reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 411 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 411. Pleadings and accompanying documents

 (a) In a proceeding under this subchapter a petitioner seeking to establish a support order, to determine parentage of a child, or to register and modify a support order of a tribunal of another state or a foreign country must file a petition. Unless otherwise ordered under section 412, the petition or accompanying documents must provide, so far as known, the name, residential address, and social security numbers of the obligor and the obligee or the parent and alleged parent, and the name, sex, residential address, social security number, and date of birth of each child for whose benefit support is sought or whose parentage is to be determined. Unless filed at the time of registration, the petition must be accompanied by a copy of any support order known to have been issued by another tribunal. The petition may include any other information that may assist in locating or identifying the respondent. (b) The petition must specify the relief sought. The petition and accompanying documents must conform substantially with the requirements imposed by the forms mandated by federal law for use in cases filed by a support enforcement agency.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 412 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 412. Nondisclosure of information on exceptional circumstances

 If a party alleges in an affidavit or a pleading under oath that the health, safety, or liberty of a party or child would be jeopardized by disclosure of specific identifying information, that information must be sealed and may not be disclosed to the other party or the public. After a hearing in which a tribunal takes into consideration the health, safety, or liberty of the party or child, the tribunal may order disclosure of information that the tribunal determines to be in the interest of justice.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 413 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 413. Costs and fees

 (a) The petitioner may not be required to pay a filing fee or other costs. (b) If an obligee prevails, a responding tribunal of the Virgin Islands may assess against an obligor filing fees, reasonable attorney’s fees, other costs, and necessary travel and other reasonable expenses incurred by the obligee and the obligee’s witnesses. The tribunal may not assess fees, costs, or expenses against the obligee or the support enforcement agency of either the initiating or responding state or foreign country, except as provided by other law. Attorney’s fees may be taxed as costs, and may be ordered paid directly to the attorney, who may enforce the order in the attorney’s own name. Payment of support owed to the obligee has priority over fees, costs, and expenses. (c) The tribunal shall order the payment of costs and reasonable attorney’s fees if it determines that a hearing was requested primarily for delay. In a proceeding under Article F, a hearing is presumed to have been requested primarily for delay if a registered support order is confirmed or enforced without change.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 414 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 414. Limited immunity of petitioner

 (a) Participation by a petitioner in a proceeding under this subchapter before a responding tribunal, whether in person, by private attorney, or through services provided by the support enforcement agency, does not confer personal jurisdiction over the petitioner in another proceeding. (b) A petitioner is not amenable to service of civil process while physically present in the Virgin Islands to participate in a proceeding under this subchapter. (c) The immunity granted by this section does not extend to civil litigation based on acts unrelated to a proceeding under this subchapter committed by a party while physically present in the Virgin Islands to participate in the proceeding.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 415 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 415. Nonparentage as defense

 A party whose parentage of a child has been previously determined by or pursuant to law may not plead nonparentage as a defense to a proceeding under this subchapter.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 416 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 416. Special rules of evidence and procedure

 (a) The physical presence of a nonresident party who is an individual in a tribunal of the Virgin Islands is not required for the establishment, enforcement, or modification of a support order or the rendition of a judgment determining parentage of a child. (b) An affidavit, a document substantially complying with federally mandated forms, or a document incorporated by reference in any of them, which would not be excluded under the hearsay rule if given in person, is admissible in evidence if given under penalty of perjury by a party or witness residing outside the Virgin Islands. (c) A copy of the record of child-support payments certified as a true copy of the original by the custodian of the record may be forwarded to a responding tribunal. The copy is evidence of facts asserted in it, and is admissible to show whether payments were made. (d) Copies of bills for testing for parentage of a child, and for prenatal and postnatal health care of the mother and child, furnished to the adverse party at least 10 days before trial, are admissible in evidence to prove the amount of the charges billed and that the charges were reasonable, necessary, and customary. (e) Documentary evidence transmitted from outside the Virgin Islands to a tribunal of the Virgin Islands by telephone, telecopier, or other electronic means that do not provide an original record may not be excluded from evidence on an objection based on the means of transmission. (f) In a proceeding under this subchapter, a tribunal of the Virgin Islands shall permit a party or witness residing outside the Virgin Islands to be deposed or to testify under penalty of perjury by telephone, audiovisual means, or other electronic means at a designated tribunal or other location. A tribunal of the Virgin Islands shall cooperate with other tribunals in designating an appropriate location for the deposition or testimony. (g) If a party called to testify at a civil hearing refuses to answer on the ground that the testimony may be self-incriminating, the trier of fact may draw an adverse inference from the refusal. (h) A privilege against disclosure of communications between spouses does not apply in a proceeding under this subchapter. (i) The defense of immunity based on the relationship of husband and wife or parent and child does not apply in a proceeding under this subchapter. (j) A voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, certified as a true copy, is admissible to establish parentage of the child.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 417 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 417. Communications between tribunals

 A tribunal of the Virgin Islands may communicate with a tribunal outside the Virgin Islands in a record or by telephone, electronic mail, or other means, to obtain information concerning the laws, the legal effect of a judgment, decree, or order of that tribunal, and the status of a proceeding. A tribunal of the Virgin Islands may furnish similar information by similar means to a tribunal outside the Virgin Islands.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 418 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 418. Assistance with discovery

 A tribunal of the Virgin Islands may: (1) request a tribunal outside the Virgin Islands to assist in obtaining discovery; and (2) upon request, compel a person over which it has jurisdiction to respond to a discovery order issued by a tribunal outside the Virgin Islands.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 419 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article C - Civil Provisions of General Application|§ 419. Receipt and disbursement of payments

 (a) A support enforcement agency or tribunal of the Virgin Islands shall disburse promptly any amounts received pursuant to a support order, as directed by the order. The agency or tribunal shall furnish to a requesting party or tribunal of another state or a foreign country a certified statement by the custodian of the record of the amounts and dates of all payments received. (b) If neither the obligor, nor the obligee who is an individual, nor the child resides in the Virgin Islands, upon request from the support enforcement agency of the Virgin Islands or another state, the support enforcement agency of the Virgin Islands or a tribunal of the Virgin Islands shall: (1) direct that the support payment be made to the support enforcement agency in the state in which the obligee is receiving services; and (2) issue and send to the obligor’s employer a conforming income-withholding order or an administrative notice of change of payee, reflecting the redirected payments. (e) The support enforcement agency of the Virgin Islands receiving redirected payments from another state pursuant to a law similar to subsection (b) shall furnish to a requesting party or tribunal of the other state a certified statement by the custodian of the record of the amount and dates of all payments received.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 424 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article D - Establishment of Support Order or Determination of Parentage|§ 424. Establishment of support order

 (a) If a support order entitled to recognition under this subchapter has not been issued, a responding tribunal of the Virgin Islands with personal jurisdiction over the parties may issue a support order if: (1) the individual seeking the order resides outside the Virgin Islands; or (2) the support enforcement agency seeking the order is located outside this Virgin Islands. (b) The tribunal may issue a temporary child-support order if the tribunal determines that such an order is appropriate and the individual ordered to pay is: (1) a presumed father of the child; (2) petitioning to have his paternity adjudicated; (3) identified as the father of the child through genetic testing; (4) an alleged father who has declined to submit to genetic testing; (5) shown by clear and convincing evidence to be the father of the child; (6) an acknowledged father as provided by sections 292 and 370 of this title; (7) the mother of the child; or (8) an individual who has been ordered to pay child support in a previous proceeding and the order has not been reversed or vacated. (c) Upon finding, after notice and opportunity to be heard, that an obligor owes a duty of support, the tribunal shall issue a support order directed to the obligor and may issue other orders pursuant to section 405.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 424a (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article D - Establishment of Support Order or Determination of Parentage|§ 424a. Proceeding to determine parentage

 A tribunal of the Virgin Islands authorized to determine parentage of a child may serve as a responding tribunal in a proceeding to determine parentage of a child brought under this subchapter or a law or procedure substantially similar to this subchapter.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 425 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article E - Enforcement of the Order of Another State Without Registration|§ 425. Employer’s receipt of income-withholding order from another state

 An income-withholding order issued in another state may be sent by or on behalf of the obligee, or by the support enforcement agency, to the person defined as the obligor’s employer under chapter 13, subchapter I of this title without first filing a petition or comparable pleading or registering the order with a tribunal of the Virgin Islands.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 426 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article E - Enforcement of the Order of Another State Without Registration|§ 426. Employer’s compliance with income withholding order of another state

 (a) Upon receipt of an income-withholding order, the obligor’s employer shall immediately provide a copy of the order to the obligor. (b) The employer shall treat an income-withholding order issued in another state which appears regular on its face as if it had been issued by a tribunal of the Virgin Islands. (c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) and section 427, the employer shall withhold and distribute the funds as directed in the withholding order by complying with terms of the order which specify: (1) the duration and amount of periodic payments of current child support, stated as a sum certain; (2) the person designated to receive payments and the address to which the payments are to be forwarded; (3) medical support, whether in the form of periodic cash payment, stated as a sum certain, or ordering the obligor to provide health insurance coverage for the child under a policy available through the obligor’s employment; (4) the amount of periodic payments of fees and costs for a support enforcement agency, the issuing tribunal, and the obligee’s attorney, stated as sums certain; and (5) the amount of periodic payments of arrearages and interest on arrearages, stated as sums certain. (d) An employer shall comply with the law of the state of the obligor’s principal place of employment for withholding from income with respect to: (1) the employer’s fee for processing an income-withholding order; and (2) the maximum amount permitted to be withheld from the obligor’s income; (3) the times within which the employer must implement the withholding order and forward the child-support payment.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 427 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article E - Enforcement of the Order of Another State Without Registration|§ 427. Employer’s compliance with two or more income withholding orders

 If an obligor’s employer receives two or more income-withholding orders with respect to the earnings of the same obligor, the employer satisfies the terms of the orders if the employer complies with the law of the state of the obligor’s principal place of employment to establish the priorities for withholding and allocating income withheld for two or more child-support obligees.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 428 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article E - Enforcement of the Order of Another State Without Registration|§ 428. Immunity from civil liability

 An employer that complies with an income-withholding order issued in another state in accordance with this article is not subject to civil liability to an individual or agency with regard to the employer’s withholding of child support from the obligor’s income.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 429 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article E - Enforcement of the Order of Another State Without Registration|§ 429. Penalties for noncompliance

 An employer that willfully fails to comply with an income-withholding order issued in another state and received for enforcement is subject to the same penalties that may be imposed for noncompliance with an order issued by a tribunal of the Virgin Islands.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 430 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article E - Enforcement of the Order of Another State Without Registration|§ 430. Context by obligor

 (a) An obligor may contest the validity or enforcement of an income-withholding order issued in another state and received directly by an employer in the Virgin Islands by registering the order in a tribunal of the Virgin Islands and filing a contest to that order as provided in Article F, or otherwise contesting the order in the same manner as if the order had been issued by a tribunal of the Virgin Islands. (b) The obligor shall give notice of the contest to: (1) a support enforcement agency providing services to the obligee; (2) each employer that has directly received an income-withholding order relating to the obligor; and (3) the person designated to receive payments in the income-withholding order or, if no person is designated, to the obligee.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 431 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article E - Enforcement of the Order of Another State Without Registration|§ 431. Administrative enforcement orders

 (a) A party or support enforcement agency seeking to enforce a support order or an income-withholding order, or both, issued in another state or a foreign support order may send the documents required for registering the order to a support enforcement agency of the Virgin Islands. (b) Upon receipt of the documents, the support enforcement agency, without initially seeking to register the order, shall consider and, if appropriate, use any administrative procedure authorized by the law of the Virgin Islands to enforce a support order or an income-withholding order, or both. If the obligor does not contest administrative enforcement, the order need not be registered. If the obligor contests the validity or administrative enforcement of the order, the support enforcement agency shall register the order pursuant to this subchapter.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 446 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article G - Support Proceeding Under Convention|§ 446. Definitions

 In this article: (1) “Application” means a request under the Convention by an obligee or obligor, or on behalf of a child, made through a central authority for assistance from another central authority. (2) “Central authority” means the entity designated by the United States or a foreign country described in section 392(a)(5)(D) to perform the functions specified in the Convention. (3) “Convention support order” means a support order of a tribunal of a foreign country described in section 392(a)(5)(D). (4) “Direct request” means a petition filed by an individual in a tribunal of the Virgin Islands in a proceeding involving an obligee, obligor, or child residing outside the United States. (5) Foreign central authority” means the entity designated by a foreign country described in section 392(a)(5)(D) to perform the functions specified in the Convention. (6) “Foreign support agreement”: (A) means an agreement for support in a record that: (i) is enforceable as a support order in the country of origin; (ii) has been: (I) formally drawn up or registered as an authentic instrument by a foreign tribunal; or (II) authenticated by, or concluded, registered, or filed with a foreign tribunal; and (III) may be reviewed and modified by a foreign tribunal; and (B) includes a maintenance arrangement or authentic instrument under the Convention. (7) “United States central authority” means the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 446a (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article G - Support Proceeding Under Convention|§ 446a. Applicability

 This article applies only to a support proceeding under the Convention. In such a proceeding, if a provision of this article is inconsistent with Articles A through F, this article controls.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 446b (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article G - Support Proceeding Under Convention|§ 446b. Relationship of the Virgin Islands Department of Justice, Division of Paternity and Child Support to United States Central Authority

 The Virgin Islands Department of Justice, Division of Paternity and Child Support is recognized as the agency designated by the United States Central Authority to perform specific functions under the Convention.
V.I. Code tit. 16, § 446c (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 16 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 13 - Support of Relations|Subchapter II - Interstate Family-Support Act|Article G - Support Proceeding Under Convention|§ 446c. Initiation by Virgin Islands Department of Justice, Division of Paternity and Child Support of proceeding under Convention

 (a) In a support proceeding under this article the Division of Paternity and Child Support shall: (1) transmit and receive applications; and (2) initiate or facilitate the institution of a proceeding regarding an application in a tribunal of the Virgin Islands. (b) The following support proceedings are available to an obligee under the Convention: (1) recognition or recognition and enforcement of a foreign support order; (2) enforcement of a support order issued or recognized in the Virgin Islands; (3) establishment of a support order if there is no existing order, including, if necessary, determination of parentage of a child; (4) establishment of a support order if recognition of a foreign support order is refused under section 446g(b)(2), (4), or (9); (5) modification of a support order of a tribunal of the Virgin Islands; and (6) modification of a support order of a tribunal of another state or a foreign country. (c) The following support proceedings are available under the Convention to an obligor against which there is an existing support order: (1) recognition of an order suspending or limiting enforcement of an existing support order of a tribunal of the Virgin Islands; (2) modification of a support order of a tribunal of the Virgin Islands; and (3) modification of a support order of a tribunal of another state or a foreign country. (d) A tribunal of the Virgin Islands may not require security, bond, or deposit, however described, to guarantee the payment of costs and expenses in proceedings under the Convention.