(A) The petitioner may not be required to pay a filing fee or other costs.

Terms Used In Ohio Code 3115.313

  • Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision of the country, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders to which at least one of the following applies:

    (1) It has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country;

    (2) It has established a reciprocal arrangement for child support with this state as provided in section 3115. See Ohio Code 3115.102

  • Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See Ohio Code 3115.102
  • Obligee: means any of the following:

    (1) An individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child has been issued;

    (2) A foreign country, state, or political subdivision of a state to which the rights under a duty of support or support order have been assigned or that has independent claims based on financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support;

    (3) An individual seeking a judgment determining parentage of the individual's child;

    (4) A person that is a creditor in a proceeding under sections 3115. See Ohio Code 3115.102

  • Obligor: means an individual, or the estate of a decedent, to whom or to which any of the following applies:

    (1) The individual or estate owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support. See Ohio Code 3115.102

  • Responding state: means a state in which a petition or comparable pleading for support or to determine parentage of a child is filed or to which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded for filing from another state or a foreign country. See Ohio Code 3115.102
  • Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country. See Ohio Code 3115.102
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession under the jurisdiction of the United States. See Ohio Code 3115.102
  • Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to do any of the following:

    (1) Seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support;

    (2) Seek establishment or modification of child support;

    (3) Request determination of parentage of a child;

    (4) Attempt to locate obligors or their assets; or

    (5) Request determination of the controlling child-support order. See Ohio Code 3115.102

  • Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision, or directive, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, which provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support, or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See Ohio Code 3115.102
  • Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See Ohio Code 3115.102

(B) If an obligee prevails, a responding tribunal of this state may assess against an obligor filing fees, reasonable attorney’s fees, other costs, and necessary travel and other reasonable expenses incurred by the obligee and the obligee’s witnesses. The tribunal may not assess fees, costs, or expenses against the obligee or the support enforcement agency of either the initiating or responding state or foreign country, except as provided by other law. Attorney’s fees may be taxed as costs, and may be ordered paid directly to the attorney, who may enforce the order in the attorney’s own name. Payment of support owed to the obligee has priority over fees, costs, and expenses.

(C) The tribunal shall order the payment of costs and reasonable attorney’s fees if it determines that a hearing was requested primarily for delay. In a proceeding under sections 3115.601 to 3115.616 of the Revised Code, a hearing is presumed to have been requested primarily for delay if a registered support order is confirmed or enforced without change.

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