Jurisdiction over child support

[SadStepMom]

Hi Soc,

Child support case is in CA
CP lives in WA
NCP lives in OR

CP has lived in WA for more than 6 months, so I know we can file to have the case moved to WA.

1)  When the case is moved to WA and there is a modification, do they use WA calculations, or CA.

I would think they would use WA, but I think I recall you mentioning that if a divorce takes place in state where the NCP pays support until 18/high school graduation, and the case is then moved to a state where support goes to 21 or college graduation, that it won't be changed to the new state's policy, and I wasn't sure if that goes for child support calculations also.

Thanks :)

[socrateaser]

>Hi Soc,
>
>Child support case is in CA
>CP lives in WA
>NCP lives in OR
>
>CP has lived in WA for more than 6 months, so I know we can
>file to have the case moved to WA.
>
>1)  When the case is moved to WA and there is a modification,
>do they use WA calculations, or CA.

If you file your modification case with OR CSE, then OR guidelines will be used, because the NCP is in OR and the CP in WA.

The issue of when support terminates is completely separate from the guideline amount. Under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution, a state must give full effect to the prior judgment of a court. Since CA law determined that support ends at 18 and graduated HS, or 19, whichever comes first, that judgment must stand, regardless of whether the amount of support changes to reflect different circumstances and earning capacities of the parents.

If this makes you wonder how it is that the child support guidelines are permitted to change, whereas the termination date is not, my answer is simply that the UIFSA permits one modification, and is silent regarding the other, and that in the absense of this silence, the Constitutional prohibition on modifying a final judgment controls.

And, if you are wondering how a Uniform statute can overrule the U.S. Constitution, my answer is that it can't, but that it does, because in the wacky world of family law, courts just make up stuff to please themselves (much as I hate to admit the hypocracy, it is reality).