§ 19-6-35.Child support obligee regarded as creditor for attacking certain judgments and transactions
Chapter 6. Alimony and Child Support · Article 1. General Provisions · Last amended 1997 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-6-35
Plain-English Summary
A parent who owes child support sometimes tries to move money or property out of reach. This short section gives the person owed support the same footing a creditor has to fight back. It treats a child support obligee as a creditor, and a child support obligor as a debtor, as those terms are defined in § 18-2-1 of Georgia’s debtor-and-creditor law. That status applies for one purpose: attacking as fraudulent a judgment, conveyance, transaction or other arrangement that interferes with the creditor’s rights, through either a legal or an equitable action.
The definitions are broad. A child support obligee is the person owed a child support payment, and includes a custodial parent, a caretaker of the child who is to receive support, or a government agency entitled by law to enforce the support on behalf of that parent, caretaker or child. A child support obligor is anyone who owes a duty of support to a child, whether or not that duty has been put into a judgment, order or decree. So a parent can be treated as a debtor under this section before any support order exists.
The section doesn’t itself spell out what makes a transfer fraudulent or what a court can do about it; those standards come from the debtor-and-creditor law it borrows. Whether a particular deed, gift or arrangement can be set aside depends on the facts and on the court. The section dates from 1997 and has not been amended since.
Frequently Asked Questions
My ex transferred property to avoid paying child support in Georgia — can I challenge it?
Yes, this section gives you standing to try. It treats the person owed child support as a creditor and the parent who owes it as a debtor, for the purpose of attacking as fraudulent a judgment, conveyance, transaction or other arrangement that interferes with collecting support. Whether a particular transfer is fraudulent, and what relief follows, depends on Georgia’s debtor-and-creditor law, the facts and the court’s ruling.
Do I need a child support order before I can challenge a fraudulent transfer?
Not under this section’s definitions. A child support obligor is anyone who owes a duty of support to a child, whether or not that duty is shown in a judgment, order or decree. So the parent who owes support counts as a debtor even before a court has entered a support order. You would still need to show the transfer was fraudulent under the debtor-and-creditor law the section borrows.
Can the Georgia child support agency challenge a fraudulent transfer?
Yes. The definition of child support obligee includes a government agency entitled by law to enforce a child support obligation on behalf of a parent, caretaker or child. That means the agency gets the same creditor status as the parent or caretaker it represents and can attack a fraudulent judgment, conveyance, transaction or other arrangement that interferes with collecting support.
Can a grandparent raising a child use this law to go after hidden assets?
Yes, if child support is owed to that grandparent. The definition of child support obligee covers not only a custodial parent but also a caretaker of a child to whom the support is to be paid. A grandparent or other caretaker in that position is treated as a creditor and can challenge as fraudulent a transfer or arrangement that interferes with collecting the support.
Does this section protect alimony as well as child support?
No. Its definitions speak only of child support obligations and duties of support owed to a child. Alimony has its own protections elsewhere. For example, § 19-6-1(e) says that while a court has not yet decided a party’s right to alimony, neither spouse may make a substantial change in his or her assets, except in the ordinary course of business or through good-faith transfers for value.
Amendment History
Laws 1997, p. 1613, § 13.