Chapter 5. Enforcement Of Support Order Without Registration of California Family Law Code >> Division 9. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 5.
An income-withholding order issued in another state may
be sent by or on behalf of the obligee, or by the support enforcement
agency, to the person defined as the obligor's employer under
Section 5210 without first filing a petition or comparable pleading
or registering the order with a tribunal of this state.
(a) Upon receipt of an income-withholding order, the
obligor's employer shall immediately provide a copy of the order to
the obligor.
(b) The employer shall treat an income-withholding order issued in
another state which appears regular on its face as if it had been
issued by a tribunal of this state.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) and Section
5700.503, the employer shall withhold and distribute the funds as
directed in the withholding order by complying with terms of the
order which specify:
(1) the duration and amount of periodic payments of current child
support, stated as a sum certain;
(2) the person designated to receive payments and the address to
which the payments are to be forwarded;
(3) medical support, whether in the form of periodic cash payment,
stated as a sum certain, or ordering the obligor to provide health
insurance coverage for the child under a policy available through the
obligor's employment;
(4) the amount of periodic payments of fees and costs for a
support enforcement agency, the issuing tribunal, and the obligee's
attorney, stated as sums certain; and
(5) the amount of periodic payments of arrearages and interest on
arrearages, stated as sums certain.
(d) An employer shall comply with the law of the state of the
obligor's principal place of employment for withholding from income
with respect to:
(1) the employer's fee for processing an income-withholding order;
(2) the maximum amount permitted to be withheld from the obligor's
income; and
(3) the times within which the employer must implement the
withholding order and forward the child-support payment.
If an obligor's employer receives two or more
income-withholding orders with respect to the earnings of the same
obligor, the employer satisfies the terms of the orders if the
employer complies with the law of the state of the obligor's
principal place of employment to establish the priorities for
withholding and allocating income withheld for two or more
child-support obligees.
An employer that complies with an income-withholding
order issued in another state in accordance with this chapter is not
subject to civil liability to an individual or agency with regard to
the employer's withholding of child support from the obligor's
income.
An employer that willfully fails to comply with an
income-withholding order issued in another state and received for
enforcement is subject to the same penalties that may be imposed for
noncompliance with an order issued by a tribunal of this state.
(a) An obligor may contest the validity or enforcement of
an income-withholding order issued in another state and received
directly by an employer in this state by registering the order in a
tribunal of this state and filing a contest to that order as provided
in Chapter 6, or otherwise contesting the order in the same manner
as if the order had been issued by a tribunal of this state.
(b) The obligor shall give notice of the contest to:
(1) a support enforcement agency providing services to the
obligee;
(2) each employer that has directly received an income-withholding
order relating to the obligor; and
(3) the person designated to receive payments in the
income-withholding order or, if no person is designated, to the
obligee.
(a) A party or support enforcement agency seeking to
enforce a support order or an income-withholding order, or both,
issued in another state or a foreign support order may send the
documents required for registering the order to a support enforcement
agency of this state.
(b) Upon receipt of the documents, the support enforcement agency,
without initially seeking to register the order, shall consider and,
if appropriate, use any administrative procedure authorized by the
law of this state to enforce a support order or an income-withholding
order, or both. If the obligor does not contest administrative
enforcement, the order need not be registered. If the obligor
contests the validity or administrative enforcement of the order, the
support enforcement agency shall register the order pursuant to this
part.