Virginia Code 20-88.50: Duties of support enforcement agency.
A. A support enforcement agency of the Commonwealth, upon request, shall provide services to a petitioner in a proceeding under this chapter.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 20-88.50
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- 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.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. In a proceeding under this chapter, a support enforcement agency of the Commonwealth that is providing services to the petitioner shall:
1. Take all steps necessary to enable an appropriate tribunal of the Commonwealth, another state, or a foreign country to obtain jurisdiction over the respondent;
2. Request an appropriate tribunal to set a date, time, and place for a hearing;
3. Make a reasonable effort to obtain all relevant information, including information as to income and property of the parties;
4. Within two days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after receipt of a written notice in a record from an initiating, responding, or registering tribunal, send a copy of the notice to the petitioner;
5. Within two days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after receipt of a written communication in a record from the respondent or the respondent’s attorney, send a copy of the communication to the petitioner; and
6. Notify the petitioner if jurisdiction over the respondent cannot be obtained.
C. A support enforcement agency of the Commonwealth that requests registration of a child support order in the Commonwealth for enforcement or for modification shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that:
1. The order to be registered is the controlling order; or
2. If two or more child support orders exist and the identity of the controlling order has not been determined, a request for such a determination is made in a tribunal having jurisdiction to do so.
D. A support enforcement agency of the Commonwealth that requests registration and enforcement of a support order, arrears, or judgment stated in a foreign currency shall convert the amounts stated in the foreign currency into the equivalent amounts in U.S. dollars under the applicable official or market exchange rate as publicly reported.
E. A support enforcement agency of the Commonwealth shall issue or request a tribunal of the Commonwealth to issue a child support order and an income-withholding order that redirects payment of current support, arrears, and interest to a support enforcement agency of the Commonwealth if requested to do so by a support enforcement agency of another state pursuant to § 20-88.62.
F. This chapter does not create a relationship of attorney and client or other fiduciary relationship between a support enforcement agency or the attorney for the agency and the individual being assisted by the agency.
1994, c. 673; 1997, cc. 797, 897; 2005, c. 754; 2015, c. 727.