Title FAM — California Fam. Code

If a marriage is determined to be void, an agreement that would otherwise have been a premarital agreement is enforceable only to the extent necessary to avoid an inequitable result. (Enacted by Stats. 1992, Ch. 162, Sec. 10. Operative January 1, 1994.)

Any statute of limitations applicable to an action asserting a claim for relief under a premarital agreement is tolled during the marriage of the parties to the agreement. However, equitable defenses limiting the time for enforcement, including laches and estoppel, are available …

(a) (1) Each county shall maintain a local child support agency, as specified in Section 17304, that shall have the responsibility for promptly and effectively establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations, including medical support, enforcing spousal support o…

If an obligor has an ongoing child support order being enforced by a local child support agency pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and the obligor is disabled, meets the SSI resource test, and is receiving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payments (S…

If the parent who is receiving support enforcement services provides to the local child support agency substantial, credible, information regarding the residence or work address of the support obligor, the agency shall initiate an establishment or enforcement action and serve the…

(a) All of the following shall include notice of, and information about, the child support service hearings available pursuant to Section 17801, provided that there is federal financial participation available as set forth in subdivision (j) of Section 17801: (1) The booklet requ…

(a) In any case of separation or desertion of a parent or parents from a child or children that results in aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code being granted to that family, the noncustodial parent or par…

(a) Each local child support agency shall, on a monthly basis, remit to the department both the federal and state public assistance child support payments received pursuant to Section 17402. (b) The department shall promulgate regulations to implement this section.

(a) Notwithstanding any other statute, in any action brought by the local child support agency for the support of a minor child or children, the action may be prosecuted in the name of the county on behalf of the child, children, or a parent of the child or children. The parent w…

(a) Upon receipt of a petition or comparable pleading pursuant to Part 6 (commencing with Section 5700.101) of Division 9, the local child support agency or petitioner may either (1) request the issuance of a summons or (2) request the court to issue an order requiring the respon…

(a) If, prior to filing, a petition or comparable pleading pursuant to Part 6 (commencing with Section 5700.101) of Division 9 is received by the local child support agency or the superior court and the county in which the pleadings are received is not the appropriate jurisdictio…

Hearings by telephone, audiovisual means, or other electronic means shall be permitted in child support cases in which the local child support agency is providing child support services. The Judicial Council shall adopt court rules implementing this provision and subdivision (f) …

In exercising the jurisdiction under Section 5700.319, either the department or the local child support agency shall issue a notice to change payee on a support order issued in this state, upon request from the support enforcement agency of another state where a custodial party h…

In carrying out duties under this article, the local child support agency shall interview the custodial parent within 10 business days of opening a child support case. This interview shall solicit financial and all other information about the noncustodial parent. This information…

(a) In all actions involving paternity or support, including, but not limited to, other proceedings under this code, and under Division 9 (commencing with Section 10000) of the Welfare and Institutions Code, the local child support agency and the Attorney General represent the pu…

(a) If the Attorney General is of the opinion that a support order or support-related order is erroneous and presents a question of law warranting an appeal, or that an order is sound and should be defended on appeal, in the public interest the Attorney General may: (1) Perfect o…

A declaration of state reciprocity issued by the Attorney General on or before December 31, 2015, and a declaration issued pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 5700.308, shall remain in full force and effect unless one of the following occurs: (a) The declaration is revoked or …

(a) Notwithstanding Section 17404, upon noticed motion of the local child support agency, the superior court may consolidate or combine support or reimbursement arrearages owed by one obligor to one obligee in two or more court files into a single court file, or combine or consol…

In any action filed by the local child support agency pursuant to Section 17402 or 17404, the local child support agency shall provide the mother and the alleged father the opportunity to voluntarily acknowledge paternity by signing a paternity declaration as described in Section…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, an action for child support may be brought by the local child support agency on behalf of a minor child or caretaker parent based upon a voluntary declaration of parentage as provided in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 7570) of Part 2 of Divi…

In any action or proceeding brought by the local child support agency to establish parentage pursuant to Section 17400, the court shall enter a judgment establishing parentage upon the filing of a written stipulation between the parties provided that the stipulation is accompanie…

(a) It shall be the duty of the county welfare department to refer all cases in which a parent is absent from the home, or in which the parents are unmarried and parentage has not been established by the completion and filing of a voluntary declaration of paternity pursuant to Se…

(a) When the local child support agency has undertaken enforcement of support, the local child support agency may enter into an agreement with the noncustodial parent, on behalf of a minor child or children, a spouse, or former spouse for the entry of a judgment without action de…

In enforcing the provisions of this division, the local child support agency shall inquire of both the custodial and noncustodial parent as to the number of minor children each is legally obligated to support. The local child support agency shall consider the needs of all of thes…

After judgment in any court action brought to enforce the support obligation of a noncustodial parent pursuant to the provisions of this division, the court shall issue an earnings assignment order for support pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 5200) of Part 5 of Divi…

(a) The state medical insurance form required in Article 1 (commencing with Section 3750) of Chapter 7 of Part 1 of Division 9 shall include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following: (1) The parent or parents’ names, addresses, and social security numbers. (2) The name …

(a) A parent who has been served with a medical insurance form shall complete and return the form to the local child support agency’s office within 20 calendar days of the date the form was served. (b) The local child support agency shall send the completed medical insurance form…

In any action or judgment brought or obtained pursuant to Section 17400, 17402, 17404, or 17416, a supplemental complaint may be filed, pursuant to Section 464 of the Code of Civil Procedure and Section 2330.1, either before or after a final judgment, seeking a judgment or order …

(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, in an action filed by the local child support agency pursuant to Section 17400, 17402, 17404, or 17404.1, in which the proposed child support amount is based on actual income, a judgment shall be entered without hearing, without the presenta…

(a) In any action filed by the local child support agency pursuant to Section 17400, 17402, 17404, or 17404.1, the court may, on any terms that may be just, set aside that part of the judgment or order concerning the amount of child support to be paid. This relief may be granted …

No later than September 1, 2024, the Judicial Council shall adopt and approve any forms necessary to implement Sections 17400, 17404.1, 17430, and 17432 as added by the act that added this section. Forms adopted pursuant to this section shall have an effective date of January 1, …

In an action in which a judgment or order for support was entered after the entry of the default of the defendant under Section 17430, the court shall relieve the defendant from that judgment or order if the defendant establishes that the defendant was mistakenly identified in th…

In any action enforced pursuant to this article, no interest shall accrue on an obligation for current child, spousal, family, or medical support due in a given month until the first day of the following month.

(a) The department shall publish a booklet describing the proper procedures and processes for the collection and payment of child and spousal support. The booklet shall be written in language understandable to the lay person and shall direct the reader to obtain the assistance of…

(a) The Department of Child Support Services shall work with all branches of the United States military and the National Guard to ensure that information is made available regarding the rights and abilities of activated service members to have their support orders modified based …

(a) For purposes of this article: (1) “Child support delinquency” means a delinquency defined in subdivision (c) of Section 17500. (2) “Earnings” shall include the items described in Section 5206. (b) (1) When a delinquency is submitted to the department pursuant to subdivision (…

(a) Subject to state and federal privacy and information security laws, the Franchise Tax Board shall make tax return information available to the department, upon request, for the purpose of collecting child support delinquencies referred to the department. (b) For purposes of t…

(a) The department, in coordination with financial institutions doing business in this state, shall operate a Financial Institution Data Match System utilizing automated data exchanges to the maximum extent feasible. The Financial Institution Data Match System shall be implemente…

(a) At least 45 days before sending a notice to withhold, the department shall request that a depository institution provide the department with a designated address for receiving notices to withhold. (b) Once the depository institution has specified a designated address pursuant…

(a) Any person required to withhold and transmit any amount pursuant to this article shall comply with the requirement without resort to any legal or equitable action in a court of law or equity. Any person paying to the department any amount required by it to be withheld is not …

(a) As necessary, the department shall seek reciprocal agreements with other states to improve its ability to collect child support payments from out-of-state obligated parents on behalf of custodial parents residing in California. The department may pursue agreements with the In…

(a) In carrying out its obligations under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 651 et seq.), the department and the local child support agency shall have the responsibility for promptly and effectively collecting and enforcing child support obligations. (b) The d…

A local child support agency that is collecting child support payments on behalf of a child and who is unable to deliver the payments to the obligee because the local child support agency is unable to locate the obligee shall make all reasonable efforts to locate the obligee for …

(a) The first one hundred dollars ($100) of any amount of child support collected in a month for a family with one child, or the first two hundred dollars ($200) for a family with two or more children, in payment of the required support obligation for that month shall be paid to …

(a) (1) Any amount of support collected in a month in payment of an assigned support obligation shall be passed through to a former recipient of aid under Article 2 (commencing with Section 11250) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, except r…

On a monthly basis, the local child support agency shall provide to any CalWORKs recipient or former recipient for whom an assignment pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 11477 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is currently effective, a notice of the amount of assigned suppo…

(a) All state, county, and local agencies shall cooperate with the local child support agency (1) in the enforcement of any child support obligation or to the extent required under the state plan under Part 6 (commencing with Section 5700.101) of Division 9, Section 270 of the Pe…

(a) There is in the department a California Parent Locator Service and Central Registry that shall collect and disseminate all of the following, with respect to any parent, putative parent, spouse, or former spouse: (1) The full and true name of the parent together with any known…

(a) The Employment Development Department shall, when requested by the Department of Child Support Services local child support agency, the federal Parent Locator Service, or the California Parent Locator Service, provide access to information collected pursuant to Division 1 (co…

Once the statewide automated system is fully implemented, the Department of Child Support Services shall periodically compare Employment Development Department information collected under Division 1 (commencing with Section 100) of the Unemployment Insurance Code to child support…