2022 Georgia Code
Title 19 - Domestic Relations
Chapter 6 - Alimony and Child Support
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 19-6-17. Application for Child Support When Custody Awarded to Nonparent or Noncustodial Parent Was Not Subject to Divorce Court’s Jurisdiction; Procedure; Enforcement; Judgment

1. Whenever the custody of a minor child has been lawfully awarded by any court having jurisdiction thereof to:
   1. Any individual other than a parent of such child at any time subsequent to the rendition of a final divorce decree between the parents of such child; or
   2. A parent as part of the final divorce decree when the court awarding the decree was unable to obtain jurisdiction over the parent without custody for purposes of a determination as to whether the parent should be bound for support of such child and the court’s decree contains no specific provisions binding the parent without custody for the support of such child,

      the parent or other individual to whom the custody of such child is awarded may apply by petition to the superior court in the county where the parent without custody of such child resides for an order and judgment fixing the amount of support money that the parent without custody shall provide in order to fulfill the parent’s natural duty to supply the necessaries of life for such child.

2. The procedure provided for in this Code section shall be available in cases in which the parent with custody of such child is the petitioner, notwithstanding the fact that the divorce decree and judgment may have been rendered in favor of the parent without custody.
3. The petition shall be served upon the respondent. The petition shall be heard by the court unless a jury trial is demanded by either party to the case. The judgment shall be reviewable as in other cases. The order or judgment shall likewise be subject to modification in the event of changed circumstances, under the same terms and conditions as are provided for in other cases of child support granted in connection with the rendition of a final decree in divorce cases.
4. The order and judgment of the court shall remain in effect, except as limited by its own restrictions and subsection (c) of this Code section, so long as the petitioner remains in lawful custody of such child and until such child becomes 18 years of age. Execution may be granted to the petitioner for any sums past due under the order and judgment, in accordance with procedures in other cases of judgments for alimony.
5. Any payment or installment of support under any child support order is, on and after the date due:
   1. A judgment by operation of law, with the full force and effect and attributes of a judgment of this state, including the ability to be enforced;
   2. Entitled as a judgment to full faith and credit; and
   3. Not subject to retroactive modification.

History. Ga. L. 1958, p. 204, § 1; Ga. L. 1977, p. 619, § 1; Ga. L. 1979, p. 466, § 32; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1613, § 6; Ga. L. 2017, p. 646, § 1-9/SB 137.

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, substituted “such child” for “the children” and substituted “such child” for “the child or children” throughout; in the introductory language of subsection (a), deleted “or children” following “minor child”; in paragraph (a)(1), substituted “individual” for “person” near the beginning and substituted “parents of such child” for “father and mother of the children” near the end; substituted “divorce decree when” for “divorce decree where” near the beginning of paragraph (a)(2); in the ending undesignated paragraph of subsection (a), substituted “individual” for “person” near the beginning; in subsection (c), substituted “respondent. The petition shall” for “respondent; it shall”, deleted the comma following “court” in the second sentence, and substituted “child support” for “permanent alimony for the support of children” near the end of the last sentence; and substituted “such child becomes 18 years” for “they become” near the end of the first sentence of subsection (d).

Administrative rules and regulations.

Allocation and redirection of current child support payments, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of Department of Human Services, Office of Child Support Recovery, Recovery and Administration of Child Support, § 290-7-1-.15.

Law reviews.

For note discussing Georgia’s child support laws, their problems, and some proposed solutions, see 11 Ga. L. Rev. 387 (1977).

For article commenting on the 1997 amendment of this Code section, see 14 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 121 (1997).

For annual survey on domestic relations, see 61 Mercer L. Rev. 117 (2009).

For annual survey of law on domestic relations, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 105 (2010).