Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Note: Additional resources relating to International Child Support (Maintenance), including a
treatise on currency conversion, and a PowerPoint presentation on International Child Support, may
be obtained by emailing Bill MacKenzie at Billm @sarpy.com.
II. Full Faith & Credit issues
Many European nations (plus Canada, Argentina and parts of Mexico) apply their
marriage laws without regard to gender. Same sex divorces will ultimately find their way
into the mix of cases we are asked to enforce. See the Same Sex Marriage
subheading for more information in this regard.
In November 2007 an International Protocol affecting maintenance for children
was concluded by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. The
organization is described as being ―The World Organisation for Cross-border Cooperation
in Civil and Commercial Matters.‖ You can read a helpful overview of the
organization here as well as their FAQ page.
Of particular interest to the child support community would be the following
agreements/documents, concluded in November 2007:
CONVENTION ON THE INTERNATIONAL RECOVERY OF CHILD SUPPORT
AND OTHER FORMS OF FAMILY MAINTENANCE, (PDF Version);
An Outline of the above document; and the
PROTOCOL ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO MAINTENANCE OBLIGATIONS
(PDF version)
The United States is a signatory to the Protocol and
Convention, however the treaty has yet to be submitted to the
U.S. Senate for ratification; this may occur late in 2008. The
individual states will also have to update their UIFSA laws to
dovetail with the provisions contained in the Convention, before it
will be enacted. To date no other nation has ratified the
Convention, which will also be required before it takes effect.
III. Currency Conversion issues
Federal court rulings have long held that all judgments set by
courts in the United States should to be paid in dollars, and not in
foreign currency. This solves some potential problems, but can lead to
other issues. When we register foreign child support orders for
enforcement, for example, we are forced to convert the original judgment stated in euros, pound
sterling or zlotys to dollars. Many resources on the Internet offer currency exchange
information, including historical data. My favorite for ease of use is the Bank of Canada site at
www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/exchform.html
One problem you may encounter (this author did) is when the foreign jurisdiction
requires periodic updating of the currency exchange rates in their order. Germany requires
annual adjustments, for example, and this may be the preferred way to go (some jurisdictions
require monthly recalculation of conversion rates, and this can be extremely cumbersome). In a
UIFSA registration case you should take care to address this issue in the original order
confirming registration or risk having your order locked in at a set dollar ($) amount for the entire
term of the order. Of course, sometimes periodic adjustments will work to the benefit of the
person paying support. No one can tell at the time the order is registered which way the
exchange rate will trend in coming years. (If you could you would be doing that for a living,
rather than enforcing child support orders!)
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