§ 19-11-190.Construction of article; uniformity
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 3. Uniform Interstate Family Support Act · Part 9. Miscellaneous Provisions · Last amended 2013 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-190
Plain-English Summary
Georgia’s Uniform Interstate Family Support Act — the name comes from § 19-11-100 — is a uniform act, written to be adopted with the same text in many states. Its rules govern how support orders cross state and national lines: how one state’s order is registered and enforced in another (§ 19-11-161), which order controls, and when an order may be modified. Those rules work only if the states on each side of a case read the shared text the same way.
This one-sentence section builds that goal into Georgia law. In applying and construing the article, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law on its subject among the states that enact it. The duty is mandatory — consideration “must” be given — but what must be considered is the need for uniformity. The section doesn’t make other states’ rulings binding in Georgia; it makes uniformity a factor Georgia decision-makers have to weigh. Those decision-makers include the article’s tribunals: the superior courts, the Office of State Administrative Hearings and the Department of Human Services (§ 19-11-102).
The section opens Part 9, the article’s closing provisions, along with the effective-date rule in § 19-11-190.1, the severability clause in § 19-11-191 and the 2025 provision on heirship cases in § 19-11-192. It dates to 1997 and was amended in 2013.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Georgia court look at other states’ decisions when interpreting UIFSA?
Yes, and it has to keep uniformity in mind. This section says that in applying and construing the article, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law among the states that enact it. Looking at how other enacting states read the same text is one way a tribunal can give that consideration.
Are Georgia courts bound by other states’ UIFSA rulings?
Not by this section. It requires consideration of the need to promote uniformity among enacting states; it doesn’t make another state’s interpretation binding in Georgia. How much weight to give a particular out-of-state decision is left to the Georgia court or tribunal applying the article.
What is the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act in Georgia?
It is Article 3 of Chapter 11 of Title 19, named in § 19-11-100. It governs proceedings to establish a support order or determine a child’s parentage, and to register, recognize, enforce or modify support orders, determinations and agreements from other states and foreign countries (§ 19-11-190.1). It also includes Georgia’s rules for Hague convention cases and interstate rendition.
Who has to follow this uniformity rule?
Anyone applying and construing the article. In practice that means Georgia’s tribunals under the article — the superior courts, the Office of State Administrative Hearings and the Department of Human Services, as § 19-11-102 provides — along with the courts that review their decisions.
Why does uniformity matter in child support cases?
Because many support cases involve more than one state. Under this article, an order issued in one state can be registered and enforced in another (§ 19-11-161). When each state reads the shared text the same way, parents and agencies face the same rules whichever state they are in, and an order means the same thing on both sides of a state line.
Amendment History
Laws 1997, p. 1613, § 33; Laws 2013, Act 224, § 1, eff. July 1, 2013.