§ 20-4-140 — Definitions

Wyoming § 20-4-140

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 20: Domestic Relations
• Ch. 4: UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT

Text

(a) As used in this act:
(i) "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 who is or is alleged
to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent;
(ii) "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;
(iii) "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;
(iv) "Home state" means the state or foreign country
in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a
parent for at least six (6) consecutive months immediately
preceding the time of filing of a petition or comparable
pleading for support and, if a child less than six (6) 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 (6) month or other period;
(v) "Income" includes earnings or other periodic
entitlements to money from any source and any other property
subject to withholding for support under the law of this state;
(vi) "Income withholding order" means an order or
other legal process directed to an obligor's employer or other
payor, as defined by the Income Withholding Act, W.S. 20-6-201
through 20-6-222, to withhold support from the income of the
obligor;
(vii) Repealed by Laws 2015, ch. 75, § 3.
(viii) "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;
(ix) "Issuing state" means the state in which a
tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining
parentage of a child;
(x) "Issuing tribunal" means the tribunal of a state
or foreign country that issues a support order or a judgment
determining parentage of a child;
(xi) "Obligee" means:
(A) 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;
(B) 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;
(C) An individual seeking a judgment determining
parentage of the individual's child; or
(D) A person that is a creditor in a proceeding
under article 2 of this act.
(xii) "Obligor" means an individual, or the estate of
a decedent that:
(A) Owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support;
(B) Is alleged but has not been adjudicated to
be a parent of a child;
(C) Is liable under a support order; or
(D) Is a debtor in a proceeding under article 2
of this act.
(xiii) "Register" means to record or 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;
(xiv) "Registering tribunal" means a tribunal in
which a support order or judgment determining parentage of a
child is registered;
(xv) "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;
(xvi) "Responding tribunal" means the authorized
tribunal in a responding state or foreign country;
(xvii) "Spousal support order" means a support order
for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor;
(xviii) "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;
(A) Repealed by Laws 2015, ch. 75, § 3.
(B) Repealed by Laws 2015, ch. 75, § 3.
(xix) "Support enforcement agency" means a public
official, governmental entity or private agency authorized to:
(A) Seek enforcement of support orders or laws
relating to the duty of support;
(B) Seek establishment or modification of child
support;
(C) Request determination of parentage of a
child;
(D) Attempt to locate obligors or their assets;
or
(E) Request determination of the controlling
child support order.
(xx) "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;
(xxi) "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. For
purposes of establishing, enforcing or modifying support orders
or determining parentage in Wyoming, tribunal means only the
district court;
(xxii) "This act" means W.S. 20-4-139 through
20-4-213;
(xxiii) "IV-D agency" means the department of family
services;
(xxiv) "Law" includes decisional and statutory law
and rules and regulations having the force of law;
(xxv) "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;
(xxvi) "Record" means information that is inscribed
on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other
medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form;
(xxvii) "Convention" means the convention on the
international recovery of child support and other forms of
family maintenance, concluded at the Hague on November 23, 2007;
(xxviii) "Foreign country" means a country, including
a political subdivision thereof, other than the United States,
that authorizes the issuance of support orders and:
(A) Which has been declared under the law of the
United States to be a foreign reciprocating country;
(B) Which has established a reciprocal
arrangement for child support with this state as provided in
W.S. 20-4-158;
(C) 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
act; or
(D) In which the convention is in force with
respect to the United States.
(xxix) "Foreign support order" means a support order
of a foreign tribunal;
(xxx) "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;
(xxxi) "Issuing foreign country" means the foreign
country in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment
determining parentage of a child;
(xxxii) "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.