2011 California Code
Family Code
DIVISION 9. SUPPORT [3500 - 5616]
ARTICLE 1. General Provisions
Section 4901

The following definitions apply to this chapter:

(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 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.

(c) 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.

(d) Home state means the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing of a petition or comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six months old, the state 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-month or other period.

(e) Income includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject to withholding for support under the laws of this state.

(f) Income-withholding order means an earnings assignment order for support, as defined in Section 5208, or any other order or other legal process directed to an obligor s employer, or other debtor, to withhold from the income of the obligor an amount owed for support.

(g) Initiating state means a state from which a proceeding is forwarded, or in which a proceeding is filed for forwarding, to a responding state under this chapter or a law or procedure substantially similar to this chapter.

(h) Initiating tribunal means the authorized tribunal in an initiating state.

(i) Issuing state means the state in which a tribunal issues a support order or renders a judgment determining parentage.

(j) Issuing tribunal means the tribunal that issues a support order or renders a judgment determining parentage.

(k) Law includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law.

(l) Obligee means any of the following:

(1) An individual to whom a duty of support is, or is alleged to be, owed or in whose favor a support order has been issued or a judgment determining parentage has been rendered.

(2) A state or political subdivision to which the rights under a duty of support or support order have been assigned or which has independent claims based on its provision of financial assistance to an individual obligee.

(3) An individual seeking a judgment determining parentage of the individual s child.

(m) Obligor means an individual, or the estate of a decedent, who satisfies any of the following criteria:

(1) He or she owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support.

(2) He or she is alleged, but has not been adjudicated to be, a parent of a child.

(3) He or she is liable under a support order.

(n) Person means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity.

(o) 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.

(p) Register means to file a support order or judgment determining parentage in the superior court in any county in which enforcement of the order is sought.

(q) Registering tribunal means a tribunal in which a support order is registered.

(r) Responding state means a state in which a proceeding is filed or to which a proceeding is forwarded for filing from an initiating state under this chapter or a law or procedure substantially similar to this chapter

(s) Responding tribunal means the authorized tribunal in a responding state.

(t) Spousal support order means a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor.

(u) State means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The term state also includes both of the following:

(1) An Indian tribe.

(2) A foreign country or political subdivision that has been declared to be a foreign reciprocating country or political subdivision under federal law, has established a reciprocal arrangement for child support with this state as provided in Section 4922, or has enacted a law or established procedures for issuance and enforcement of support orders which are substantially similar to the procedures under this chapter.

(v) Support enforcement agency means a public official or agency authorized to seek any of the following:

(1) Enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support.

(2) Establishment or modification of child support.

(3) Determination of parentage.

(4) Location of obligors or their assets.

(5) Determination of the controlling child support orders.

(w) Support order means a judgment, decree, order, or directive whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued by a tribunal for the benefit of a child, spouse, or former spouse, that provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, or reimbursement, and may include related costs and fees, interest, income withholding, attorney s fees, or other relief.

(x) Tribunal means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage.

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 349, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003. Operative July 1, 2004, or later, upon federal government action specified in Sec. 47 of Ch. 349.)