Art. 2790.Confirmed Registered Support Order; Enforcement

Article 2790 addresses two separate issues that come up once a registered support order under the modification track is confirmed and someone tries to enforce it.

The first is what the obligor can argue at an enforcement hearing. Article 2790 limits the obligor to matters that would be available as defenses in an action to enforce the order in the rendering court -- not a fresh chance to relitigate the order's validity. If the obligor shows that an appeal from the order is pending, will be taken, or that a stay of execution has been granted, the court must stay enforcement, provided the obligor furnishes the security for payment that the rendering court required. More broadly, if the obligor shows any ground on which enforcement of the confirmed order may be stayed, the court must grant an appropriate stay period as long as the legally required security is furnished.

The second issue is arrearages -- past-due support that built up before the order was registered. Article 2790 protects those pre-registration arrearages from being modified, unless a petition for modification was already pending at the time of registration. Even then, any modification of those arrearages applies only retroactively to the date that modification petition was filed, not further back.

Together these rules keep enforcement predictable: the obligor cannot use an enforcement hearing to reopen settled questions, and past-due amounts stay fixed unless a modification request was already in motion before registration occurred.