§ 19-11-22.Article not exclusive
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 1. Child Support Recovery Act · Last amended 1973 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-22
Plain-English Summary
This one-sentence section settles a question that arises whenever a statute creates new remedies: do the new tools push out the old ones? Here the answer is no. The procedures, actions and remedies in this article, the Child Support Recovery Act, are not exclusive. They stand in addition to, and not in substitution for, other proceedings the law provides.
In practice the department’s administrative process — determinations under § 19-11-15, liens and levies under § 19-11-18, garnishment and orders to withhold and deliver under § 19-11-19 — sits alongside the court routes. Contempt, income withholding under § 19-6-32 and the other remedies the law allows stay available, and using one path doesn’t give up another. Other sections in the article repeat the point for particular tools: § 19-11-18 says a civil action doesn’t keep the agency from enforcing an order by administrative means, and § 19-11-27 says its medical support remedies add to, and don’t replace, any other remedies.
The section has stood unchanged since the Act was enacted in 1973.
Frequently Asked Questions
If the state is collecting my child support, can I still go to court myself?
Nothing in this article takes that option away. The section says the article’s procedures, actions and remedies are in addition to, and not in substitution for, other proceedings provided by law. Whether a separate court action makes sense alongside an open department case is a practical question this section doesn’t answer, so it can pay to coordinate with the agency.
Does using Georgia’s child support agency limit my other legal remedies?
Not under this section. The remedies in the Child Support Recovery Act are not exclusive; they are added to the other proceedings the law already provides. The administrative tools in this article — determinations, liens, levies, garnishments and orders to withhold and deliver — sit alongside court remedies such as contempt and income withholding orders rather than replacing them.
What does it mean that the Child Support Recovery Act is “not exclusive”?
It means the Act doesn’t create the only way to enforce support. Its procedures, actions and remedies are in addition to, and not in substitution for, other proceedings provided by law. A party or the department can use the Act’s tools without giving up other routes, and other routes remain open even when the Act’s tools are in use.
Can the department sue and use administrative enforcement at the same time?
Yes. This section makes the article’s remedies cumulative, and § 19-11-18 says the same thing for liens: filing a civil action in superior court to enforce a lien doesn’t keep the agency from enforcing the support order through any administrative means federal or state law allows. The department doesn’t have to choose one path and abandon the other.
Did Georgia’s Child Support Recovery Act replace older child support laws?
No. When the General Assembly passed the Act in 1973, it included this section to make clear that the new procedures would add to existing proceedings, not substitute for them. The section hasn’t been amended since, so the Act’s tools continue to operate alongside whatever other remedies the law provides.
Amendment History
Laws 1973, p. 192, § 18.