Title 46, Domestic Relations.

A support order or income-withholding order issued in another state or a foreign support order may be registered in the District for enforcement.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in § 46-357.06, a support order or income-withholding order of another state or a foreign support order may be registered in the District by sending the following records to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia: (1) A letter of transmitt…

(a) A support order or income-withholding order issued in another state or a foreign support order is registered when the order is filed in the registering tribunal of the District. (b) A registered support order issued in another state or a foreign country is enforceable in the …

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) of this section, the law of the issuing state or foreign country governs: (1) The nature, extent, amount, and duration of current payments under a registered support order; (2) The computation and payment of arrearages and accrua…

(a) When a support order or income-withholding order issued in another state or a foreign support order is registered, the registering tribunal of the District shall notify the nonregistering party. The notice must be accompanied by a copy of the registered order and the document…

(a) A nonregistering party seeking to contest the validity or enforcement of a registered support order in the District shall request a hearing within the time required by § 46-356.05. The nonregistering party may seek to vacate the registration, to assert any defense to an alleg…

(a) A party contesting the validity or enforcement of a registered support order or seeking to vacate the registration has the burden of proving one or more of the following defenses: (1) The issuing tribunal lacked personal jurisdiction over the contesting party; (2) The order w…

Confirmation of a registered support order, whether by operation of law or after notice and hearing, precludes further contest of the order with respect to any matter that could have been asserted at the time of registration.

A party or support enforcement agency seeking to modify, or to modify and enforce, a child-support order issued in another state shall register that order in the District in the same manner provided in §§ 46-356.01 through 46-356.08 if the order has not been registered. A petitio…

A tribunal of the District may enforce a child-support order of another state registered for purposes of modification, in the same manner as if the order had been issued by a tribunal of the District, but the registered support order may be modified only if the requirements of § …

(a) If § 46-356.13 does not apply, upon petition a tribunal of the District may modify a child-support order issued in another state which is registered in the District if, after notice and hearing, the tribunal finds that: (1) The following requirements are met: (A) Neither the …

If a child-support order issued by a tribunal of the District is modified by a tribunal of another state which assumed jurisdiction pursuant to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, a tribunal of the District: (1) May enforce its order that was modified only as to arrears an…

(a) If all of the parties who are individuals reside in the District and the child does not reside in the issuing state, a tribunal of the District has jurisdiction to enforce and to modify the issuing state’s child-support order in a proceeding to register that order. (b) A trib…

Within 30 days after issuance of a modified child-support order, the party obtaining the modification shall file a certified copy of the order with the issuing tribunal that had continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over the earlier order, and in each tribunal in which the party kno…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in § 46-357.11, if a foreign country lacks or refuses to exercise jurisdiction to modify its child-support order pursuant to its laws, a tribunal of the District may assume jurisdiction to modify the child-support order and bind all individuals su…

A party or support enforcement agency seeking to modify, or to modify and enforce, a foreign child-support order not under the Convention may register that order in the District under §§ 46-356.01 through 46-356.08 if the order has not been registered. A petition for modification…

In this subchapter: (1) “Application” means a request under the Convention by an obligee or obligor, or on behalf of a child, made through a central authority for assistance from another central authority. (2) “Central authority” means the entity designated by the United States o…

This subchapter applies only to a support proceeding under the Convention. In such a proceeding, if a provision of this subchapter is inconsistent with subchapters I through VI of this chapter [§§ 46-351.01 through 46-356.16], this subchapter controls.

The Office of the Attorney General is recognized as the agency designated by the United States central authority to perform specific functions under the Convention.

(a) In a support proceeding under this subchapter, the Office of the Attorney General shall: (1) Transmit and receive applications; and (2) Initiate or facilitate the institution of a proceeding regarding an application in a tribunal of the District. (b) The following support pro…

(a) A petitioner may file a direct request seeking establishment or modification of a support order or determination of parentage of a child. In the proceeding, the law of the District applies. (b) A petitioner may file a direct request seeking recognition and enforcement of a su…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subchapter, a party who is an individual or a support enforcement agency seeking recognition of a Convention support order shall register the order in the District as provided in subchapter VI of this chapter [§ 46-356.01 et seq.]. (b) Not…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subchapter, §§ 46-356.05 through 46-356.08 apply to a contest of a registered Convention support order. (b) A party contesting a registered Convention support order shall file a contest not later than 30 days after notice of the registrati…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, a tribunal of the District shall recognize and enforce a registered Convention support order. (b) The following grounds are the only grounds on which a tribunal of the District may refuse recognition and enforcem…

If a tribunal of the District does not recognize and enforce a Convention support order in its entirety, it shall enforce any severable part of the order. An application or direct request may seek recognition and partial enforcement of a Convention support order.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (c) and (d) of this section, a tribunal of the District shall recognize and enforce a foreign support agreement registered in the District. (b) An application or direct request for recognition and enforcement of a foreign support ag…

(a) A tribunal of the District may not modify a Convention child-support order if the obligee remains a resident of the foreign country where the support order was issued unless: (1) The obligee submits to the jurisdiction of a tribunal of the District, either expressly or by def…

Personal information gathered or transmitted under this subchapter may be used only for the purposes for which it was gathered or transmitted.

A record filed with a tribunal of the District under this subchapter must be in the original language and, if not in English, must be accompanied by an English translation.

(a) For purposes of this subchapter, “governor” includes an individual performing the functions of governor or the executive authority of a state covered by this chapter. (b) The Mayor may: (1) Demand that the governor of another state surrender an individual found in the other s…

(a) Before making a demand that the governor of another state surrender an individual charged criminally in the District with having failed to provide for the support of an obligee, the Mayor may require a prosecutor of the District to demonstrate that at least 60 days previously…

In applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it.

This chapter applies to proceedings begun on or after February 27, 2016, to establish a support order or determine parentage of a child or to register, recognize, enforce, or modify a prior support order, determination, or agreement, whenever issued or entered.

(a) Marriage is the legally recognized union of 2 persons. Any person may enter into a marriage in the District of Columbia with another person, regardless of gender, unless the marriage is expressly prohibited by § 46-401.01 or § 46-403. (b) Where necessary to implement the righ…

The following marriages are prohibited in the District of Columbia and shall be absolutely void ab initio, without being so decreed, and their nullity may be shown in any collateral proceedings, namely: (1) Repealed. (2) Repealed. (2A) The marriage of a person with a person’s gra…

Any of such marriages may also be declared to have been null and void by judicial decree.

The following marriages in said District shall be illegal, and shall be void from the time when their nullity shall be declared by decree, namely: (1) The marriage of a person adjudged to be, or to have been at the time a marriage was performed, unable by reason of mental incapac…

A proceeding to declare the nullity of a marriage may be instituted in the case of an infant under the age of consent by such infant, through a next friend, or by the parent or guardian of such infant; and in the case of a person with mental illness, by next friend. But no such p…

If any marriage declared illegal by the aforegoing sections shall be entered into in another jurisdiction by persons having and retaining their domicile in the District of Columbia, such marriage shall be deemed illegal, and may be decreed to be void in said District in the same …

A marriage legally entered into in another jurisdiction between 2 persons of the same sex that is recognized as valid in that jurisdiction, that is not expressly prohibited by §§ 46-401.01 through 46-404, and has not been deemed illegal under § 46-405, shall be recognized as a ma…

(a) For the purposes of this section, the term: (1) “Civil celebrant” means a person of a secular or non-religious organization who performs marriage ceremonies. (2) “Religious” includes or pertains to a belief in a theological doctrine, a belief in and worship of a divine ruling…

It shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before issuing any license to solemnize a marriage to examine any applicant for said license under oath and to ascertain the names and ages of the parties desiring to marry, and if they are under …

If any person intending to marry and seeking a license therefor shall be under 18 years of age, and shall not have been previously married, the said Clerk shall not issue such license unless a parent, or, if there be neither father nor mother, the guardian, if there be such, shal…

Licenses to perform the marriage ceremony shall be addressed to some particular minister, magistrate, or other person authorized by § 46-406 to perform or witness the marriage ceremony and shall be in the following form: Number .......... To ...................., authorized to ce…

Any minister or other person, having solemnized or witnessed the rites of marriage under the authority of a license issued as aforesaid, who shall fail to make return as therein required, shall be liable to a penalty of $50 upon conviction of said failure upon information in the …

The Clerk of the said Court shall provide a record book in his office, consisting of applications and licenses in blank, to be filled up by him with the names and residences of the parties for whose marriage any license may have been issued, said applications and licenses to be n…