Title 5 — Government Operations

The court may, upon its own motion or the motion of a party, order the entry of the Attorney General in any case where the interests of a minor child so require. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 22-099:17 (Mar. 31, 1994). COL 2024-12-05 TITLE 5 GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

(a) An order of current child support entered by a Court or tribunal shall terminate by operation of law when the child on whose behalf the support is owed marries, becomes emancipated, or the latter of reaching the age of majority or graduating from high school or equivalent, bu…

(a) Whenever the Department of Public Health and Social Services (DPHSS) refers a case to the Attorney General, the DPHSS shall furnish the Attorney General with the names, ages and addresses of the persons for whom support is being sought, and in any subsequent child support act…

(a) Upon final hearing, judgment for the Department shall include all sums expended during the pendency of the action. When the Department recovers judgments it may enforce, compromise or settle the judgments with the consent of the Attorney General in any way considered to be in…

(a) Upon application, the Department shall make services relating to the establishment of paternity and in enforcement of child obligations described in this Chapter available to persons not receiving aid to dependent children. (b) The Department may require payment of an applica…

(a) The Attorney General and any other States IV-D agency may request the following information to carry out the provisions of this Chapter, and such information shall be provided upon request: (1) The records of the following public officers and local agencies: (A) the Office of…

(a) The Attorney General shall enter into agreements with financial institutions doing business on Guam to coordinate the development and operation of a system for matching data, using automated exchanges or data to the maximum extent feasible. As used in this Section, “financial…

[Repealed, reserved, or text not separately stated.]

(a) A disclosure made in good faith pursuant to § 34109 shall not give rise to any action for damages for the disclosure; except that with regard to financial records from financial institutions, such information may be disclosed only for the purpose of establishing, modifying or…

(a) The Department shall cooperate with the Department of Public Health and Social Services, the Department of Administration, and the Superior Court of Guam in the collection, accounting for and disbursement of funds paid pursuant to any order of support issued by the Superior C…

The Child Support Enforcement Account (Account) under the administration of the Department of Administration is hereby established separate and apart from all other funds and accounts of the government of Guam. The Account shall be used in accordance with Chapters 34 and 35 of Ti…

The Department shall operate a parent locator service for the location of any parent who has abandoned or deserted any child, irrespective of whether such child is or is not receiving aid to families with dependent children. The records of such service shall contain as far as is …

In order to fulfill its obligations imposed by this Chapter, the Child Support Enforcement Office may contract with any government of Guam agency, any federal government agency or any other person to aid in collecting or to collect support obligations. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 18-01…

(a) Effective January 1, 2008, interest shall accrue at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum on a non- custodial parent’s unpaid balance as of the last day of the previous month. Said balance shall be the arrearage shown on the records at the Office of the Attorney General unle…

The Department of Law shall represent those persons not within the Federal Aid for Dependent Children Program for the cost of one cent (14), which cost the government of Guam will absorb on behalf of such persons. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 18-017:11 (Oct. 5, 1985); Repealed and reena…

Inability to pay because of unreasonable obligations voluntarily incurred shall not constitute a defense in contempt proceedings for violation of the duty to support. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 18-017:12 (Oct. 5, 1985).

As to cases filed after the effective date of this section, in any action for paternity, guardianship, child support, divorce, or separate maintenance, in which there is a minor child or minor children and for which there is no previous order (temporary or permanent) for child su…

An applicant for assistance under this Chapter is deemed to have assigned to the Department at the time of application all rights to child support from any other person the applicant may have on his own behalf or on behalf of any child for whom application is made. The assignment…

(a) The Attorney General shall adopt, pursuant to the Administrative Adjudication Law, a schedule of normal child support payments to be paid by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent pursuant to Subsections (c)(1) and (c)(2) of this Section, to be updated every four (4) ye…

(a) Establishment of Electronic Transfer Mechanisms. The Office of the Attorney General Child Support Enforcement Division (Division) shall establish electronic funds transfer (EFT) and electronic data COL 2024-12-05 TITLE 5 GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS interchange mechanisms to allow f…

(a) Proceedings to establish the paternity of the child may be instituted during the pregnancy of the mother or after the birth of the child, but not after the child becomes eighteen (18) years of age. (b) Complaint: (1) Paternity proceedings are commenced by the filing of a comp…

Any judgment of paternity, whether established through a voluntary acknowledgment process, or established by a court or administrative entity of Guam, or any other state or jurisdiction, is entitled to Full Faith and Credit in Guam. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 23-139:2 (Jan. 2, 1997). …

(a) The Court shall issue a temporary order of support pending a judicial determination of paternity if (1) genetic testing affixes at least a ninety-five percent (95%) probability of paternity; (2) a notarized statement is signed by both parties acknowledging paternity or separa…

(a) The Department or the parent of a child born out of wedlock may establish paternity by filing with the Department of Public Health and Social Services, Vital Statistics, either a notarized statement that contains the social security numbers of both parents that is signed by b…

(a) Upon the birth of a child to an unmarried woman, and prior to discharge, any hospital, physician health care provider, midwife or nurse who assists in the birth of the child shall: (1) provide an opportunity for the child’s mother and alleged father to sign, under oath, an af…

In any action to establish paternity, medical bills related to childbirth, pregnancy or confinement expenses, and genetic testing bills shall be admissible as evidence without foundation testimony, and shall constitute prima facie evidence of the amounts incurred. SOURCE: Added b…

The Attorney General may order blood tests or other tests for genetic identification of the child, mother and alleged father, if such tests are not ordered pursuant to 5 GCA § 34119. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 26-148:9 (Sept. 27, 2002) as required by SSA § 46(c)(1)(a), which requires …

The existence or enforcement of a duty of support owed by an absent parent for the support of a minor child shall not be affected by a failure or refusal by the custodial parent to implement any rights as to custody or visitation granted by a court to the absent parent. SOURCE: A…

The provisions of any order respecting maintenance or support may be modified only as to installments accruing subsequent to the motion for modification and only upon a showing of a substantial and material change of circumstances. Furthermore, any order directing payment of mone…

(a) Every Court order for the support of a child issued or modified in Guam on or after the effective date of this legislation, must include: (1) the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of the parents of the child; (2) the name, date of birth and social security num…

Whenever notice and service of process is required for child support enforcement proceedings subsequent to the issuance of a paternity or child support order, upon a showing that diligent effort has been made to ascertain the location of a party, notice and service of process sha…

If the duty of support is based upon a foreign support order, the obligee and the Department have the additional remedies provided in the following Subsections: (a) The obligee or the Department may register the foreign support order in the Superior Court of Guam in the manner, w…

(a) Upon registration, the registered foreign support order shall be treated in the same manner as a support order issued by the Superior Court. It shall have the same effect and be subject to the same procedures, defenses, and proceedings for reopening, vacating, or staying as a…

Mandatory attachment of Guam income tax refunds and other sums owed by the government of Guam to an obligor. (a) Whenever an obligor is delinquent in the amount of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150) or more, the Department shall send written notice through the United States mail, t…

(a) If an obligor fails to make three (3) or more child support payments as required by court order, the court, in addition to other remedies provided by this Chapter, may order the person to either execute a bond, subject to the approval of the court, or to pay security to the c…

The Child Support Enforcement Office shall, from time to time, advertise itself and the services it provides to the public by such means and through such media as it chooses. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 18-017:23 (Oct. 5, 1985).

(a) Whenever the Superior Court of Guam issues or modifies an order concerning [child support], including provisions for child support in divorce decrees, the court shall include health care insurance coverage for the child or children as part of both parents obligation of suppor…

Whenever the Superior Court makes a finding that an obligor is delinquent in child support payments and incorporates that finding in an order, the order shall be automatically reduced to judgment. That judgment shall be entered and enforceable in accordance with Chapters VII and …

Whenever an obligor is delinquent on child support payments in the amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1000) or more, the Child Support Enforcement Office shall release information pertaining to that obligor, including the size of the delinquency, to any consumer reporting agency wh…

As used in this Chapter: (a) “wages” means compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program. (b) “employer” means any person, inclu…

In any proceeding where the court has ordered either or both parents to pay any amount of child support which is being enforced, the court shall order either or both parents to assign to the appropriate government agency which is receiving support payments on behalf of obligees t…

(a) When a past due child support obligation is at least six (6) times the monthly child support obligation and the obligor is not current in a court-established plan to repay the past due support, a lien shall arise on the obligor’s real and personal property and the obligor’s r…

(a) In cases in which there is a support arrearage, the Attorney General may order: (1) intercepting or seizing periodic or lump-sum payments from: (A) a government agency, including workers compensation and other benefits; or (B) judgments, settlements, and lotteries; (2) attach…

It is the intent of I Liheslatura that all child support be paid by mandatory wage assignments. Therefore: (a) To the greatest extent possible, support orders shall provide mandatory wage assignments to cover support obligations. (b) [No text] (1) In all cases in which child supp…

(a) For cases being enforced under the Title IV-D state plan or for those parents applying to the agency for services, the income of an obligor who receives income on a periodic basis and who has a support obligation imposed by support order issued or modified in the state before…

(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…