Arizona § 25-506 - Order for assignment; foreign support order

§ 25-506. Order for assignment; foreign support order

A. A petition for an ex parte order for assignment may be filed by an agency based on an order for support issued by a court or an agency in a state other than this state. The petition shall include the information required by section 25-504 and the following documents:

1. A certified copy of the support order with all modifications.

2. A certified copy of an income withholding order, if any, still in effect.

3. A copy of the income withholding law of the jurisdiction that issued the support order.

4. A sworn statement of arrearages.

5. The assignment of support rights, if any.

B. On receipt of a petition pursuant to subsection A of this section, the clerk of the court shall enter an order for ex parte assignment. The order for wage assignment is binding on any employer or payor who is doing business in this state and who employs or is obligated to make periodic payments to the person owing child support or spousal maintenance and is subject to this section. Participation in a proceeding under this subsection does not confer jurisdiction on a court over any of the parties to the proceeding in any other proceeding. If an obligor does not have periodic earnings, income or entitlements, the court shall order an assignment against any monies owed to the obligor or held for the benefit of the obligor. The order of assignment shall direct the holder of the monies to withhold and pay to the person or agency entitled to receive the child support the amount necessary to pay the amount ordered by the court.

C. If the obligor seeks to quash the assignment, the attorney general or county attorney shall immediately notify the petitioning state of the date, time and place of the hearing and of the obligee's right to attend. The only bases for the obligor to contest the withholding are that:

1. The withholding is not proper because of a mistake of fact that is not res judicata.

2. The court or agency that issued the support order lacked personal jurisdiction over the obligor.

3. The order was obtained by fraud.

4. The statute of limitations precludes enforcement of all or a part of the arrearages.

D. The court, on request of any party, shall continue the hearing on the motion to quash to permit evidence relative to the defense to be adduced by either party.

E. On a motion to quash, the court, for good cause, may quash the portion of an assignment order relating to arrearages without prejudice to the petitioner.

F. The obligation for current child support shall be fully met before any payments under an order of assignment may be applied to the payment of arrearages. If a person is obligated to pay child support for more than one family and the amount available for withholding is not sufficient to meet the total combined child support obligation, any monies withheld from the obligor's earnings, income, entitlements or other monies shall be allocated to each family by the employer or payor as follows:

1. The amount of current child support ordered in each case shall be added to obtain the total child support obligation.

2. The ordered amount in each case shall be divided by the total child support obligation to obtain a percentage of the total amount due.

3. The amount withheld from the obligor's earnings, income, entitlements or other monies shall be multiplied by the percentage under paragraph 2 of this subsection to obtain the amount to be allocated to each family.