How to Modify or Enforce a Child Support Order in Arizona Issued in Another State

Modifying or Enforcing Child Support From Another State

Modify Child Support From Another State.

Arizona has adopted the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act that provides, in certain circumstances, a parent the right to enforce or modify a child support award issued in another state. The various provisions of the Act are too voluminous to summarize, but if your case meets the requirements, you may then modify or enforce another state’s child support order in Arizona.

The first step is to determine whether the state that issued the child support order continues to maintain exclusive and continuing authority over the child support order. If it does, Arizona lacks the power to modify the order but does have the authority to enforce the other state’s order.

Hildebrand Law, PC | Voted Best of Our Valley in Arizona Foothills Magazine.

If it is determined Arizona has the power to change the order, the other state’s order would have first to be “domesticated” in Arizona, according to the requirements of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. The Arizona Court of Appeals in the In re the Marriage of Glover case discussed all of the steps that need to be taken to domesticate a child support order issued by a judge in another state.

Many lawyers have mistakingly relied upon the domestication provisions of the Arizona Domestication of Foreign Judgments Act, which may result in a failed attempt to properly domesticate the other state’s child support order in Arizona; thereby depriving the Arizona court of authority to modify the award.

Instead, you must register the other state’s child support order according to Arizona’s version of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. For more in-depth information regarding domesticating another state’s child support award, please read our synopsis of the Arizona Court of Appeals decision in the Glover v. Glover case.

Although you must properly register another state’s child support order under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act to modify a child support order of another state, failing to do so does not prevent a parent from enforcing another state’s child support orders in Arizona as decided by the Arizona court of appeals in the Balazic v. Balazic case.

Chris Hildebrand

Chris Hildebrand wrote this article about child support in Arizona to ensure everyone has access to information about child support laws in Arizona. Chris is a family law attorney at Hildebrand Law, PC. He has over 24 years of Arizona family law experience and has received multiple awards, including US News and World Report “Top Arizona Divorce Attorneys”, Phoenix Magazine “Top Divorce Law Firms”, and Arizona Foothills Magazine “Best of the Valley” award. He believes the policies and procedures he uses to get his clients through a child support case should all be guided by the principles of honesty, integrity, and actually caring about what his clients are going through.