Tennessee § 36-5-2313 - Costs and fees.

§ 36-5-2313. Costs and fees.

The petitioner may not be required to pay a filing fee or other costs. 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. 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 part 26 of this chapter, a hearing is presumed to have been requested primarily for delay if a registered support order is confirmed or enforced without change. Acts 2010, ch. 901, § 1. Compiler's Notes. Part 20, § 36-5-2001 (Acts 1997, ch. 551, § 2), concerning the short title for title 36, ch. 5, parts 20-29, was repealed and reenacted by Acts 2010, ch. 901, § 1, upon completion of the provisions in § 2 of the act. Acts 2010, ch. 901, § 2, as amended by Acts 2016, ch. 664, § 4, provided that: “This act shall take effect when the department of human services files a notice with the secretary of state who shall publish the notice in the Tennessee Administrative Register on the secretary of state's web site, citing the effective date, which shall occur no later than April 1, 2016, the public welfare requiring it.” The date published by the secretary of state in the Tennessee Administrative Register was March 31, 2016.