Title 5, Government Operations

(a) No wage assignment ordered pursuant to this law by the Superior Court shall terminate until one of the following events occurs: (1) the death of the assignor; (2) the death of the child on whose behalf the support is owed; (3) the child on whose behalf the support is owed rea…

The Superior Court shall consider the fact that an employee may be subject to two (2) or more wage assignments. Upon motion by any party to the suit or suits, or upon the court’s own motion, the court may, after notice to all parties to the suit or suits and a hearing, modify an …

The Department may seek spousal support on behalf of any custodial spouse who is eligible for its assistance under the terms of § 454(6) of the Social Security Act by using the wage assignment procedures and other Guam laws dealing with child support. It may also charge any such …

(a) Whenever the Superior Court orders a wage assignment under this Title, the maximum amount it may order assigned for spousal and child support taken together is sixty percent (60%) of the obligor’s disposable earnings. However, if the obligor is also supporting either a spouse…

(a) An employer who is properly served with an order of wage assignment under this Chapter, and who fails to comply with that order within the time specified, shall be liable to the obligee of that order in the amount not paid in compliance with that order as well as for court co…

(a) Purpose. The purpose of this Chapter is to enhance the enforcement of support obligations by providing a quick and effective procedure for the withholding of income derived in this jurisdiction to enforce support orders of other jurisdictions and by requiring that income with…

On behalf of any client for whom the Department is already providing services, or on application of a resident of Guam, or on behalf of the Department if the obligee has assigned support rights, the Department shall promptly request the agency of another jurisdiction in which the…

Income Withholding. (a) Upon receiving a support order of another jurisdiction with the documentation specified in Subsection (b) of this Section from an agency of another jurisdiction, the Department shall file these documents with the Clerk of the Superior Court. The Clerk of t…

On the date a support order is entered pursuant to § 34141 of this Chapter, the Superior Court shall serve upon the obligor, in accordance with § 34132 of this Chapter, notice of a proposed income withholding. That notice shall contain the same information required in § 34132 of …

(a) At any hearing contesting proposed income withholding based on a support order entered under § 34141 of this Chapter, the entered order, accompanying sworn or certified statement, and a certified copy of an income withholding order, if any, still in effect, shall constitute p…

If the obligor does not request a hearing in the time provided, or if a hearing is held and it is determined that the obligee is entitled to income withholding under the local law of the jurisdiction which issued the support order, the court shall issue an income withholding orde…

The provisions of § 34138 of this Chapter apply to income withholding based on a support order of another jurisdiction entered under this Chapter. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 18-017:40 (Oct. 5, 1985).

(a) The income withholding order shall direct that payment be made to the Clerk of the Superior Court. The clerk shall promptly transmit payments received pursuant to an income withholding order based on a support order of another jurisdiction entered under this Chapter to the ap…

Any person who is the obligor of a support order of another jurisdiction may obtain voluntary income withholding by filing with the Superior Court a request for such withholding and a certified copy of the support order of that jurisdiction. The court shall issue an income withho…

(a) Changes in original order. The Department, upon receiving a certified copy of any amendment or modification to a support order entered pursuant to § 34141 of this Chapter, shall initiate, as though it were a support order of Guam, necessary procedures to amend or modify the i…

(a) The local law of Guam shall apply in all actions and proceedings concerning the issuance, enforcement and duration of income withholding orders issued by a court of Guam, which is based upon a support order of another jurisdiction entered pursuant to § 34141 of this Chapter e…

All remedies contained in this Chapter specifically available to the Department of Public Health and Social Services will also be available to persons represented by the Public Defender Service Corporation, Guam Legal Services Corporation, or privately retained attorneys, in the …

The provisions of this Chapter shall be applicable to all actions for child support, annulment, divorce, and separate maintenance unless specifically excluded or specifically made available only to the Department of Public Health and Social Services. COL 2024-12-05 TITLE 5 GOVERN…

The Child Support Enforcement Division [CSED] of the Office of the Attorney General is designated as Guam’s State Disbursement Unit [SDU]. The SDU shall use automated procedures for the collection and disbursement of child support payments. (a) Guam’s SDU shall remit child suppor…

(a) Beginning October 1, 1998, the Department is designated as the Guam child support case registry, and shall collect, maintain, update and monitor child support enforcement records by use of an automated system, for all child support orders being enforced by the Department, and…

No summons for personal service in Guam in any action for divorce or separate maintenance may be issued if there are minor children of the marriage located on Guam, without the clerk of court at the time the summons is issued setting a hearing for temporary child support in the m…

(a) A transfer or encumbrance of property, real or personal, which is incurred by a non-custodial parent owing arrears is fraudulent as to the arrears owed, regardless of whether the arrearage arises before or after the transfer or encumbrance, if the transfer or encumbrance is m…

(a) The Attorney General, or his/her designee, shall adopt a policy for the publication of a “Most Wanted Delinquent Absent Parent List” of obligors who are in arrears in their child support obligations pursuant to an order from any tribunal, as defined in Title 5, Guam Code Anno…

be Located. (a) The Attorney General shall commence an escheatment proceeding on behalf of the government of Guam in a court having jurisdiction to have it adjudged that the government of Guam is so entitled to the escheatment of undistributed funds. Such action shall be commence…

Non-Custodial Parents with Active Cases. When the Attorney General’s Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) has undistributed funds that may need to be escheated and has lost contact with the custodial parent and the non-custodial parent: (a) The Attorney General shall continu…

Funds escheated pursuant to this Chapter are hereby appropriated to the OAG’s Child Support Enforcement Division to cover the reduction of federal funding. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 37-100:5 (June 5, 2024). ARTICLE 2 ACTION AGAINST LICENSES FOR FAILURE TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT SOURCE: Ar…

I Liheslaturan Guåhan finds and declares that child support is a basic legal right of Guam’s parents and children, that mothers and fathers have a legal obligation to provide financial support for their children and that child support payments can have a substantial impact on chi…

As used in this Article: (a) “Administrative hearing” means a hearing conducted in accordance with the Administrative Adjudication Law, 5 GCA §§ 9100-9241. (b) “Compliance with an order of support” means the total of a non-custodial parents overdue and unpaid court ordered curren…

(a) If a non-custodial parent is in non-compliance with a court order of support, the Department may serve the non-custodial parent with a notice of proposed action indicating its intention to certify to a COL 2024-12-05 TITLE 5 GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS licensing body that has issue…

(a) If the non-custodial parent petitions for an administrative hearing within twenty (20) days of service of the notice of proposed action, the Department shall stay action to certify the non-custodial parent to any licensing body for non-compliance with a court order of support…

(a) A non-custodial parent may file a petition for an administrative hearing after being served the notice of proposed action. (b) Upon receipt of the petition for hearing the Department acquires jurisdiction of the non-custodial parent for purposes of adjudication of the non-cus…

(a) An Administrative Hearing Officer shall conduct a hearing petitioned for by the non-custodial parent pursuant to the Administrative Adjudication Law 5 GCA §§ 9100-9241. Issues that may be decided at the hearing shall be limited to whether: (1) the non-custodial parent is requ…

(a) The Hearing Officer shall issue a decision after hearing without undue delay. The decision must be based on the hearing record only. (b) The Department shall personally serve or send a copy of the decision to the non-custodial parent by certified mail, return receipt requeste…

A non-custodial parent may appeal in accordance with the Administrative Adjudication Law, 5 GCA §§ 9100-9241, the Hearing Officer’s decision with respect to whether the non-custodial parent is obligated under a court order of support to pay child support, whether the non-custodia…

(a) The Department shall certify that a non-custodial parent is in non-compliance with a court order of support, and file that certification with a licensing body that has issued the non-custodial parent a license if: (1) the non-custodial parent has been served with a notice of …

A non-custodial parent may come into compliance by paying off the arrearage, or by obtaining an order establishing periodic payment on the arrears for which no payment has been ordered thereon, or by obtaining an order modifying an existing order for payments on an arrearage to e…

If a non-custodial parent who is served with a notice of proposed action or is certified to a licensing body subsequently comes into compliance with a court order of support, the Department shall provide the non-custodial parent and the licensing bodies with written confirmation …

Notwithstanding § 34109, within six (6) months of the effective date of this Act, all licensing bodies shall provide, and update quarterly, the Department with information, concerning applicants for licensure and current license holders, on magnetic tape or other machine readable…

A licensing body shall suspend the license of a non-custodial parent who has been certified as being in non-compliance with a court order of support, and may not issue or renew the license of a non-custodial parent who has been certified as being in non-compliance with a court or…

A licensing body shall notify a non-custodial parent certified by the Department to be in non- compliance at least ten (10) days prior to denial or suspension, that the non-custodial parent’s application for issuance or renewal of a license will not be granted or that the non-cus…

After receipt of written confirmation of compliance from the Department, a licensing body shall, within five (5) working days, reissue, renew, or otherwise extend a license against which action had been taken for non-compliance with an order for support. The re-issuance, renewal,…

A non-custodial parent whose vehicle operator’s license is suspended for non-compliance with a court order of support may request the Department to issue a written statement that permits the Director of the Department of Revenue and Taxation to issue a temporary license valid for…

The Hearings Division, Superior Court of Guam, shall make available to non-custodial parents who are not represented by an attorney, forms which would enable such non-custodial parents to make handwritten applications for reduction of their arrearages to judgment and for the esta…

The failure of a non-custodial parent to comply with any warrant or subpoena issued relating to paternity or to any other child support proceeding shall also result in the suspension, non-issuance, or non- renewal of a non-custodial parents license in the same manner and using th…

As used in this Article: (a) “Date of hiring” means the earlier of: (1) the first day for which an employee is owed compensation by an employer; or (2) the first day that an employee reports to work or performs labor or services for an employer. (b) “Earnings” means payment owed …

There is established, within the Department of Law, Family Division, a New Hire Directory for the purpose of receiving information supplied by employers on newly hired or rehired employees. COL 2024-12-05 TITLE 5 GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS