North Carolina General Statutes 52C-3-305. Duties and powers of responding tribunal
(a) When a responding tribunal of this State receives a petition or comparable pleading from an initiating tribunal or directly pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 52C-3-301(c) it shall cause the petition or pleading to be filed and notify the petitioner where and when it was filed.
(b) A responding tribunal of this State, to the extent not prohibited by law, may do one or more of the following:
(1) Establish or enforce a support order, modify a child support order, determine the controlling child support order, or determine parentage of a child;
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 52C-3-305
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- 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 North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- 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 North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Income: includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject to withholding for support under the law of this State. See North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- Initiating tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or foreign country. See North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- Obligor: means an individual who, or the estate of a decedent that:
- property: shall include all property, both real and personal. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or a foreign country. See North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- 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 under the jurisdiction of the United States. See North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision, or directive, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued in a state or a foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, which 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 North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
- 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 North Carolina General Statutes 52C-1-101
(2) Order an obligor to comply with a support order, specifying the amount and the manner of compliance;
(3) Order income withholding;
(4) Determine the amount of any arrears, and specify a method of payment;
(5) Enforce orders by civil or criminal contempt, or both;
(6) Set aside property for satisfaction of the support order;
(7) Place liens and order execution on the obligor’s property;
(8) Order an obligor to keep the tribunal informed of the obligor’s current residential address, electronic-mail address, telephone number, employer, address of employment, and telephone number at the place of employment;
(9) Issue an order for arrest for an obligor who has failed after proper notice to appear at a hearing ordered by the tribunal and enter the order for arrest in any local and State computer systems for criminal warrants;
(10) Order the obligor to seek appropriate employment by specified methods;
(11) Award reasonable attorneys’ fees and other fees and costs; and
(12) Grant any other available remedy.
(c) A responding tribunal of this State shall include in a support order issued under this Chapter, or in the documents accompanying the order, the calculations on which the support order is based.
(d) A responding tribunal of this State may not condition the payment of a support order issued under this Chapter upon compliance by a party with provisions for visitation.
(e) If a responding tribunal of this State issues an order under this Chapter, the tribunal shall send a copy of the order to the petitioner and the respondent and to the initiating tribunal, if any.
(f) If requested to enforce a support order, arrears, or judgment or modify a support order stated in a foreign currency, a responding tribunal of this State shall convert the amount stated in the foreign currency to the equivalent amount in dollars under the applicable official or market exchange rate as publicly reported. (1995, c. 538, s. 7(c); 1997-433, s. 10.5; 1998-17, s. 1; 2015-117, s. 1.)