The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) has been adopted by all fifty states to ensure recognition of prior support orders after children are moved by their parents to a new state. Prior to the adoption of UIFSA, parents were able to have support orders created from multiple jurisdictions and shop for the best support results among state statutes. The One Case, One Order concept ensures that when a support order is issued by State A, State B is only able to modify or enforce that order where appropriate, not issue an entirely new order.
For enforcement purposes, the process of requesting the involvement of a new state to enforce a prior support order is called registration. Registration of an out-of-state order in New York is accomplished by filing necessary official forms with the local family court. Upon submission of the paperwork, a Notice of Registration is sent to the other parent, who has 20 days to file a petition with the New York court to contest the registration of the support order. If no petition is filed by the other parent, the registration of the support order in New York is confirmed and an account is established through the Support Collection Enforcement Unit, who administratively enforces the order. If a petition is filed to contest the registration of the support order, the matter is scheduled for a hearing and determination on the issue of whether the registration should be vacated.
A support order can only be modified by a court that possesses continuing exclusive jurisdiction over the order. Only one state can possess continuing exclusive jurisdiction at one time. If either of the parties or the children affected by the support order continue to reside in the state that issued the order, that state possesses continuing exclusive jurisdiction and only that state can modify the order. However, the parties can agree in writing to have the issue of modification determined by a state other than that which has continuing exclusive jurisdiction over the support order. If no party or child affected by the support order resides in the state that originally issued the support order, the order must be registered in the state where the person responding to the petition to modify the order, the Respondent, resides, not where the person filing the petition, the Petitioner, resides.
To modify a support order, the new court cannot modify any aspect of a child support order that cannot be modified under the law of the state that issued the order. For example, the new state cannot modify the age of emancipation for the children affected by the support order. For example, in New York State, the age of emancipation is normally 21 years old, unless other circumstances exist. If New York assumes jurisdiction over a support order of another state where the age of emancipation is normally 18 years old, the order cannot be extended to 21 years old. Once an order is modified, it becomes the new controlling order in the case, and the state that issued the order now has continuing exclusive jurisdiction.
