Art. 2791.Registration of Support Orders For Enforcement Only

Subsection C shifts from modification to collection. Article 2791 opens the enforcement track by letting a support order rendered by a Louisiana court be registered in another Louisiana court purely for enforcement -- collecting on the order as it already stands, rather than changing its terms.

Unlike the modification track, Article 2791 does not condition registration on the parties having moved out of the rendering parish; the obligee needs only a court in a position to enforce collection. The obligee transmits to the registering court's clerk a certified copy of the support order along with a verified statement of support or a federally approved URESA or UIFSA form, signed by a party to the order. That statement or form must give the obligee's name and street address, the obligor's name and last known residence or mailing address, the total amount of arrearages owed under the order that have not yet been reduced to a judgment, and a list of every jurisdiction where the order is registered.

The clerk's duties on receipt track the modification procedure closely. The clerk opens the matter as a family-law filing with its own docket number and, where applicable, a division. The clerk registers the order by placing a dated notation on the certified copy identifying it as registered for enforcement by that court. The clerk then gets a copy of the registered order and the verified statement to the obligor, either by certified or registered mail to the addresses given, or through formal service of process with notice of registration standing in for a citation.

Filing in compliance with these steps constitutes registration for enforcement. Notably, Article 2791 does not itself require notice to the rendering court, unlike the modification track -- registering for enforcement does not shift jurisdiction over the order the way a confirmed modification registration does.