Also known as: Family Support Act · FSA 1988
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A uniform act adopted by states that establishes procedures for interstate establishment, enforcement, and modification of child-support orders.
Francesca Fiore obtained a child support order in State A. After the obligor moved to State B, State A served as the initiating tribunal and requested enforcement of its order in State B. Because the State A order remained the controlling order and had not been modified by a tribunal that assumed jurisdiction under the Act, State B proceeded to enforce it.
Finn Fletcher was ordered in New York to pay support until his child reached age twenty-one. After he moved to North Carolina the order was registered there. When the child turned eighteen Finn sought termination under North Carolina law, but the court applied New York emancipation rules and continued enforcement.
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Farid Farahani resided out of state when a parentage petition was filed against him. The court exercised personal jurisdiction because the conditions for long-arm jurisdiction under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act were satisfied, allowing adjudication of parentage to proceed.
The law of the issuing jurisdiction governs the nature and duration of the obligation, including the age of emancipation. A support order issued in one state and registered in another remains controlled by the issuing state's law on emancipation.
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A tribunal may serve as an initiating tribunal when its order is the controlling order and has not been modified by a tribunal of another state that assumed jurisdiction under the Act, or when it seeks enforcement of a money judgment for arrears accrued before any such determination.
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A court with jurisdiction to adjudicate parentage may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident if the conditions prescribed in the state's version of Uniform Interstate Family Support Act section 201 are satisfied.
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