National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

211 E. Ontario St., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60611
tel 312-915-0195, fax 312-915-0187

For Immediate Release

UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT AMENDED

August 16, 2001—The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), completed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) in 1992 and amended in 1996, 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. Adopted in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, UIFSA has again been amended. The new amendments were approved today at NCCUSL's 110th annual meeting in West Virginia.

"The original Act 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," says Battle R. Robinson, chair of the UIFSA drafting committee. "This Act has been in effect in every state for many years now. With this long experience of working with UIFSA, the child support community requested that the Act be reviewed once again. These amendments are in response to that request. The amendments are not meant to make fundamental changes in the policies and procedures established in the original Act; rather the amendments should clarify many of the provisions, increasing the Act's usefulness."

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 amendments include expanding the definition of "state" so other countries may have their orders enforced in the U.S. under the terms of UIFSA. It also allows for an individual state to make an arrangement with a foreign country for reciprocal enforcement of child support.

If all parties to the support order have left the state where the original order was issued, the new amendments ensure that that state will continue to have exclusive jurisdiction if all parties agree to that. Procedures for voluntary acknowledgment of paternity have also been integrated into the Act.

The drafting committee to amend the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act was chaired by Battle R. Robinson of Georgetown, Delaware. Other committee members included: Marlin J. Appelwick, Seattle, Washington; Deborah E. Behr, Juneau, Alaska; Charlotte M. Brookins-Hudson, Washington, DC; Robert L. McCurley, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Elwaine F. Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas; and Harry L. Tindall, Houston, Texas. John J. Sampson of Austin, Texas, served as the committee's reporter.

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is› now in its 110th year. 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 US Virgin Islands, to draft proposals for uniform and model laws and work toward their enactment in their legislatures. 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.

For further information, please contact John McCabe or Katie Robinson at (312) 915-0195 or Gabrielle Bamberger at (212)333-5222. Also check the NCCUSL website at www.nccusl.org