For Immediate Release:

Thursday, June 20, 2013

U.S. House Bill HR 1896, the International Child Support Recovery Improvement Act, passed by a huge majority (394 to 27) on June 19, 2013. The bill streamlines enforcement of child support laws both nationally and internationally.
Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA) notes that, “This simple piece of legislation allows for enforcement officials to work with local, state and international agencies in effectively implementing child support laws.."
Fitzpatrick explains that by facilitating and increasing the recovery of child support payments the bill can save U.S. taxpayers nearly half a million dollars.
The International Child Support Recovery Improvement Act is an international agreement between nations to share and enforce child support case information and laws. According to the Legislative Digest, “H.R. 1896 serves as the implementing legislation for the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, providing enforcement of international cases of child support.  
."Specifically, H.R. 1896 gives the United States the ability to recognize child support orders from participating countries and extends provisions of the domestic child support enforcement system to international cases.  The bill also ensures that the Federal tax refund offset process is made available to States collecting past-due orders from other nations.  The bill requires States to implement legislative changes prescribed in the 2008 Uniform Interstate Family Support Act so that their laws are consistent with the treaty.."
The United States has a federal-state program that enforces child support orders between states. Typically, the U.S. has enforced foreign child support orders, but without legislation in place such as now provided by HR 1896, many other countries have not reciprocated. So if a divorced parent who owed child support lived abroad, the U.S. based parent who was due the child support was not always able to collect it.
HR 1896 strengthens international compliance with U.S. child support orders, making it more likely that children in the U.S. will be supported, even if the paying parent lives outside the country.
For information about child support in California, visit California Child Support Payments.