Re-opening a child support order after moving out of state

Question:Cordell & Cordell attorney Andrea Miller

I am in arrears thanks to being laid off from my job and I am trying to pay off back child support in New Jersey. Recently, my ex has threatened to contact the New Jersey child support agency and have the support payments resumed even though the children have long since graduated college.

However, both of us now live in North Carolina. Would the fact that she has moved out of state have any effect on the original child support order being re-opened and enforced?

Answer:

While I am licensed to practice law in North Carolina, it seems that the controlling law is in New Jersey, at least at this time.

Congress has initiated an act called the Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders.  Basically, your ex can “petition” North Carolina to have the New Jersey order “registered” in North Carolina, where you are, and if she is successful in getting it enforced in North Carolina, North Carolina may have to follow the New Jersey Order.

Even though she is not living in New Jersey anymore, she still can try to get the Order enforced in North Carolina.

Unfortunately, I am not licensed to practice law in New Jersey and do not know what their child support laws are. More information would need to be obtained in order for me to completely answer this question.  Please be advised that my answering of this question does not constitute an attorney-client relationship.

 

Andrea Miller is a Staff Attorney in the Charlotte, N.C., office of Cordell & Cordell where she practices domestic relations exclusively. Ms. Miller is licensed in the state of North Carolina. Ms. Miller received her undergraduate degree in History and her Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  While in law school, she on the Client Counseling Team for Moot Court and became a board member. Ms. Miller also participated in UNC’s Legal Assistance Clinic whereby she helped represent indigent clients obtain legal counsel primarily in the area of domestic relations.

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