§ 19-11-119.1.Spousal support order; modification; initiating tribunal to request enforcement; responding tribunal to enforce or modify order
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 3. Uniform Interstate Family Support Act · Part 2. Jurisdiction; Cooperation Between States · Last amended 2013 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-119.1
Plain-English Summary
Alimony follows a simpler jurisdiction rule than child support. Under subsection (a), a Georgia tribunal that issues a spousal support order consistent with Georgia law has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify it throughout the existence of the support obligation. Unlike child support under Code Section 19-11-114, this power doesn’t depend on where anyone lives. Both former spouses can leave Georgia and the Georgia tribunal keeps the power to modify.
Subsection (b) is the mirror image. A Georgia tribunal may not modify a spousal support order issued by a tribunal of another state or a foreign country that has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over that order under its own law. Someone who moves to Georgia with an alimony order from elsewhere can’t ask a Georgia tribunal to change it while the issuing tribunal keeps that jurisdiction. The bar is on modification only: Code Section 19-11-160 still allows a support order issued in another state to be registered in Georgia for enforcement.
Subsection (c) lists the roles a Georgia tribunal with continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over a spousal support order may play. It may serve as an initiating tribunal, asking a tribunal of another state to enforce the Georgia order, or as a responding tribunal, enforcing or modifying its own order.
Code Section 19-11-101(25) defines a spousal support order as a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor. Georgia’s own grounds for revising permanent alimony appear in Code Section 19-6-19. This section was added in 2013, and Code Section 19-11-111 keeps Georgia’s personal jurisdiction over the parties alive while its jurisdiction under this section lasts.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I moved out of Georgia, can my Georgia alimony order still be modified in Georgia?
Yes. Subsection (a) gives the Georgia tribunal that issued the spousal support order continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify it throughout the existence of the support obligation. That power doesn’t depend on either spouse still living in Georgia. Whether a modification is granted depends on Georgia’s substantive rules, such as Code Section 19-6-19.
Can a Georgia court change alimony that another state ordered?
No, if the other state’s tribunal has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over the order under its own law. Subsection (b) says a Georgia tribunal may not modify a spousal support order issued by a tribunal of another state or a foreign country in that situation.
Can Georgia enforce an alimony order from another state?
How do I collect Georgia alimony from an ex who now lives in another state?
Subsection (c)(1) lets the Georgia tribunal with continuing, exclusive jurisdiction serve as an initiating tribunal and ask a tribunal of the other state to enforce the order. Under subsection (c)(2), the Georgia tribunal may also act as a responding tribunal to enforce its own order.
Does alimony follow the same rules as child support for which state can modify it?
No. For child support, Code Section 19-11-114 ties Georgia’s continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to whether the obligor, the individual obligee or the child lives in Georgia, or to the parties’ consent. For spousal support, subsection (a) of this section keeps that jurisdiction for as long as the obligation exists, regardless of residence.
Amendment History
Laws 2013, Act 224, § 1, eff. July 1, 2013.