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does not permit such orders to be issued when another support | | order exists, thereby prohibiting a second tribunal from | | establishing another support order and the accompanying | | continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over the matter, see Sections | | 205 and 206. |
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| | | The 2001 rewording of Subsection (b) conforms the language to | | the provisions of the UNIFORM PARENTAGE ACT (2000) regarding | | the individual party who may be ordered to pay temporary | | support. |
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| | | Sec. 29. 19-A MRSA §3101, as repealed and replaced by PL 1997, c. | | 669, §20, is amended to read: |
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| | | §3101. Employer's receipt of out-of-state income-withholding |
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| | | An income-withholding order issued in another state may be | | sent by or on behalf of the obligee or by the department to | | the obligor's employer, described as a payor of income under | chapter 65, subchapter IV | | or comparable pleading or registering the order with a | | tribunal of this State. |
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| | | (This is Section 501 of the Uniform Act.) |
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| | | In 1984 Congress mandated that all States adopt procedures for | | enforcing income-withholding orders of sister States. Direct | | recognition by the out-of-state obligor's employer of a | | withholding order issued by another State long was sought by | | support enforcement associations and other advocacy groups. In | | 1992 UIFSA recognized such a procedure. The article was | | extensively amended in 1996, but was the subject only of | | clarifying amendments in 2001. |
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| | | Section 501 is deliberately written in the passive voice; the | | Act does not restrict those who may send an income-withholding | | order across state lines. Although the sender will ordinarily | | be a child support enforcement agency or the obligee, the | | obligor or any other person may supply an employer with the | | income-withholding order. "Sending a copy" of a withholding | | order to an employer is clearly distinguishable from "service" | | of that order on the same employer. Service of an order | | necessarily intends to invoke a tribunal's authority over an | | employer doing business in the State. Thus, for there to be | | valid "service" of a withholding order on an employer in a | | State, the tribunal must | | have authority to bind the employer. In most cases, this | | requires the assertion of the authority of a local responding | | tribunal in a "registration for enforcement" proceeding. In | | short, the |
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