N.Y. Family Court Act § 580-102: Definitions

§ 580-102. Definitions. In this article:

(1) "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.

(2) "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.

(3) "Convention" means the Convention on the International Recovery of

Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at The

Hague on November twenty-third, two thousand seven.

(4) "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.

(5) "Foreign country" means a country, including a political

subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the

issuance of support orders and:

(i) which has been declared under the law of the United States to be a

foreign reciprocating country;

(ii) which has established a reciprocal arrangement for child support

with this state as provided in section 580-308 of this article;

(iii) 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 article; or

(iv) in which the Convention is in force with respect to the United

States.

(6) "Foreign support order" means a support order of a foreign

tribunal.

(7) "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. The term includes a competent authority under the

Convention.

(8) "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.

(9) "Income" includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money

from any source and any other property subject to withholding for

support as defined by section five thousand two hundred forty-one of the

civil practice law and rules.

(10) "Income withholding order" means an order or other legal process

directed to an obligor's employer, an income payor as defined by section

five thousand two hundred forty-one or five thousand two hundred

forty-two of the civil practice law and rules, or other debtor to

withhold support from the income of the obligor.

(11) "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.

(12) "Issuing foreign country" means the foreign country in which a

tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a

child.

(13) "Issuing state" means the state in which a tribunal issues a

support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child.

(14) "Issuing tribunal" means the tribunal of a state or foreign

country that issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage

of a child.

(15) "Law" includes decisional and statutory law and rules and

regulations having the force of law.

(16) "Obligee" means:

(i) 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;

(ii) 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;

(iii) an individual seeking a judgment determining parentage of the

individual's child; or

(iv) a person that is a creditor in a proceeding under part seven of

this article.

(17) "Obligor" means an individual, or the estate of a decedent that:

(i) owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support;

(ii) is alleged but has not been adjudicated to be a parent of a

child;

(iii) is liable under a support order; or

(iv) is a debtor in a proceeding under part seven of this article.

(18) "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.

(19) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust,

estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association,

joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental

subdivision, agency or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial

entity.

(20) "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.

(21) "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.

(22) "Registering tribunal" means a tribunal in which a support order

or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered.

(23) "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.

(24) "Responding tribunal" means the authorized tribunal in a

responding state or foreign country.

(25) "Spousal-support order" means a support order for a spouse or

former spouse of the obligor.

(26) "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 under the jurisdiction of the United

States. The term includes an Indian nation or tribe.

(27) "Support enforcement agency" means a public official,

governmental entity or private agency authorized to:

(i) seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of

support;

(ii) seek establishment or modification of child support;

(iii) request determination of parentage of a child;

(iv) attempt to locate obligors or their assets; or

(v) request determination of the controlling child support order.

(28) "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.

The term may include related costs and fees, interest, income

withholding, automatic adjustment, reasonable attorney's fees and other

relief.

(29) "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.