1.__Application of subchapter.__Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, this subchapter applies to all proceedings under this chapter.

1-A.__Initiation of proceedings.__An individual petitioner or a support enforcement agency may initiate a proceeding authorized under this chapter by filing a petition in an initiating tribunal for forwarding to a responding tribunal or by filing a petition or a comparable pleading directly in a tribunal of another state that has or can obtain personal jurisdiction over the respondent.

Uniform Comment

(This is Section 301 of the Uniform Act.)

Subsection (a) mandates application of the general provisions of this article to all UIFSA proceedings.

A 2001 amendment deletes the original Subsection (b), the once controversial "road map" originally thought by the 1992 Drafting Committee to be required in order to introduce the large number of non-lawyer administrators employed by child support enforcement agencies to the intricacies of UIFSA. Given the extensive training on the Act throughout the nation, the road map no longer can be viewed as necessary.

Relettered Subsection (b) continues in a new form the basic two-state procedure long-employed by the former reciprocal acts to establish a support order in the interstate context. Direct filing of a petition in the responding State by an individual or a support enforcement agency without reference to an initiating tribunal State was introduced by UIFSA 1992. Although filing of a petition in an initiating tribunal to be forwarded to a responding tribunal is still recognized as a possible procedure, the direct filing procedure has proven to be one of the most significant improvements in efficient interstate case management. The promulgation and use of the federally mandated forms, Section 311(b), further serves to eliminate any role for the initiating tribunal.

Sec. 12. 19-A MRSA §§3002 and 3003, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. B, §2 and affected by Pt. E, §2, are amended to read:

§3002. Proceeding by minor parent