Chapter
062
2008 -- H 7754
Enacted 06/23/08
A N A C T
RELATING TO DOMESTIC
RELATIONS -- CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT
Introduced By: Representatives Gorham, and Long
Date Introduced: February 26, 2008
It is enacted
by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. Section 15-5-16.2 of the General Laws in Chapter 15-5 entitled "Divorce
and
Separation" is hereby amended to read as follows:
15-5-16.2.
Child support. -- (a) In a proceeding for divorce, divorce from bed and
board,
a
miscellaneous petition without the filing of divorce proceedings, or child
support, the court shall
order
either or both parents owing a duty of support to a child to pay an amount
based upon a
formula
and guidelines adopted by an administrative order of the family court. If,
after calculating
support
based upon court established formula and guidelines, the court, in its
discretion, finds the
order
would be inequitable to the child or either parent, the court shall make findings
of fact and
shall
order either or both parents owing a duty of support to pay an amount
reasonable or
necessary
for the child's support after considering all relevant factors including, but
not limited to:
(1) The financial resources of the child;
(2) The financial resources of the custodial parent;
(3) The standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not
been
dissolved;
(4) The physical and emotional condition of the child and his or her educational
needs;
and
(5) The financial resources and needs of the non-custodial parent.
(b) The court may, if in its discretion it deems it necessary or advisable,
order child
support
and education costs for children attending high school at the time of their
eighteenth
(18th)
birthday and for ninety (90) days after graduation, but in no case beyond their
nineteenth
(19th)
birthday. In addition, the court may order child support to continue, in the
case of a child
with a
severe physical or mental impairment, until the twenty-first (21st) birthday of
the child.
(c) (1) The court may, if in its discretion it deems it necessary or advisable,
appoint an
attorney
or a guardian ad litem to represent the interest of a minor or dependent child
with respect
to his
or her support, custody, and visitation.
(i) In determining whether an appointment should be made, the court shall
consider the
extent
to which a guardian ad litem may assist in providing information concerning the
best
interest
of the child; the age of the child; the wishes of the parents as well as their
financial
resources;
the nature of the proceeding including the level of contentiousness,
allegations of child
abuse or
domestic violence and the risk of harm to the child if a guardian is not
appointed; or
conflicts
of interest between the child and parents or siblings;
(ii) The guardian ad litem shall be appointed from a list of persons properly
credentialed
pursuant
to administrative orders of the chief judge of the family court;
(iii) The court shall enter an order of appointment stating the specific
assignment the
optional
and mandatory duties of the guardian ad litem, the guardian's access to the
child and
confidential
information regarding the child, and a provision for payment of the costs and
fees of
the
guardian ad litem;
(iv) Communications made to a guardian, including those made by a child, are
not
privileged
and may or may not be disclosed to the parties, the court or to professionals providing
services
to the child or the family;
(v) The guardian ad litem shall meet with the child, conduct an investigation
and upon
request
of the court shall prepare an oral or written report that contains the
procedural background
of the case,
identification of all persons interviewed and other sources of information, a
statement
of the
child's emotional, medical, educational and social service needs, the child's
wishes and
other
factors relevant to the court's determination regarding the best interests of
the child;
(vi) Any written report of the guardian ad litem shall be marked as a full
exhibit in the
proceedings,
subject to cross-examination;
(vii) If the guardian ad litem requests confidential health care information and
consent is
withheld,
he or she shall apply to the court for leave to obtain such information after
compliance
with
section 5-37.3-6.1;
(viii) The guardian ad litem shall be given notice of and should appear at all
proceedings
in
family court that affect the interests of the child;
(ix) A person serving as a guardian ad litem under this section acts as the
court's agent
and is
entitled to quasi-judicial immunity for acts performed within the scope of the
duties of the
guardian
ad litem;
(x) The chief judge of the family court shall issue, through administrative
orders, rules
governing
the appointment and performance of guardians ad litem in domestic proceedings.
(2) After a decree for support has been entered, the court may from time to
time upon the
petition
of either party review and alter its decree relative to the amount of support
and the
payment
of it, and may make any decree relative to it which it might have made in the
original
suit.
The decree may be made retroactive in the court's discretion only to the date
that notice of a
petition
to modify was given to the adverse party if the court finds that a substantial
change in
circumstances
has occurred; provided, that the court shall set forth in its decision the
specific
findings
of fact which show a substantial change in circumstances and upon which
findings of
facts
the court has decided to make the decree retroactive. The child support
order shall continue
in
full force and effect, by wage withholding, after the youngest child is
emancipated, and shall
be
applied towards any arrearage due and owing, as indicated on the child support
computer
system.
Upon satisfaction of the arrears due and owing the child support order shall be
automatically
suspended and wage withholding terminated without the necessity of returning to
family
court.
(d) (1) In a proceeding to enforce a child support order, or a spousal support
order for a
custodial
parent having custody of a minor child, the court or its magistrate may assign
to the
obligee
such tangible personal property of the obligor that will be sufficient to
satisfy the child or
spousal
support arrearage owed. The court or its magistrate, after a hearing, shall
establish the
amount
of the child or spousal support arrearage, and the nature and value of the
tangible
personal
property. To effect the assignment, the court or its magistrate may order the
obligor to
execute
and deliver the documents of title which may be necessary to complete the
transfer of
title to
the property, and may order the obligor to deliver possession of the property
to the
obligee.
Whenever the obligor fails to comply with the order assigning the property, the
order of
assignment
shall be regarded as a judgment vesting title to the property in the obligor as
fully and
completely
as if the obligor had executed and delivered the documents of title.
(2) Any order for child support issued by the family court shall contain a
provision
requiring
either or both parents owing a duty of support to a child to obtain health
insurance
coverage
for the child when coverage is available to the parent or parents through their
employment
without cost or at a reasonable cost. "Reasonable cost" shall be
defined in
accordance
with guidelines adopted by administrative order of the family court in
conjunction
with the
child support guidelines.
(3) Any existing child support orders may be modified in accordance with this
subsection
unless the court makes specific written findings of fact that take into
consideration the
best
interests of the child and conclude that a child support order or medical order
would be
unjust
or inappropriate in a particular case.
(4) In addition, the national medical support notice shall be issued with
respect to all
orders
issued, enforced, or modified on or after October 1, 2002, in accordance with
chapter 29 of
title
15. The notice shall inform the employer of provisions in the child support
order, for health
care
coverage for the child, and contain instructions on how to implement this
coverage. In lieu of
the
court ordering the non-custodial parent to obtain or maintain health care
coverage for the
child,
the court may order the non-custodial parent to contribute a weekly cash amount
towards
the
medical premium for health care coverage paid by the state of Rhode Island
and/or the
custodial
parent. The method to determine a reasonable weekly amount shall be addressed
in the
family court
administrative order pertaining to the child support guidelines.
(e) In a proceeding to establish support, the court in its discretion may,
after opportunity
for a
hearing, issue a temporary order for child support payable into the registry of
the court and
to be
held pending entry of judgment. In the event of a final adjudication requiring
no payment or
payments
in an amount less than those payments which have been made pursuant to a
temporary
order
under this section, the defendant shall be entitled to a refund of all or a
portion of the
amounts
paid.
(f) In any proceeding to establish support, or in any case in which an obligor
owes past
due
support, for a child or children receiving public assistance pursuant to
chapter 5.1 of title 40,
the
court or its magistrate, upon a finding that an able bodied absent parent
obligor is
unemployed,
underemployed or lacks sufficient income or resources from which to make
payment
of support equal to the public assistance payment for the child or children, or
is unable
to pay
the arrearages in accordance with a payment plan, may order that parent to
perform unpaid
community
service for at least twenty (20) hours per week through community service
placements
arranged and supervised by the department of human services and/or the
division of
taxation
within the department of administration
or to participate in any work activities that the
court
deems appropriate. The performance of community service shall not be a basis
for
retroactive
suspension of arrears due and owing.
(g) (1) In any proceeding to establish support for a minor child whose
adjudicated parent
is a
minor (minor-parent), the court or its magistrate may order a grandparent of
the minor child
to
reimburse the department of human services in an amount not to exceed the total
amount of
cash
assistance benefits paid to or for the minor child pursuant to chapter 5.1 of
title 40 until the
minor-parent
reaches the age of eighteen (18), less any payment made to the department by
the
minor
parent.
(2) The obligation of reimbursement for the minor child shall be the joint and
several
responsibility
of the minor parent and the grandparent(s) until the minor parent reaches the
age of
eighteen
(18); provided, that each joint obligor shall have a right of contribution
against each joint
obligor,
which right shall be enforceable by an action in the family court.
(h) (1) All support orders established or modified in the state on or after
October 1, 1998,
shall be
recorded with the Rhode Island family court/department of administration,
division of
taxation department of human services child support
computer enforcement system, which
maintains
the official registry of support orders entered in accordance with applicable
administrative
orders issued by the Rhode Island family court. The support order shall be
recorded
whether or not services are being provided under the IV-D state plan.
(2) The obligee to a paternity or child support proceeding shall be required to
file with
the
family court, upon the entry of the order, the appropriate form as provided by
family court
which
includes the full name of the parties, residential and mailing address,
telephone number,
drivers
license number, social security number and the name, address and telephone
number of
the
employer. The form shall also include the full order amount and date and amount
of
arrearages
if any, the name of the child(ren), their date of birth, address and social
security
number
and any other information as required by administrative order.
(3) After this, each party is required to file an amended form whenever any of
the
information
contained on the original form has been changed in any way, within ten (10)
days of
the
change. The information shall be entered in the child support enforcement
computer system
within
five (5) business days of receipt of the amended form.
(i) In any subsequent child support enforcement action between the parties,
upon
sufficient
showing that diligent effort has been made to ascertain the location of such a
party, the
court
may deem state due process requirements for notice and service of process to be
met with
respect
to the party, upon service by first class mail or, where appropriate, by
service as specified
in the
Rhode Island rules of procedure for domestic relations for the Family Court of
Rhode
Island,
of written notice to the most recent residential or employer address of record.
[See section 12-1-15 of the General Laws.]
SECTION
2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC01925
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