Interstate Issues: Three-State Child Support Dilemma

[puzzledmommy]

My question involves child support in the States of: North Carolina, Michigan and Georgia

OP and I were married and lived together in the state of North Carolina. When we separated, he moved to Georgia. He agreed to pay child support voluntarily to avoid going to court, but did not pay. I was granted an order through Child Support Enforcement. He made child support payments regularly. We tried and failed to make our relationship work. I was forced (due to financial reasons) to move back to our home state of Michigan. He continued to pay the full amount of child support regularly. I finally filed for divorce after nearly 2 years of him saying, but not showing, that he wanted to get back together. Around that same time, he got fired from the job he had (his fault), soon got a new one (paying less) but continued to pay, though the amount he actually paid was only about one-third to one-half of the ordered amount. He quit his job right after our divorce was final and stopped paying altogether. He hasn't paid a dime in nearly a year (10 months). I know he is working because every time he talks to the children he has to get off the phone to get ready for work (seems as though he's trying to make a point.) Not only that, his sister came to my job and asked me why I'm not getting anything, then proceeded to tell me where he is working.

Since I filed for divorce, I have been trying to get help getting the order registered for enforcement in his home state of Georgia. MI told me I needed to contact NC, NC said it will start with MI, and GA says "visit our website." This has gone on far too long and each state refuses to do anything. PLEASE HELP!!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

The Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA), the Full Faith and Credit For Child Support Orders Act and more specifically the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) - all of which are federal law that should be relevant with regard to the enforcement of child support orders and the cooperation between states. This is not my forte but according to the UIFSA, one is supposed to be able to contact an office of the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) in the state where you are seeking to collect (which would appear to be Georgia) and then enforce an order that was granted in North Carolina.

Unfortunately all of this assumes you have a support order, which appears to be the problem. So what I'm thinking is that you should be able to get a support order issued in your current state where you were married and had children - and most importantly, had a voluntary agreement and have an order through Child Support Enforcement.

The website for Georgia State Child Support Enforcement is there - which you probably have. What you should ask them is for the list of documents you need for enforcement in specific. I'm not sure why they are telling you to contact these other states - why? This is important to determine. I can understand your frustration - the effort necessary is ridiculous. But you need to focus on why each group is directing you.