Under the one-order system established by UIFSA, it is |
necessary to provide a new procedure to eliminate the multiple |
orders so common under RURESA and URESA. This requires |
cooperation between, and deference by, sister-state tribunals |
in order to avoid issuance of competing support orders. To |
this end, tribunals are expected to take an active role in |
seeking out information about support proceedings in other |
States concerning the same child. Depending on the |
circumstances, one or the other of two tribunals considering |
the same support obligation should decide to defer to the |
other. In 1992 UIFSA took a significant departure from the |
approach adopted by the UCCJA ("first filing"), by choosing |
the "home State of the child" as the primary method for |
resolving competing jurisdictional disputes, thereby adopting |
the choice of the federal PARENTAL KIDNAPPING PREVENTION ACT, |
28 U.S.C. 1238A Section (C). Given the pre-emptive nature of |
the PKPA, and the possibility that custody and support will |
both be involved in some cases, the PKPA/UIFSA choice for |
resolving disputes between competing jurisdictional assertions |
was followed in 1997 by the decision of the Conference to |
replace the UCCJA with the UCCJEA. If the child has no home |
State, however, "first filing" will continue to control. |