For Immediate Release:
UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT 2008 AMENDMENTS NOW ENACTED NATIONWIDE
March 24, 2016 — Important amendments to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) have now been enacted nationwide. New Jersey was the last jurisdiction to enact the 2008 Amendments to UIFSA when SB 995 was signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie on March 23, 2016.
UIFSA, originally completed in 1992 and amended in 1996 and 2001, is the law in every state. The original UIFSA represented a major overhaul of child support laws by limiting modification of child and family support orders to a single state, eliminating interstate jurisdictional disputes. It was an enormously important step in eliminating multiple litigation across state lines and countering inefficiencies that existed in the child support enforcement system — all barriers to getting money to the children who desperately needed it.
UIFSA has been in effect in every state for many years now. The purpose of UIFSA is to ensure that state borders are not obstacles for collecting child support from reluctant parents obligated to pay. UIFSA assures that, whenever possible, only one child support order from one state will be in effect at any given time. Except in narrowly defined circumstances, the only state able to modify a support order is the one which continues to have exclusive jurisdiction over the matter.
The 2008 amendments are not meant to make fundamental changes in the policies and procedures established in the original Act. The amendments modify the current version of UIFSA’s international provisions to comport with the obligations of the United States under the 2000 Hague Convention on Maintenance, which was signed by the President in 2008. The amendments give greater enforcement of U.S. orders abroad, and will help ensure that children residing in the United States will receive the financial support due from parents, wherever the parents reside.
Further information on the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act can be found at the ULC’s website at www.uniformlaws.org.
The Uniform Law Commission, now in its 125th year, provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. The organization comprises more than 300 lawyers, judges, and law professors, appointed by the states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to research, draft and promote enactment of uniform state laws in areas of state law where uniformity is desirable and practical. Since its inception in 1892, the group has promulgated more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Partnership Act.
Uniform Law Commission
111 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 1010, Chicago, IL 60602
312-450-6600, www.uniformlaws.org
Contact: Katie Robinson, ULC Communications Officer, krobinson@...
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