(a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(1) Child and spousal support are serious legal obligations. In addition, children are frequently left in limbo while their parents engage in protracted litigation concerning custody and visitation. The current system for obtaining child and spousal support orders is suffering because the family courts are unduly burdened with heavy case loads and personnel insufficient to meet the needs of increased demands on the courts.

Terms Used In California Family Code 20000

  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Spousal support: means support of the spouse of the obligor. See California Family Code 142
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or a commonwealth, territory, or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 145
  • Support: refers to a support obligation owing on behalf of a child, spouse, or family, or an amount owing pursuant to Section 17402. See California Family Code 150

(2) There is a compelling state interest in the development of a child and spousal support system that is cost-effective and accessible to families with middle or low incomes.

(3) There is a compelling state interest in first implementing such a system on a small scale.

(4) There is a compelling state interest in the development of a speedy, conflict-reducing method of resolving custody and visitation disputes.

(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this part to provide a means for experimenting with and evaluating procedural innovations with significant potential to improve the California child and spousal support systems, and the system for mediation, evaluation, and litigation of custody and visitation disputes.

(Added by Stats. 1993, Ch. 219, Sec. 210. Effective January 1, 1994.)

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