§ 19-11-124.Receipt of petition of pleading by responding Georgia tribunal; action authorized; limitations; foreign currency conversion

This section is the toolbox for a Georgia tribunal answering an interstate support case. Subsection (a) starts the case: when a responding Georgia tribunal receives a petition or comparable pleading from an initiating tribunal, or directly under Code Section 19-11-120(b), it shall have the petition filed and tell the petitioner where and when it was filed.

Subsection (b) lists what the tribunal may do, one or more at a time, to the extent other law doesn’t prohibit it. It may establish or enforce a support order, modify a child support order, determine the controlling child support order, or determine parentage. It may order the obligor to comply with a support order, saying how much and how. It may order income withholding. It may determine arrearages and set a method of payment. It may enforce orders by civil or criminal contempt, or both. It may set aside property to satisfy the order, and place liens and order execution on the obligor’s property. It may order the obligor to keep the tribunal informed of a current home address, e-mail address, telephone number, employer, work address and work telephone number. It may order the arrest of an obligor who, after proper notice, fails to appear at a hearing the tribunal ordered, and enter that order in local and state computer systems for criminal warrants. It may order the obligor to seek appropriate employment by specified methods. It may award reasonable attorney’s fees and other fees and costs. And it may grant any other available remedy. All 12 items are discretionary.

The rest of the section is mandatory or prohibitory. Under subsection (c), a support order issued under the article, or its accompanying documents, shall include the calculations behind it. Under subsection (d), the tribunal may not condition payment of a support order issued under the article on a party’s compliance with visitation provisions. Under subsection (e), it shall send a copy of any order to the petitioner, the respondent and the initiating tribunal, if any. Under subsection (f), when asked to enforce or modify a support order, arrears or judgment stated in a foreign currency, it shall convert the amount into dollars using the applicable official or market exchange rate as publicly reported.

Code Section 19-11-122 says the tribunal applies Georgia law and Georgia’s support guidelines, and Code Section 19-11-132 adds rules on who may be charged fees and costs. The section was amended in 2013.