(a) A petitioner may file a direct request seeking establishment or modification of a support order or determination of parentage of a child. In the proceeding, the law of this state applies.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 36-5-2705

  • 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 Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Convention: means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at The Hague on November 23, 2007. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Foreign support order: means a support order of a foreign tribunal. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Obligee: means :
    (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 Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Obligor: means an individual, or the estate of a decedent that:
    (A) Owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • 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 Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • 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, 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 Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
(b) A petitioner may file a direct request seeking recognition and enforcement of a support order or support agreement. In the proceeding, §§ 36-5-2706 – 36-5-2713 apply.
(c) In a direct request for recognition and enforcement of a Convention support order or foreign support agreement:

(1) A security, bond, or deposit is not required to guarantee the payment of costs and expenses; and
(2) An obligee or obligor that in the issuing country has benefited from free legal assistance is entitled to benefit, at least to the same extent, from any free legal assistance provided for by the law of this state under the same circumstances.
(d) A petitioner filing a direct request is not entitled to assistance from the department of human services.
(e) This part does not prevent the application of laws of this state that provide simplified, more expeditious rules regarding a direct request for recognition and enforcement of a foreign support order or foreign support agreement.
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