§ 19-11-80.Registration procedure — Hearing; defenses; grounds for stay; entry of order as registration; county’s entitlement to fee; through whom payments made

This section belongs to Article 2, Georgia’s version of the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA). Under § 19-11-40.1, no new petition may be filed and no new proceeding may begin under Article 2 on or after January 1, 1998; the article applies only to proceedings pending before that date. Interstate support cases begun since then fall under Article 3, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, which starts at § 19-11-100.

Subsection (a) limits what the obligor — the person who owes support — can argue at the registration hearing. He may present only matters that would be defenses in an action to enforce a foreign money judgment. It then sets two stay rules, both mandatory. If the obligor shows that an appeal from the order is pending or will be taken, or that a stay of execution has been granted, the court shall stay enforcement until the appeal is concluded, the time for appeal expires, or the order is vacated — but only on satisfactory proof that the obligor has furnished security for payment as the rendering state requires. And if the obligor shows any ground on which enforcement of a Georgia support order could be stayed, the court shall stay enforcement for an appropriate period if the obligor furnishes the same security a Georgia order would require.

Under subsection (b), if the obligor raises no defenses or the court finds them meritless, the court shall enter an order making the foreign support order an order of the courts of Georgia. Entering that order is the registration.

Subsection (c) deals with money for the county. The registration of a foreign support order, an order denying registration, or an order in an action to enforce a registered order counts as an order granting or denying support. That entitles the county where the proceeding is brought to the $50.00 fee provided in § 19-11-53. Subsection (d) lets the court order payment under the registered order through the clerk of the superior court, the department, or another collection agency it designates. Once registered, the order is treated like a Georgia order under § 19-11-81. The section was last amended in 1992.