Child Support and Family Law Legislation

1/12/2021

Search passed, pending and failed legislation from 2012-2020 by state, year, topic, keyword, status, and/or primary sponsor. Topics relate to custody and visitation, grandparent custody and visitation, custody and visitation issues affecting military parents, economic stability, child support enforcement, family violence collaboration, father engagement, child support guidelines, health care coverage, parentage, prevention, healthy family relationships, implementation, and other related issues.

Bill information for the current year is updated every morning on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. New measures are added as they are introduced or identified by NCSL staff.

Bills may appear twice in carry-over states. In these states, please check the last date of action to ensure the status of the bill reflects the appropriate year.

LexisNexis General Terms and Conditions

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Explanation of Search Terms

Child Support Prevention

Legislation in this category addresses efforts to reduce the need for child support orders, including parenting classes and teen pregnancy prevention programs.

Custody and Visitation

Legislation in this category addresses custody, visitation and parenting time provisions.

Custody and Visitation – Grandparents

Legislation in this category addresses custody and visitation rights afforded to grandparents, great grandparents and step-grandparents.

Custody and Visitation – Military Parents

Legislation in this category addresses custody and visitation provisions for military parents, including the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act and other accommodations made for military parents who are or could be deployed.

Economic Stability

Legislation in this category addresses modification of child support orders, changes to TANF pass-through policies and efforts to help noncustodial parents find and maintain employment.

Enforcement

Legislation in this category addresses parent location, paternity establishment, child support orders and child support collections. It includes enforcement methods, such as liens, wage garnishment and revocation of licenses.

Enforcement – Intercepts, Asset Seizure

Legislation in this category addresses liens, levies and other child support enforcement measures that involve intercepting funds or seizing assets.

Enforcement – Licenses

Legislation in this category addresses license revocation for failure to pay child support, including drivers, professional, occupational and recreational licenses.

Family Law

Legislation in this category addresses marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, divorce and related court proceedings.

Family Violence Collaboration

Legislation in this category pertains to family and child well-being in situations of domestic violence, including restrictions on court processes and parental rights.

Father Engagement

Legislation in this category addresses fatherhood programs and initiatives designed to increase, enhance and support fathers’ involvement in the lives of children.

Guidelines

Legislation in this category addresses methods to determine child support obligations and the length of obligations.

Guidelines – Adjustments

Legislation in this category addresses adjustments to parenting time orders, income adjustments and changes to or deviations from child support basic obligation tables.

Guidelines – Termination of Support

Legislation in this category addresses the continuation of child support beyond the age of majority for various reasons, including educational expenses and adult children with disabilities.

Health Care Coverage

Legislation in this category addresses medical support requirements for parents and other policies designed to ensure that children have health care coverage.

Healthy Family Relationships

Legislation in this category addresses co-parenting education, counseling and mediation, parenting plans and other practices to foster healthy family relationships.

Implementation/Administration

Legislation in this category pertains to the administration of programs, including data-sharing requirements, pilot programs and collaboration between departments.

Other/Miscellaneous

Legislation in this category addresses issues not captured in other categories, including tribal coordination and federal reciprocity compliance.

Parentage

Legislation in this category addresses paternity establishment and disestablishment, establishment of parentage when assisted reproduction is used, gestational carrier agreements and artificial reproduction.