Uniform Law Commission

111 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 1010, Chicago, IL  60602

312-450-6600, www.nccusl.org

Contact:            Katie Robinson, ULC Communications Officer, 312-450-6616

For Immediate Release:

Testimony on Capitol Hill in Support of Uniform Act

            October 15, 2009 – Battle Robinson, uniform law commissioner from Delaware, testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 6, 2009, regarding the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.  Commissioner Robinson expressed the Uniform Law Commission’s support of Senate ratification of the Convention and answered the Committee’s questions regarding implementation of the Convention through the amendments approved in 2008 to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.

            Joining Commissioner Robinson on the panels were Keith Loken (U.S. Department of State), Vicki Turetsky (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), and Alisha Griffen (New Jersey Department of Human Services).

            Video of the testimony and the testimony submitted can be found at:

http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg091006a.html

            In November 2007, the United States signed the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.  This Convention contains numerous provisions that establish uniform procedures for the processing of international child support cases.  The 2008 Amendments to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), approved by the Uniform Law Commission in July 2008, serve as the implementing language for the Convention within U.S. States and Territories.

            In order for the United States to fully accede to the Convention, it was necessary to modify UIFSA by incorporating provisions of the Convention that impact existing state law.  Section 7 of the 2008 UIFSA provides important guidelines and procedures for the registration, recognition, enforcement and modification of foreign support orders from countries that are parties to the Convention.  Enactment of the amendments to UIFSA will improve the enforcement of American child support orders abroad and will help ensure that children residing in the United States will receive the financial support due from parents, wherever the parents reside.

            The Uniform Law Commission, now in its 118th year, comprises more than 300 practicing lawyers, governmental lawyers, judges, law professors, and lawyer-legislators from every state as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.   Uniform Law Commissioners are appointed by their states to draft and promote enactment of uniform laws that are designed to solve problems common to all the states.

            After receiving the ULC’s seal of approval, a uniform act is officially promulgated for consideration by the states, and legislatures are urged to adopt it.  Since its inception in 1892, the ULC has been responsible for more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Partnership Act, and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.

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