(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.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 36-5-2507

  • Foreign support order: means a support order of a foreign tribunal. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Income-withholding order: means an order or other legal process directed to an obligor's employer or other debtor, as provided for in part 5 of this chapter, to withhold support from the income of the obligor. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Obligor: means an individual, or the estate of a decedent that:
    (A) Owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Register: means to file in a tribunal of this state a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • 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 Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:
    (A) Seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
  • 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 Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
(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 parts 20-29 of this chapter.