§ 19-11-184.6.Modification of convention child support order

It depends on where the obligee lives. If the order is a Hague convention child support order and the obligee remains a resident of the country that issued it, a Georgia tribunal may not modify it unless the obligee submits to Georgia’s jurisdiction or the foreign tribunal lacks or refuses to exercise jurisdiction to modify the order or issue a new one. Other modification rules in the article still apply.

The obligee submits to a Georgia tribunal’s jurisdiction either expressly or by defending on the merits of the case without objecting to jurisdiction at the first available opportunity. So an obligee who argues the substance of the modification without raising jurisdiction first may lose the protection this section gives.

Then Georgia may be able to act. The bar on modification lifts when the foreign tribunal lacks or refuses to exercise jurisdiction to modify its support order or issue a new support order. Section 19-11-174 also lets a Georgia tribunal assume jurisdiction to modify in that situation, subject to this section.

This section’s bar applies only while the obligee remains a resident of the foreign country where the order was issued. If the obligee no longer lives there, this particular limit doesn’t apply, but the article’s other rules on modifying foreign support orders still govern whether a Georgia tribunal can act.

Subsection (b) sends you to § 19-11-184.3(c). Under that rule, the tribunal may not dismiss the proceeding without allowing a reasonable time for a party to request a new convention support order. And if the application was received under § 19-11-183, the Department of Human Services shall take all appropriate measures to request a child support order for the obligee.