Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Full Faith and Credit for Child 
Support Orders Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) there is a large and growing number of child support 
        cases annually involving disputes between parents who reside in 
        different States;
            (2) the laws by which the courts of these jurisdictions 
        determine their authority to establish child support orders are 
        not uniform;
            (3) those laws, along with the limits imposed by the 
        Federal system on the authority of each State to take certain 
        actions outside its own boundaries--
                    (A) encourage noncustodial parents to relocate 
                outside the States where their children and the 
                custodial parents reside to avoid the jurisdiction of 
                the courts of such States, resulting in an increase in 
                the amount of interstate travel and communication 
                required to establish and collect on child support 
                orders and a burden on custodial parents that is 
                expensive, time consuming, and disruptive of 
                occupations and commercial activity;
                    (B) contribute to the pressing problem of 
                relatively low levels of child support payments in 
                interstate cases and to inequities in child support 
                payments levels which are based solely on the 
                noncustodial parent's choice of residence;
                    (C) encourage a disregard of court orders resulting 
                in massive arrearages nationwide;
                    (D) allow noncustodial parents to avoid the payment 
                of regularly scheduled child support payments for 
                extensive periods of time, resulting in substantial 
                hardship for the children for whom support is due and 
                for their custodians; and
                    (E) lead to the excessive relitigation of cases and 
                to the establishment of conflicting orders by the 
                courts of various jurisdictions, resulting in 
                confusion, waste of judicial resources, disrespect for 
                the courts, and a diminution of public confidence in 
                the rule of law; and
            (4) among the results of these conditions is the failure of 
        the courts of the States to give full faith and credit to the 
        judicial proceedings of the other States, the deprivation of 
        rights of liberty and property without due process of law, 
        burdens on commerce among the States, and harm to the welfare 
        of children and their parents and other custodians.
    (b) Statement of Policy.--For the reasons set forth in subsection 
(a), it is necessary to establish national standards under which the 
courts of different States will determine their jurisdiction to issue a 
child support order and the effect to be given by each State to child 
support orders issued by the courts of other States.
    (c) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) facilitate the enforcement of child support orders 
        among the States;
            (2) discourage continuing interstate controversies over 
        child support in the interest of greater financial stability 
        and secure family relationships for the child; and
            (3) avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict among 
        State courts in the establishment of child support orders.

SEC. 3. FULL FAITH AND CREDIT GIVEN TO CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 1738A the following new section:
``Sec. 1738B. Full faith and credit given to child support orders
    ``(a) General Rule.--The appropriate authorities of each State 
shall enforce according to its terms, and shall not modify except as 
provided in subsection (e), any child support order made consistently 
with the provisions of this section by a court of another State.
    ``(b) Definitions.--As used in this section, the term--
            ``(1) `child' means any person under 18 years of age, and 
        includes an individual 18 or more years of age for whom a child 
        support order has been issued pursuant to the laws of a State;
            ``(2) `child's State' means the State in which a child 
        currently resides;
            ``(3) `child support order' means a judgment, decree, or 
        order of a court requiring the payment of money, or the 
        provision of a benefit, including health insurance, whether in 
        periodic amounts or lump sum, for the support of a child and 
        includes permanent and temporary orders, initial orders and 
        modifications, ongoing support, reimbursements, and arrearages;
            ``(4) `child support' means a payment of money or provision 
        of a benefit described in paragraph (3) for the support of a 
        child;
            ``(5) `contestant' means a person, including a parent, who 
        claims a right to receive child support or is under a child 
        support order, and the term `contestant' includes States and 
        political subdivisions to whom the right to obtain child 
        support has been assigned;
            ``(6) `court' means a court or administrative agency of a 
        State which is authorized by State law to establish the amount 
        of child support payable by a contestant or modify the amount 
        of child support payable by a contestant;
            ``(7) `modification' and `modify' refer to a change in a 
        child support order which affects the amount, scope, or 
        duration of such order and modifies, replaces, supersedes, or 
        otherwise is made subsequent to such child support order, 
        whether or not made by the same court as such child support 
        order; and
            ``(8) `State' means a State of the United States, the 
        District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 
        territories and possessions of the United States, and Indian 
        country as defined in section 1151 of title 18.
    ``(c) Requirements of Child Support Orders.--A child support order 
made by a court of a State is consistent with the provisions of this 
section only if--
            ``(1) such court, pursuant to the laws of the State in 
        which such court is located, had jurisdiction to hear the 
        matter and enter such an order and had personal jurisdiction 
        over the contestants; and
            ``(2) reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard was 
        given to the contestants.
    ``(d) Continuing Jurisdiction.--A court of a State which has made a 
child support order consistently with the provisions of this section 
has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of that order when such State is 
the child's State or the residence of any individual who is a 
contestant unless another State, acting in accordance with subsection 
(e), has modified that order.
    ``(e) Authority To Modify Orders.--A court of a State may modify a 
child support order with respect to a child that is made by a court of 
another State, if--
            ``(1) it has jurisdiction to make such a child support 
        order; and
            ``(2) the court of the other State no longer has 
        continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of the child support order 
        because such State no longer is the child's State or the 
        residence of any individual who is a contestant, or each 
        contestant has filed written consent for the State to modify 
        the order and assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of such 
        order.
    ``(f) Enforcement of Prior Orders.--A court of a State which no 
longer has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of a child support order 
may enforce such order with respect to nonmodifiable obligations, and 
with respect to unsatisfied obligations which accrued before the date 
on which a modification of such order is made under subsection (e).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning 
of chapter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 1738A the following:

``1738B. Full faith and credit given to child support orders.''.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

    As used in section 2, the term ``State'' has the meaning given that 
term in section 1738B(b) of title 28, United States Code, as added by 
section 3 of this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives August 2, 1993.

            Attest:

                                           DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

                                                                 Clerk.

Summary: Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act - Amends the Federal judicial code to declare that State authorities shall enforce any child support order according to its terms and shall not modify it, except in certain circumstances, if such order is made consistent with this Act by another State court. Confers continuing, exclusive jurisdiction upon the court of a State which has made such child support order and which is either the child's State or the State of one of the contestants. Authorizes a State court to modify a child support order made by the court of another State if: (1) it has jurisdiction to make such an order. And (2) the court of the other State no longer has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction because it is no longer the child's State or the residence of any contestant or each contestant has filed written consent for the State to modify the order and assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of such order. Grants the court of a State which no longer has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of a child support order authority to enforce it with respect to non-modifiable obligations and unsatisfied obligations which accrued before the date on which a modification was made by another State in accordance with this Act.