?? regarding child support jurisdiction.

[frustratedfamily]

my husband was divorced in TX, he then moved to PA and has been here for 8 years, his ex and daughter moved to MN and have been there for 7 years.  The court order for support was issued with the divorce in TX.

His ex wants to move the support order to MN, but my husband would rather have it in PA.  From reading the UIFSA it seems that if she initiates the request it would move it to PA but if my husband initiated the request to move it would go to MN.  I don't understand this.

She has apparently already contacted an attorney to start whatever process.

questions:

1.  Who has jurisdiction over the support order, am I correct that it should be PA?

2.  Does it matter who requests the change?

3.  Would we have to appear or have an attorney appear in MN just to tell them they don't have juisdiction?

4.  What forms do we file to contest jurisdiction?

5.  How long do you think it will take to actually get it moved to PA and have a hearing?  

Thanks in advance for all your help

[socrateaser]

>questions:
>
>1.  Who has jurisdiction over the support order, am I correct
>that it should be PA?

I think I can answer all your questions here. Under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, any court can modify support, HOWEVER, if neither the parents nor the children at issue continue to reside in the State where the last valid and enforceable support order was made, then the court hearing the matter must use the law of the State in which the obligor parent resides (i.e., PA, in this case), UNLESS the obligor parent consents to the jurisdiction of the obligee parent's State courts.

This consent, can sometimes be inadvertantly given by appearing, either in person or by filing a pleading with the obligee court, in which the obligor raises ANY issue of law or fact, other than the issue of jurisdiction (called "impliedly consenting to jurisdiction"). So, if the other parent tries to trick you into submitting to MN jurisdiction (which is unlikely, as the attorney will probably ask the MN court to issue a request to a PA court or PA CSE to make a new support order against you), all you need to do is send a short letter to the court, and copy the other attorney, stating that:

"Dear Judge,

On ??/??/??, I received a summons and petition to modify support in the NAMEOFCOURT. I hereby declare, that I am a resident of the State of Pennsylvania, that I have never resided or been employed in the State of Minnesota, nor do my children reside in Minnesota due to any action on my part. Therefore, I request that the court dismiss the current action for a modification of child support on grounds that ithe court does not have personal jurisdiction over me.

Respectfully Submitted,

YOURNAME
Respondent, Pro Se"

Now, it is also possible that the MN court will create an order using PA law and your ex will serve it on your employer. If this occurs, then you have the right to petition a PA court to quash or modify the order, IF YOU ACT within 10 days -- otherwise the order will be confirmed by operation of law. And, this is where you must be very careful, because many payroll departments are just too slow about informing their employees that a wage assignment has been served, and the employee only finds out when he/she receives the next paycheck displaying a garnishment amount deducted -- only by then it's TOOOOOO LATE, to do anything about it.

So, if you're employed then you need to let your payroll dept. know right now, IN WRITING, certified mail, return receipt requested, that they may be receving a wage assignment order and that you want to know about it IMMEDIATELY. And, even then I'd be checking every week to make certain that payroll hasn't received the order.

Otherwise, you may get stuck with a support award that is incorrect, and then you'll need to run back to court and try to modify it -- which will be refused by the court, because there will likely have been no change in circumstances since the previous award was made, 10 days prior.

Finally, your ex has the option of filing a motion to modify in PA, as do you, and if that happens first, then there is no issue, PA will have jurisdiction, and your ex will need a PA attorney to deal with the claim.