Enforcing Support Judgments Across State Lines

December 15, 2010

One of the most complex and confusing areas of law is the authority of a court to act on people outside its jurisdiction. A core element of jurisdiction is contact. For a court to have jurisdiction over a person, the person must have some "contact" with the court.

This means that generally, for an Illinois court to have jurisdiction, you either must live in Illinois or have some transaction that occurs in Illinois. For example, if you are from Indiana and you drive across the border and have a traffic accident, an Illinois court obtains jurisdiction based on that accident.

A frequent area of law where this question arises is in the enforcement of child-support orders. Because divorced parents may move, and one of the parents may leave the state with or without the child, there may be questions as to which state's court has jurisdiction to enforce the order if a parent stops paying child support.

Uniform Interstate Family Support Act

All 50 states have adopted the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, which governs interstate matters involving support. As a rule, jurisdiction remains with the court that issued the order, unless the child moves from the jurisdiction. In that situation, the state where the child resides is presumed to be best able to handle issues with the case, as the child and one parent would be available to the court.

If the parent without custody of the child moves, the court in the home state for the child generally retains authority to issue enforcement orders for support payments. A court in the new state would enforce those orders as if they had been issued by a court of the new state. In Illinois, the court retains jurisdiction until one of two events has occurred:
- "As long as this State remains the residence of the obligor, the individual obligee, or the child for whose benefit the support order is issued; or
- Until all of the parties who are individuals have filed written consents with the tribunal of this State for a tribunal of another state to modify the order and assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction." 750 ILCS 22/205(a).

In some cases, even if a new court obtains jurisdiction to modify the Illinois order for future support payments, the Illinois court generally retains jurisdiction for elements that were not modified by the new court order.

If you have moved to Illinois from another jurisdiction and have questions on how to enforce an order from that court in Illinois, or have any questions on how you should act, you should consult an experienced family law attorney in Illinois, who can advise you of potential outcomes and how best to proceed to receive the outcome you desire. Similarly, if you are affected by an Illinois child support order and are contemplating leaving the state, discuss your situation with an Illinois family lawyer before you leave the jurisdiction.

Article provided by Law Office of Gary L. Schlesinger
Visit us at www.illinois-family-lawyer.com