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If the parent lives in
another state, a court action will be initiated in Catawba County and forwarded through
the other state's central registry to the child support authority in the jurisdiction
where the absent parent resides. That office will then bring the absent parent before the
local court to request that a child support order be entered. The court in the other state
has the authority to set the amount of the order.
Federal law requires all states to provide location, establishment and enforcement
services. North Carolina has adopted the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA)
repealing the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA). UIFSA unlike URESA
creates a structure designed to provide for only one support order at a time called the
controlling order. In cases where multiple orders exist, UIFSA provides rules to determine
the controlling order. Underlying this structure is the principle of Continuing Exclusive
Jurisdiction, or CEJ.
Under UIFSA, as state issuing a support order has CEJ as long as it remains the resident
State of the obligor, the individual obligee, or the child for whose benefit the support
order is issued. CEJ plays a prominent role in the area of order modification.
UIFSA provides for enforcement mechanisms such as direct income withholding if sent to an
employer in an UIFSA State, administrative enforcement without registration of the other
state's order, and registration for enforcement only.
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