Arizona Laws 25-1227. Determination of controlling child support order
A. If a proceeding is brought under this chapter and only one tribunal has issued a child support order, the order of that tribunal is controlling and shall be recognized.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 25-1227
- Child: means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Child support order: means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision of a country, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and to which any of the following applies:
(a) It has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Home state: means the state or foreign country in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing a petition or a comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six months old, the state or foreign country in which the child lived from birth with any of them. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Obligee: means any of the following:
(a) An individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child has been issued. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Obligor: means an individual or the estate of a decedent that meets any of the following conditions:
(a) Owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and that is retrievable in perceivable form. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity or private agency authorized to do any of the following:
(a) Seek the enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision or directive, whether temporary, final or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse or a former spouse, that provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
B. If a proceeding is brought under this chapter and two or more child support orders have been issued by tribunals in this state, another state or a foreign country with regard to the same obligor and the same child, a tribunal of this state having personal jurisdiction over both the obligor and individual obligee shall apply the following rules and by order shall determine which order controls and must be recognized:
1. If only one of the tribunals would have continuing, exclusive jurisdiction under this chapter, the order of that tribunal controls.
2. If more than one of the tribunals would have continuing, exclusive jurisdiction under this chapter, an order issued by a tribunal in the current home state of the child is controlling. If an order has not been issued in the current home state of the child, the order most recently issued is controlling.
3. If none of the tribunals would have continuing exclusive jurisdiction under this chapter, the tribunal of this state shall issue a child support order that is controlling.
C. If two or more child support orders have been issued for the same obligor and the same child, on request of a party who is an individual or that is a support enforcement agency, a tribunal of this state having personal jurisdiction over both the obligor and the obligee who is an individual shall determine which order controls under subsection B of this section. The request may be filed with a registration for enforcement or registration for modification pursuant to article 6 of this chapter or may be filed as a separate proceeding.
D. A request to determine which is the controlling order must be accompanied by a copy of every child support order in effect and the applicable record of payments. The requesting party shall give notice of the request to each party whose rights may be affected by the determination.
E. The tribunal that issued the order that is recognized as controlling under subsection A, B or C of this section has continuing jurisdiction to the extent provided pursuant to section 25-1225 or 25-1226.
F. A tribunal of this state that determines the order that is the controlling support order under subsection B, paragraph 1 or 2 of this section or subsection C of this section or that issues a new controlling support order under subsection B, paragraph 3 of this section shall state in that order:
1. The basis on which the tribunal made its determination.
2. The amount of prospective support, if any.
3. The total amount of consolidated arrears and accrued interest, if any, under all of the orders after all payments made are credited pursuant to section 25-1229.
G. Within thirty days after issuance of an order determining which is the controlling order, the party obtaining the order shall file a certified copy of the order in each tribunal that had issued or registered an earlier order of child support. A party or support enforcement agency that obtains the controlling order but fails to file a certified copy is subject to appropriate sanctions by a tribunal in which the issue of failure to file arises. The failure to file does not affect the validity or enforceability of the controlling order.
H. An order that has been determined to be the controlling order or a judgment for consolidated arrears of support and interest, if any, made pursuant to this section must be recognized in proceedings under this chapter.