§ 606. Action to recover maintenance, child support, and suit money; sanction for noncompliance
(a) When a judgment or order for the payment of either temporary or permanent maintenance,
child support, or suit money has been made by the Family Division of the Superior
Court, and personal jurisdiction of the person liable for the payment of money under
the judgment or order has been obtained, the party entitled by the terms of the judgment
or order to payment thereunder, or the Office of Child Support in all cases in which
the party or dependent children of the parties are the recipients of financial assistance
from the Department for Children and Families, may file a motion in the Family Division
of the Superior Court asking for a determination of the amount due. Upon notice to
the other party and hearing thereon, the Family Division of the Superior Court shall
render judgment for the amount due under the judgment or order; the court may order
restitution to the Department, order that payments be made to the Office of Child
Support for distribution, or make such other orders or conditions as it deems proper.
The judgment shall be as binding and as enforceable in all respects as though rendered
in any other civil action. Notice shall be given in such manner as the Supreme Court
shall by rule provide. An additional motion may be brought at any time for further
unpaid balances. The Family Division of the Superior Court in which the cause was
pending at the time the original judgment or order was made shall have jurisdiction
of motions under the provisions of this section, irrespective of the amount in controversy
or the residence of the parties. The motions may be brought and judgment obtained
on judgments, decrees, and orders previously rendered and still in force.
(b) For the purpose of enforcing child support orders under this title and Title 33, any
support payment or installment shall become a judgment on the date it becomes due.
(c) An action to enforce a judgment under subsection (b) of this section may be brought
no later than six years after the youngest child covered by the support order attains
the age of majority or no later than six years after a child covered by subsection 659(b) of this title is no longer covered.
(d)(1) In lieu of interest on unpaid child support that has accrued under a child support
order, a child support surcharge shall be imposed on past-due child support. Beginning
on July 1, 2004, the surcharge shall be computed and assessed monthly at a rate of
one percent or an annual rate of 12 percent and shall not be compounded. Beginning
on January 1, 2012, the surcharges shall be computed and assessed monthly at a rate
of one-half percent or an annual rate of six percent and shall not be compounded.
All surcharges shall be deemed principal and not interest. Payments received for child
support obligations shall be allocated and distributed as follows:
(A) first to current support obligations;
(B) second to arrearages; and
(C) third to surcharge arrears.
(2) In the interests of justice, the court may discharge all or part of a surcharge that
accrued subsequent to the date of the last judgment upon a finding that since that
date, the obligated parent became unable to comply with the underlying support obligation.
The obligated parent shall bear the burden of proving inability to comply. (Added 1981, No. 247 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; amended 1995, No. 59, § 7; 1997, No. 63, § 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; 1999, No. 147 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2003, No. 159 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2005, No. 174 (Adj. Sess.), § 31; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238; 2011, No. 32, § 1.)