Title 14, Domestic Relations and Persons

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Decisionmaking responsibility" means the responsibility to make decisions concerning the child. The term may refer to decisions on all issues or on specified issues, but not child support issues. 2. "Harm" means …

1. For the purpose of parental rights and responsibilities, the best interests and welfare of the child is determined by the court's consideration and evaluation of all factors affecting the best interests and welfare of the child. These factors include all of the following when …

1. In contested proceedings dealing with parental rights and responsibilities the court, upon the request of either party, or, upon its own motion, may appoint a parenting investigator and order an investigation and report concerning parenting rights and responsibilities regardin…

1. In any action for an annulment, divorce, legal separation, or other action affecting marriage, when either party has reason for special concern as to the future of the minor child, and in any action when the parenting rights and responsibilities concerning the child is contest…

If the court finds that an allegation of harm to a child by one parent against the other is false and not made in good faith, the court shall order the parent making the false allegation to pay court costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the other parent in responding …

1. Unless agreed to in writing by the parties, or if included in the parenting plan, no motion for an order to modify primary residential responsibility may be made earlier than two years after the date of entry of an order establishing primary residential responsibility, except …

1. A parent with primary residential responsibility for a child may not change the primary residence of the child to another state except upon order of the court or with the consent of the other parent, if the other parent has been given parenting time by the decree. 2. A parent …

Parents shall give their children support and education suitable to the child's circumstances. The court may compel either or both of the parents to provide for the support of their children.

1. In any action in which a court orders that payments for child support be made, the court shall provide in its order that the payments be paid to the state disbursement unit for remittance to the obligee. 2. a. Each party subject to the order shall immediately inform the state …

Each order entered under this code for the support of a minor child or the support of a child after majority under section 14-09-08.2 must include a provision for health insurance coverage for that child. 1. Except as provided in subsection 2, the order must require the obligor t…

1. When an obligor is required to cover a child as a beneficiary under section 14-09-08.10, the child is eligible for health insurance coverage as a dependent of the obligor. If health insurance coverage required under section 14-09-08.10 is available through an employer, the emp…

The signature of the custodial parent of the insured dependent, the obligee, or the obligee's assignee is a valid authorization to the insurer for purposes of processing an insurance reimbursement payment to the provider of the medical services, for the release of information con…

The child support agency shall take the appropriate steps to implement, modify, and enforce an order for dependent health insurance or other medical support whenever the children receive benefits through temporary assistance for needy families or foster care under chapter 50-09 o…

The child support agency shall establish criteria to identify cases involving children who received benefits through temporary assistance for needy families or foster care under chapter 50-09 or medical assistance under chapter 50-24.1, or when an application to the child support…

For purposes of this chapter, health insurance is considered reasonable in cost if it is available to the obligor on a group basis or through an employer or union, regardless of service delivery mechanism, or as otherwise defined by the child support agency in compliance with rul…

1. The child support agency may mail a request for information to the income payer in any matter in which it secures reliable information that the income payer may be indebted to an obligor. The request must identify the obligor by name, and, if known, address and social security…

An obligor whose child support obligation is delinquent may not renounce, waive, assign, transfer, or disclaim any interest that obligor might otherwise claim in a decedent's estate, a trust, or a similar device, to the extent necessary to satisfy the delinquency. Any attempt to …

1. A payment for services rendered by a medical provider to an obligor's dependent which is directed to the obligor in the form of reimbursements from health insurance must be paid to the medical provider, custodial parent, or child support agency when the reimbursement is not ow…

Each judgment or order requiring the payment of child support must include a statement that the child support obligation will accrue interest if not timely paid. Accrual of interest and validity of the order are not affected by a failure to include the statement required by this …

1. A judgment or order requiring the payment of child support until the child attains majority continues as to the child until the end of the month during which the child is graduated from high school or attains the age of nineteen years, whichever occurs first, if: a. The child …

1. When an obligor is required to provide health insurance coverage for a child as a beneficiary under section 14-09-08.10, the order is being enforced under title IV-D, and the obligor's employer has been identified, the child support agency shall use the national medical suppor…

Notice of a proposed termination or relinquishment of parental rights must be given to the department of health and human services in the manner appropriate for the service of process in a civil action in this state. A termination of parental rights terminates a monthly support o…

When an obligee is required to provide health insurance coverage for a child as a beneficiary under section 14-09-08.10, the order is being enforced under title IV-D, and the obligee's employer has been identified, the child support agency may use the national medical support not…

Unless dates for the commencement or termination of a child support obligation are specified by the court's order, a judgment or order requiring the payment of child support is effective as to the child in the month in which the order is signed and continues until the end of the …

1. Each child support order being enforced by the child support agency must be reviewed by the child support agency no less frequently than thirty-six months after the establishment of the order or the most recent amendment or review of the order by the court or child support age…

1. The child support agency shall provide written notice, including notice through electronic means, to the obligee and the obligor that a review under section 14-09-08.4 is commencing. 2. Unless sufficient information was previously provided by the obligor with a request for rev…

Unless sufficient information was previously provided by the obligor with a request for review, the obligor shall provide information to the child support agency concerning the obligor's income, which is sufficient to accomplish the review, by the date required by the child suppo…

1. Following review, the child support agency shall promptly provide notice of its review determination. 2. If the child support agency has made a determination not to seek an amendment to the amount of child support, the notice must inform the obligor and the obligee of the righ…

An obligor or an obligee may request review under section 14-09-08.4, by applying to the child support agency for child support services, and indicating, in the manner there provided, a desire to have a child support order reviewed. Each judgment or order issued by a court in thi…

A stepparent is not bound to maintain the spouse's dependent children, as defined in section 50-09-01, unless the child is received into the stepparent's family. If the stepparent receives them into the family, the stepparent is liable, to the extent of the stepparent's ability, …

For the purposes of this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Arrears registry" means the registry maintained under section 50-09-02.7. 2. "Business day" means every day that is not a Saturday or legal holiday. 3. "Child support" means payments fo…

When a judgment or order requires the payment of child support, it may be enforced by an income withholding order, as provided in this chapter, in addition to any other remedies provided by law.

Each judgment or order issued by a court in this state which includes an order for support of minor children, but which does not require immediate income withholding, must include a statement that a delinquency in payment of the support due or the approved request of the obligee …

If immediate income withholding under section 14-09-09.24 has not been implemented and an obligor is delinquent, if an obligee's request for income withholding is approved, or if a court changes its finding that there is good cause not to require immediate income withholding, the…

1. If the obligor files a request for a hearing within ten days of the date of the notice made pursuant to section 14-09-09.13, the court shall hold a hearing within ten working days after the date of the request. a. The court may order that the income withholding order be withdr…

The income withholding order must be issued in the name of the state of North Dakota in the standard format for notice of the order prescribed by the secretary of the United States department of health and human services under authority of 42 U.S.C. 666(b)(6)(A)(ii), contain only…

1. The child support agency shall serve the income withholding order on the income payer by first-class mail or in any other manner agreed to by the income payer, and upon the obligor by first-class mail to the obligor's last-known address. 2. If the obligor is subject to immedia…

Upon amendment or termination of an income withholding order, the child support agency shall send appropriate notice to the income payer. An income withholding order is to be amended by the child support agency when the total amount of money to be withheld is changed by eliminati…

On application of a resident of this state, an obligee or an obligor of a support order issued by this state, or an agency to which an obligee has assigned support rights, the child support agency shall request the child support enforcement agency of another state in which the ob…

1. Except as provided in subsection 2 or 3, each judgment or order which requires the payment of child support, issued or modified on or after January 1, 1990, subjects the income of the obligor to income withholding, regardless of whether the obligor's support payments are delin…

1. An obligee may apply to the child support agency for approval of an income withholding request. The income of the obligor becomes subject to income withholding on the date an approved request is made. 2. The child support agency shall establish procedures and standards for the…

The state is a real party in interest for purposes of establishing paternity and securing repayment of benefits paid, future support, and costs in action brought to establish, modify, or enforce an order for support of a child in any of the following circumstances: 1. Whenever ai…

In any action brought to establish paternity, secure repayment of governmental benefits paid, secure current or future support of children, or establish, enforce, or modify a child support obligation, the child support agency may employ or contract with a licensed attorney. An at…

Sections 14-09-09.26, 14-09-09.27, 14-12.2-19, and 14-12.2-20 apply to actions filed prior to July 7, 1991.

The child support agency is responsible for administration of income withholding, managing accrual and termination dates and payment ledger adjustments on the automated system established under section 50-09-02.1, and the receipt and disbursement of child support payments. This s…

1. Any failure of an income payer to comply with this section or section 14-09-09.16 may be sanctioned as a contempt of court. The court shall first afford such income payer a reasonable opportunity to purge itself of the contempt. 2. Any income payer who fails or refuses to with…

1. If there is a current monthly support obligation, the total amount of child support due in each month for purposes of income withholding is the sum of the obligor's current monthly support obligation; and a. The amount the obligor is ordered to pay toward any outstanding arrea…

A child support obligation owed to an obligee who is a judgment debtor may not be subject to execution, garnishment, attachment, or other process except to satisfy that child support obligation. This section does not prohibit the child support agency from authorizing the state di…

1. An agreement purporting to relieve an obligor of any current or future duty of child support is void and may not be enforced. An agreement purporting to waive past-due child support is void and may not be enforced unless the child support obligee and any assignee of the oblige…

1. Notwithstanding section 14-09-09.31, a court may order that a specific amount of child support owed by an obligor to an obligee be offset by an equal amount of child support or other debts owed to the obligor by the obligee. An order for an offset is permitted under this subse…