Uniform Interstate Family Support Act

The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act ("UIFSA") is a Uniform Act that has been adopted by every U.S. State, in order to address the possibility of non-payment of child support obligations, and to limit the jurisdiction that could properly establish and modify child support orders. The Act was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1992, and revised in 1996, and again in 2001. In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. § 666), which required the adoption of the UIFSA in all states by January 1 1998, or face loss of federal funding for child support enforcement.

Whenever more than one state is involved in the establishing, enforcing or modifying a child or spousal support order, the Act is implemented to determine the jurisdiction and power of the courts in the different states. The Act also establishes which state's law will be applied in proceedings under the Act, an important factor as support laws vary greatly among the states.

The Act establishes rules requiring every state to defer to child support orders entered by the courts of the child's home state. The place where the order was originally entered holds continuing exclusive jurisdiction (CEJ), and only the law of that state can be applied to requests to modify the order of child support, unless the original tribunal loses CEJ under the Act.

The Act also provides various direct interstate enforcement mechanisms. For example, it allows a caretaker parent to have an order mailed to the employer of the obligated parent, which will require that employer to withhold pay for the benefit of the child. Furthermore, it allows the caretaker parent to have an order mailed to an out-of-state court to get the other state to enforce the order.