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nominally concerned with insuring that payments made on a | | particular order were credited toward the amounts due on all | | other orders. As a practical matter, however, very little | | attention was paid to that provision. No mechanism was available | | to reconcile payments on multiple orders other than the | | obligor's record keeping, if any. |
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| | | Quite a different situation is currently in place throughout | | the nation. The advent and development of IV-D agencies has | | brought collection of arrears and interest on those arrears to | | the forefront. Computerized exchange of complex information is | | now almost instantaneously available in many cases. Thus, | | deciphering the financial information available to accord | | credit for payment on one order against other orders is | | possible to a degree unknown in the days of RURESA. For | | example, full payment of $300 on an order of State C earns a | | 100% pro tanto discharge of the current support owed on a $200 | | order of State A, and a 75% credit against a $400 order of | | State B. Crediting payments against arrears on multiple orders | | is more complex, and is subject to different constructions in | | various states. |
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| | | Under the one-order system of UIFSA, an obligor ultimately | | will be ordered to pay only one sum-certain amount for current | | support, and a sum certain to reduce arrears and interest, if | | any. Nonetheless, multiple orders will exist for several years | | into the future. Moreover, even under a one-order system, more | | than one entity may be engaged in collecting past arrears. | | Ultimately those collections must be reported to a single | | entity with final accounting responsibility. Finally, because | | the nature of human enterprise is such that mistakes are | | inevitable, at least on occasion multiple orders will continue | | to be issued in error. |
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| | | The issuing tribunal is ultimately responsible for the overall | | control of the enforcement methods employed and for accounting | | for the payments made on its order from multiple sources. | | Until that scheme is fully in place, however, it will be | | necessary to continue to mandate pro tanto credit for actual | | payments made against all existing orders. |
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| | | The rewording of this section in 2001 reaffirms the | | simultaneous accrual and simultaneous credit approach, and | | provides further substance to the directive in Section 207(f) | | that a tribunal making a determination of the consolidated | | arrears must use this approach. |
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| | | §2970.__Application of chapter to nonresident subject to | | personal |
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