Virginia Code 20-88.92: Foreign support agreement
A. Except as otherwise provided in subsections C and D, a tribunal of the Commonwealth shall recognize and enforce a foreign support agreement registered in the Commonwealth.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 20-88.92
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Application: means a request under the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance by an obligee or obligor, or on behalf of a child, made through a central authority for assistance from another central authority. See Virginia Code 20-88.83
- Direct request: means a petition or similar pleading filed by an individual in a tribunal of the Commonwealth in a proceeding involving an obligee, obligor, or child residing outside the United States. See Virginia Code 20-88.83
- Foreign support agreement: includes a maintenance arrangement or authentic instrument under the Convention. See Virginia Code 20-88.83
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. An application or direct request for recognition and enforcement of a foreign support agreement must be accompanied by:
1. A complete text of the foreign support agreement; and
2. A record stating that the foreign support agreement is enforceable as an order of support in the issuing country.
C. A tribunal of the Commonwealth may vacate the registration of a foreign support agreement only if, acting on its own motion, the tribunal finds that recognition and enforcement would be manifestly incompatible with public policy.
D. In a contest of a foreign support agreement, a tribunal of the Commonwealth may refuse recognition and enforcement of the agreement if it finds that:
1. Recognition and enforcement of the agreement is manifestly incompatible with public policy;
2. The agreement was obtained by fraud or falsification;
3. The agreement is incompatible with a support order involving the same parties and having the same purpose in the Commonwealth, another state, or a foreign country if the support order is entitled to recognition and enforcement under this chapter in the Commonwealth; or
4. The record submitted under subsection B lacks authenticity or integrity.
E. A proceeding for recognition and enforcement of a foreign support agreement must be suspended during the pendency of a challenge to or appeal of the agreement before a tribunal of another state or a foreign country.
2015, c. 727.