GCA Title 5, Chapter 35
5 GCA GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
CH. 35 UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT
CHAPTER 35 UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT
SOURCE: This Chapter was formerly codified in the Code of Civil Procedure as the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act. It was repealed and reenacted as the Uniform Intersate Family Support Act by P.L. 24-183:1 (May 1, 1998), and repealed and reenacted to adopt changes to the uniform act by P.L. 33-014:1 (Apr. 1, 2015).
- Article 1. General Provisions.
- Article 2. Jurisdiction.
- Article 3. Civil Provisions of General Application.
- Article 4. Establishment of Support Order or Determination of Parentage.
- Article 5. Enforcement of Support Order Without Registration.
- Article 6. Registration, Enforcement, and Modification of Support Order.
- Article 7. Support Proceeding Under Convention.
- Article 8. Interstate Rendition.
- Article 9. Miscellaneous Provisions.
ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS
- § 35101. Short Title.
- § 35102. Definitions.
- § 35103. State Tribunal and Support Enforcement Agency.
- § 35104. Remedies Cumulative.
- § 35105. Application of Act to Resident of Foreign Country and Foreign Support Proceeding.
§ 35101. Short Title.
This Act may be cited as the ‘Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.’
§ 35102. Definitions.
In this Act:
- (a) Child means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual’s parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. (b) Child-support order means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country. (c) Convention means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at The Hague on November 23, 2007. (d) Duty of support means an obligation imposed or imposable by law to provide support for a child, spouse, or former spouse, including an unsatisfied obligation to provide support. (e) Foreign country means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and: (1) which has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country; (2) which has established a reciprocal arrangement for child support with this state as provided in § 35308; (3) which has enacted a law or established procedures for the issuance and enforcement of support orders which are substantially similar to the procedures under this Act; or (4) in which the Convention is in force with respect to the United States. (f) Foreign support order means a support order of a foreign tribunal. (g) Foreign tribunal means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country that is authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. The term includes a competent authority under the Convention. (h) Home state means the state or foreign country in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six (6) consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing of a petition or comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six (6) months old, the state or foreign country 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 six (6)-month or other period. (i) Income includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject to withholding for support under the law of this state. (j) Income-withholding order means an order or other legal process directed to an obligor’s employer, or other debtor, as defined by the income-withholding law of Guam, to withhold support from the income of the obligor. (k) Initiating tribunal means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or foreign country. (l) Issuing foreign country means the foreign country in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child. (m) Issuing state means the state in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child. (n) Issuing tribunal means the tribunal of a state or foreign country that issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child. (o) Law includes decisional and statutory laws, and rules and regulations having the force of law. (p) Obligee means: (1) an individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child has been issued; (2) a foreign country, state, or political subdivision of a state to which the rights under a duty of support or support order have been assigned or which has independent claims based on financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support; (3) an individual seeking a judgment determining parentage of the individual’s child; or (4) a person that is a creditor in a proceeding under Article 7. (q) Obligor means an individual, or the estate of a decedent that:
- owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support; (2) is alleged but has not been adjudicated to be a parent of a child;
- is liable under a support order; or
- is a debtor in a proceeding under Article 7. (r) Outside this state means a location in another state or a country other than the United States, whether or not the country is a foreign country. (s) Person means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. (t) Record means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. (u) Register means to file in a tribunal of this state a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country. (v) Registering tribunal means a tribunal in which a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered. (w) Responding state means a state in which a petition or comparable pleading for support or to determine parentage of a child is filed or to which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded for filing from another state or a foreign country. (x) Responding tribunal means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country. (y) Spousal-support order means a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor. (z) State means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession under the jurisdiction of the United States. The term includes an Indian nation or tribe. (aa) Support enforcement agency means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to: (1) seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support; (2) seek establishment or modification of child support;
- request determination of parentage of a child;
- attempt to locate obligors or their assets; or (5) request determination of the controlling child-support order. (bb) Support order means a judgment, decree, order, decision, or directive, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, which provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support, or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. The term may include related costs and fees, interest, income withholding, automatic adjustment, reasonable attorney’s fees, and other relief. (cc) Tribunal means a court, administrative agency, or quasijudicial entity authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. 2015 NOTE: Subsection designations were altered to reflect the Compiler’s alphanumeric scheme pursuant to 1 GCA § 1606.
§ 35103. State Tribunal and Support Enforcement Agency.
(a) The Unified Courts of Guam are the tribunal of this state. (b) The Child Support Enforcement Division of the Office of the Attorney General is the support enforcement agency of this state.
§ 35104. Remedies Cumulative.
(a) Remedies provided by this Act are cumulative and do not affect the availability of remedies under other laws or the recognition of a foreign support order on the basis of comity.
- (b) This Act does not: (1) provide the exclusive method of establishing or enforcing a support order under the law of this state; or (2) grant a tribunal of this state jurisdiction to render judgment or issue an order relating to child custody or visitation in a proceeding under this Act.
§ 35105. Application of Act to Resident of Foreign Country and Foreign Support Proceeding.
(a) A tribunal of this state shall apply Articles 1 through 6 and, as applicable, Article 7, to a support proceeding involving:
- a foreign support order;
- a foreign tribunal; or
- an obligee, obligor, or child residing in a foreign country. (b) A tribunal of this state that is requested to recognize and enforce a support order on the basis of comity may apply the procedural and substantive provisions of Articles 1 through 6. (c) Article 7 applies only to a support proceeding under the Convention. In such a proceeding, if a provision of Article 7 is inconsistent with Articles 1 through 6, Article 7 controls.
ARTICLE 2 JURISDICTION
- § 35201. Bases for Jurisdiction over Nonresident.
- § 35202. Duration of Personal Jurisdiction.
- § 35203. Initiating and Responding Tribunal of State.
- § 35204. Simultaneous Proceedings.
§ 35201. Bases for Jurisdiction over Nonresident.
(a) In a proceeding to establish or enforce a support order or to determine parentage of a child, a tribunal of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident individual or the individual’s guardian if: (1) the individual is personally served with summons or notice within this state; (2) the individual submits to the jurisdiction of this state by consent in a record, by entering a general appearance, or by filing a responsive document having the effect of waiving any contest to personal jurisdiction;
- the individual resided with the child in this state; (4) the individual resided in this state and provided prenatal expenses or support for the child; (5) the child resides in this state as a result of the acts or directives of the individual; (6) the individual engaged in sexual intercourse in this state and the child may have been conceived by that act of intercourse; (7) the individual asserted parentage of a child in a Guam Declaration of Paternity form; or (8) there is any other basis consistent with the constitutions of this state and the United States for the exercise of personal jurisdiction. (b) The bases of personal jurisdiction set forth in Subsection 35201(a), or in any other law of this state, may not be used to acquire personal jurisdiction for a tribunal of this state to modify a child-support order of another state unless the requirements of § 35611 are met, or, in the case of a foreign support order, unless the requirements of § 35615 are met.
§ 35202. Duration of Personal Jurisdiction.
Personal jurisdiction acquired by a tribunal of this state in a proceeding under this Act or other law of this state relating to a support order continues as long as a tribunal of this state has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify its order or continuing jurisdiction to enforce its order as provided by §§ 35205, 35206, and 35211.
§ 35203. Initiating and Responding Tribunal of State.
Under this Act, a tribunal of this state may serve as an initiating tribunal to forward proceedings to a tribunal of another state, and as a responding tribunal for proceedings initiated in another state or a foreign country.
§ 35204. Simultaneous Proceedings.
(a) A tribunal of this state may exercise jurisdiction to establish a support order if the petition or comparable pleading is filed after a pleading is filed in another state or a foreign country only if:
- the petition or comparable pleading in this state is filed before the expiration of the time allowed in the other state or the foreign country for filing a responsive pleading challenging the exercise of jurisdiction by the other state or the foreign country;
- the contesting party timely challenges the exercise of jurisdiction in the other state or the foreign country; and
- if relevant, this state is the home state of the child. (b) A tribunal of this state may not exercise jurisdiction to establish a support order if the petition or comparable pleading is filed before a petition or comparable pleading is filed in another state or a foreign country if: (1) the petition or comparable pleading in the other state or foreign country is filed before the expiration of the time allowed in this state for filing a responsive pleading challenging the exercise of jurisdiction by this state; (2) the contesting party timely challenges the exercise of jurisdiction in this state; and (3) if relevant, the other state or foreign country is the home state of the child.
§ 35205. Continuing, Exclusive Jurisdiction to Modify ChildSupport Order.
(a) A tribunal of this state that has issued a child-support order consistent with the law of this state has and shall exercise continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify its child-support order if the order is the controlling order and: (1) at the time of the filing of a request for modification this state is the residence of the obligor, the individual obligee, or the child for whose benefit the support order is issued; or (2) even if this state is not the residence of the obligor, the ind