), thereby prohibiting the responding states from modifying the original support order unless they can establish CEJ over the originating state. This Act was modified in 1996 and again in 2001.
UIFSA also provides a number of enforcement tactics including the ability for the custodial parent to require the obligated parent’s employer to withhold pay if necessary to satisfy the support order.
In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, requiring all states to adopt UIFSA by 1998 or lose federal funding for child support enforcement.
You may also be interested in this book about rights regarding child support, custody and visitation.
21 Comments
When paternity is established and the husband is found not to be the father can he register a NY court order to VA to modify an arrears? I also do not live in NY currently in PA.
First, a man may be responsible for child support even if he is not the biological father. You should check you local laws to find out what criteria must be met in order to be responsible for child support.
Generally, a motion to modify support is brought in the state and county in which the support order was originally entered.
A man that is not the bilogical father, not the adoptive father, and not the legal father found that he has to pay child support because during the time they were married she wanted children and without his written consent (as required by law) had IVF, and fraudently put his name on the birth certificate (against public policy), she signed it claiming he was the father and when it came to have the divorce she managed to get child support anyway. Her reasoning was that she couldn’t afford to raise her child on her own, she testified that he was not the father and didn’t adopt the child and he never had a relationship with the child; she sought the court appoint a GAL to investigate the matters pertaining to the child, the GAL found that it would be detrimental to for the court to allow any visitation from the husband to the child. Only catch with this is that he never sought any visitation with the child, didn’t want a relationship with the child.
The court awarded her child support based on a salary higher than he ever earned before.
He appealed. Five years later the appeal still has not been argued and there are a lack of attorneys willing to step up and fight his battle.
Child support and alimony should not be considered in any way the same alimony is an insult to both men and today’s women who claim to be equal.
I have a very old case from 1989, which believe it or not I am being
screwed over by California on. I reside in Florida. I am still paying on this today.
My question is if support was modified by florida in 1990 to 50 dollars a week instead of 775.00 per month and in 1992 the Uresa law was ammended to stop modification by states, the Florida order should stand, correct!
California is also stating that I still owe 93,000 dollars.
I have a court order from florida saying my past support and arrears are paid in full but california still refuses to adhere. Any time I contact them theyntreat me like I am a criminal. I would love to sue them for these years of frustration and heartache but I do not have the funds. I have also not received a tax return in 20 years because of Ca blocks. There is so much more to this it is unbleivable!
guskurz@yahoo.com
California would have had the authority to modify a support order if California had jurisdiction at the time it ordered the modification.
Gus,
Us law abiding, professional women dont have it any better. I am not in a fincial position to sink another 10G into this mess, and from what I am reading on the DOR website, and what I was told today from them, unless I am getting food stamp, state health insurance (we have none, and Ive been an RN for 15 years-NOT getting rich off of that!) I was advised to hire my own atty and also a P.I. to follow him around to prove unclaimed income-he works under the table naturally. Are you kidding me?!?! I have to pick WHICH utility to pay each month! I have a legal child support order in place but cant get any agency to help me inforce it.
So, they are essentially telling me to quit my job, collect welfare, food stamps, fuel asst, state healthcare etc… then, and ONLY then, they will lend a hand in obtaining me the pathetic amount he has been ordered to pay. Might as well have a few more kids to burden the state of MA while Im at it! … All the while KNOWING that MY tax money is being used to track down other dead beat fathers.
KILLS ME EVERY DAY I GO TO WORK.
Tracy,
I’m in the same spot. I’m a professional single mom and barely get by. My daughter’s father moved to Nevada in 2003 and has accumulated $51,000+ in back support. I’m using Alaska’s Child Enforcement Agency but they are very slow, seldom communicate and aren’t very interested in collecting. I’m looking at contacting the Nevada’s Attorney General Child Support Agency but haven’t heard good things about them. In Alaska, owing that much back support is a misdemeanor but in Nevada it’s a class C felony. I’m just not sure how to get some action and enforcement? How do you get enforcement in another state? If the guy just won’t pay, what are the repercussions? My child deserves better than this.
Don’t give up. Keep going. I’ve been custody/support disputes with this guy for almost 12 years (since I was 6 months pregnant). I’m not giving up now. Stay tough Tracy.
My ex-husband and I divorced in NJ and our child support order is in the State of NJ. I now live in Arizona and he lives in Texas. I was just served with papers (Notice of Registration of child support determination)…in other words, he is trying to “register” our 1994 divorce decree in the State of TX because in TX, you do not have to pay support when the child turns 18, however in NJ, you must continue while the child is in school up to the age of 23. So I guess he figures if he can get the divorce decree registered there, he can get the support modified in his favor. Can he do this? I am not sure if I understand the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act and if it works in my favor. Any advice?
My ex husband currently owes over 3K in back child support. He resided in MS, but recently moved to AL without informing me of his whereabouts. He has not seen our daughter in over 2 months as he is making every effort to avoid child support. Our divorce decree states that both of us have to inform the other of any address change. Therefore, he is in contempt. I have a case file with MS DHS, have notified them of his location and employment in AL, and have not received a payment in a month. DHS is not helping at all. To make matters worse, he is currently facing deportation proceedings with immigration for a DUI he received a year ago. His driver’s license is suspended as well. Lately, he is texting me (through a tracphone I cannot trace) threatening to take full advantage of his parental rights (which she would be with him for 2 weeks) and I have no idea what he may do. Take her away to England? My lawyer has not returned my call and I feel as though the system has failed me. I am trying to file charges for contempt. I have never tried to deny him visitation, but he pops up at his convenience and recently told our daughter it would be a very long time before he saw her. Now, he wants to come around again. He has been reported to a credit bureau, already has a suspended driver’s license, income is supposedly being withheld, but I have yet to see any of it. Any guidance as I honestly don’t know what to do anymore? What are my options?
my son’s (6 1/2) biological father, has never seen his son nor paid a dime toward’s child support. He sued me over a year ago, which makes zero sense. At the time, he was living in IN the same state as my son and I. He was Court Ordered, July 09 to pay $65000 in back child support and $1100 per month in support. With one hour per month of supervised visitation in a therapuetic setting. To date, we havent seen a dime. He was court ordered to apper an show cause as to why he should not be punished for his contempt-on 12/23/09. He failed to appear and had fled to his parents, home in Carefree, AZ. He works for his stepfather, Dr. Patrick Carnes and his income as of late can not be traced. He now owe’s over $90000 in child support. What now? I would go to jail over a $100 speeding ticket and this Dead Beat, can run free? What is the probability that this will catch up with him? Is it true that he can not renew his AZ driver license nor leave the country? What can I do at this point? thank you.
Here’s why most Non-custodial (fathers) don”t pay child support. THE SYSTEM IS UNFAIR! Very Unfair!! Most custodial parents are unaware of the burden many Non_custodial parents have to endure. In NYS 17 cents out of every dollar is paid into the system. If the Non-Custodial parent seek another job to cover this lost, He/she is forced to pay another 17% out of the second job. IT NEVER ENDS. The system is unfair! That is why most Non_custodial parents say $@@%^ the system.
Non_custodial parents have no rights. NONE! once you enter the systems you loose all your rights. EVEN IF YOU PAY YOU ARE LOOKED UPON AS A DEAD-BEAT!.
Congress has to act fast and change this Unfair, unconstitutional system.
all i have to say to this, is that a Non Custodial parent should do their homework and not sue the Custodial parent. If you open pandora’s box what do you expect? Not to mention 2 words = responsibility and accountability. As my attorney shared with me, if it were not for My Showing up for life as a parent every day and all that it entails, my son would be in an orphanage.
Burden? What burden? My states child support enforcement doesn’t charge a cent. The non-custodial parent in my case doesn’t have to pay a dime in administrative fees. He just needs to send his support every month. But he won’t. It directly hurts his own child. I’m there every single day for my child, I’ve paid for medical insurance even though the non-custodial parent was ordered to, I work hard to make ends meet and we constantly have to do without. Guess he just can’t be bothered. You need to think about what it means to be a parent and a responsiblity human being. There is absolutely no excuse to not contribute something financially for your child.
Angie if you think your Attorney care about you and your child, think again. The attorney only care about his/her money! The welfare of the child is secondary. Analyze the child support laws of every state and you will see that it’s not fair and its unjust. An unjust law is no law.
ever notice that women are USUALLy the most vehement about child support? Interestingly enough–why is is that parents are paying such outrageous sums in child support? I remember my father being ordered to pay $100 a month. I have to pay $1000 and my ex make 90,000 yearly and I havent made more than 20,000 for the last fopur years. Why? Because TITLE IV FUNDS!!!!!!! The states make money off of our children–or rather fathers. YUPPER–thats correct. Do some research its true. This has NOTHING to do with —”dont u love your child,” or “you should pay your fair share,” crap.
ya know what ? (in MA at least) you could stop paying tomorrow and live life free and clear. As long as the mother isnt getting state aid, they will do NOTHING to help us enforce an order. Its sickening.
Can a State collect support from another state and in t\urn send that support to a third state. ie: Fla collects from Ga. and sends the collected funds to Ala.
James,
Did you ever get an ans to your question? I cant even get my leagal CS order enforced from NH (where he lives) to MA (where I live)
i live in NJ, and have residential custody and recieve CS payments. what complicates this, is it is an interstate case, PA is the other. when i filed the papers for the order, my ex was making a decent salary. by the time the courts in his state got the papers and went through with the enforcement, his salary had decreased bc he lost his job. i had recieved payments from him, his checks were garnished, and i recieve the payments regularly. then, he was no longer eligible for unemployment, so he had no money to make any payments. had to return to court and pay a $500 upfront. he got his job back, lower salary and contined to make payments. around tax time, i was told that his return would be sent to me to pay off the arrears. PROBLEM!!! this is why it’s complicated. i was told i was going to recieve $4500, plus another $600. he’s telling me that the arrears amount in PA is LOWER than in NJ… HOW?? and WHY??? was i overpaid? or does the state that me and my children live in have the correct amount? which state has jurisdiction over the other? the state where the order originated from? or the state where the noncustodial parent lives??? this is causing a lot of confusion and aggrivation. things have been peaceful, and i would like to keep it that way!!!
To all non-custodial parents who resent child support: If you were still married, nearly 100% of your disposable income would go to the support of your children and the household in which they live. How many married parents with, say, one child, get to allocate 17% – 20% of their income to taking care of their children and use the rest as they please?
Once you are divorced and become a custodial parent, you have the DUTY to feed, clothe, educate, protect, discipline, and provide health care to your children no matter what the cost or inconvenience. Whereas the non-custodial parent gets the RIGHT to visit the child, the DUTY to provide a fixed amount of financial support, and that’s it.
Combined with the expense of private enforcement, the complication of interstate enforcement, and the near impossibility of state-assisted enforcement, billions of dollars in child support go unpaid and thousands of deadbeats go unpunished every year.
What are you whining about–non-custodial parents have it made. You want sometime to be frustrated over–try being an actual, in-the-home parent for a few months.