As used in this chapter:
- (1) "Alleged father" means the same as that term is defined in Section 81-5-102.
- (2) "Birth mother" means the same as that term is defined in Section 81-5-102.
- (3) "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.
- (4) "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.
(5) "Child support services agency" means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:
- (a) seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support;
- (b) seek establishment or modification of child support;
- (c) request determination of parentage of a child;
- (d) attempt to locate obligors or their assets; or
- (e) request determination of the controlling child support order.
- (6) "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.
- (7) "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.
(8) "Foreign country" means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and:
- (a) which has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country;
- (b) which has established a reciprocal arrangement for child support with this state as provided in Section 81-8-308;
- (c) 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 chapter; or
- (d) in which the convention is in force with respect to the United States.
- (9) "Foreign support order" means a support order of a foreign tribunal.
(10)
- (a) "Foreign tribunal" means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country which is authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child.
- (b) "Foreign tribunal" includes a competent authority under the convention.
- (11) "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 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 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-month or other period.
- (12) "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.
- (13) "Income-withholding order" means an order or other legal process directed to an obligor's employer or other source of income as defined in Section 26B-9-101, to withhold support from the income of the obligor.
- (14) "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.
- (15) "Issuing foreign country" means the foreign country in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child.
- (16) "Issuing state" means the state in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child.
- (17) "Issuing tribunal" means the tribunal of a state or foreign country that issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child.
- (18) "Law" includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law.
(19) "Obligee" means:
- (a) 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;
- (b) 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;
- (c) an individual seeking a judgment determining parentage of the individual's child; or
- (d) a person who is a creditor in a proceeding under Part 7, Support Proceedings Under Convention.
(20) "Obligor" means an individual who, or the estate of a decedent that:
- (a) owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support;
- (b) is alleged but has not been adjudicated to be a parent of a child;
- (c) is liable under a support order; or
- (d) is a debtor in a proceeding under Part 7, Support Proceedings Under Convention.
- (21) "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.
- (22) "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.
- (23) "Presumed father" means the same as that term is defined in Section 81-5-102.
- (24) "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.
- (25) "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.
- (26) "Registering tribunal" means a tribunal in which a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered.
- (27) "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.
- (28) "Responding tribunal" means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country.
- (29) "Spousal support order" means a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor.
(30)
- (a) "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.
- (b) "State" includes an Indian nation or tribe.
(31)
- (a) "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.
- (b) "Support order" includes related costs and fees, interest, income withholding, automatic adjustment, reasonable attorney fees, and other relief.
- (32) "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.
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 426, 2025 General Session