Title 5, Government Operations

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…

(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 …