Guam § 35102 - Definitions.

§ 35102. Definitions.

In this Act:

(a) Child means an individual, whether over or under the age

of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the

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individual’s parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a

support order directed to the parent.

(b) Child-support order means a support order for a child,

including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law

of the issuing state or foreign country.

(c) Convention means the Convention on the International

Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family

Maintenance, concluded at The Hague on November 23, 2007.

(d) Duty of support means an obligation imposed or imposable

by law to provide support for a child, spouse, or former spouse,

including an unsatisfied obligation to provide support.

(e) Foreign country means a country, including a political

subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the

issuance of support orders and:

(1) which has been declared under the law of the United

States to be a foreign reciprocating country;

(2) which has established a reciprocal arrangement for

child support with this state as provided in § 35308;

(3) which has enacted a law or established procedures for

the issuance and enforcement of support orders which are

substantially similar to the procedures under this Act; or

(4) in which the Convention is in force with respect to the

United States.

(f) Foreign support order means a support order of a foreign

tribunal.

(g) Foreign tribunal means a court, administrative agency, or

quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country that is authorized to

establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine

parentage of a child. The term includes a competent authority under

the Convention.

(h) Home state means the state or foreign country in which a

child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six

(6) consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing of

a petition or comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less

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than six (6) months old, the state or foreign country in which the

child lived from birth with any of them. A period of temporary

absence of any of them is counted as part of the six (6)-month or

other period.

(i) Income includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to

money from any source and any other property subject to

withholding for support under the law of this state.

(j) Income-withholding order means an order or other legal

process directed to an obligor’s employer, or other debtor, as

defined by the income-withholding law of Guam, to withhold

support from the income of the obligor.

(k) Initiating tribunal means the tribunal of a state or foreign

country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded

or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding

to another state or foreign country.

(l) Issuing foreign country means the foreign country in which

a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining

parentage of a child.

(m) Issuing state means the state in which a tribunal issues a

support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child.

(n) Issuing tribunal means the tribunal of a state or foreign

country that issues a support order or a judgment determining

parentage of a child.

(o) Law includes decisional and statutory laws, and rules and

regulations having the force of law.

(p) Obligee means:

(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 which has independent claims

based on financial assistance provided to an individual obligee

in place of child support;

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(3) an individual seeking a judgment determining

parentage of the individual’s child; or

(4) a person that is a creditor in a proceeding under

Article 7.

(q) Obligor means an individual, or the estate of a decedent

that:

(1) owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support;

(2) is alleged but has not been adjudicated to be a parent

of a child;

(3) is liable under a support order; or

(4) is a debtor in a proceeding under Article 7.

(r) Outside this state means a location in another state or a

country other than the United States, whether or not the country is a

foreign country.

(s) Person means an individual, corporation, business trust,

estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint

venture, public corporation, government or governmental

subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or

commercial entity.

(t) Record means information that is inscribed on a tangible

medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is

retrievable in perceivable form.

(u) 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.

(v) Registering tribunal means a tribunal in which a support

order or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered.

(w) 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.

(x) Responding tribunal means the authorized tribunal in a

responding state or foreign country.

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(y) Spousal-support order means a support order for a spouse

or former spouse of the obligor.

(z) State means a state of the United States, the District of

Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or

any territory or insular possession under the jurisdiction of the

United States. The term includes an Indian nation or tribe.

(aa) Support enforcement agency means a public official,

governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:

(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.

(bb) 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. The term may include related costs and fees, interest,

income withholding, automatic adjustment, reasonable attorney’s

fees, and other relief.

(cc) 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.

2015 NOTE: Subsection designations were altered to reflect the Compiler’s alpha-

numeric scheme pursuant to 1 GCA § 1606.