§ 50-30. Findings; policy; and purpose.
Article 2.
Expedited Process forChild Support Cases.
§ 50‑30. Findings;policy; and purpose.
(a) Findings. TheGeneral Assembly makes the following findings:
(1) There is a strongpublic interest in providing fair, efficient, and swift judicial processes forestablishing and enforcing child support obligations. Children are entitled tosupport from their parents, and court assistance is often required for theestablishment and enforcement of parental support obligations. Children who donot receive support from their parents often become financially dependent onthe State.
(2) The State shall havelaws that meet the federal requirements on expedited processes for obtainingand enforcing child support orders for purposes of federal reimbursement underTitle IV‑D of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 66(a)(2). TheSecretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services maywaive the expedited process requirement with respect to one or more districtcourt district as defined in G.S. 7A‑133 on the basis of theeffectiveness and timeliness of support order issuance and enforcement withinthe district.
(3) The State has astrong financial interest in complying with the expedited process requirement,and other requirements, of Title IV‑D of the Social Security Act, but theState would incur substantial expense in creating statewide an expedited childsupport process as defined by federal law.
(4) The State's judicialsystem is largely capable of processing child support cases in a timely andefficient manner and has a strong commitment to an expeditious system.
(5) The substantialexpense the State would incur in creating a new system for obtaining andenforcing child support orders would be reduced and better spent by improvingthe present system.
(b) Purpose and Policy. It is the policy of this State to ensure, to the maximum extent possible,that child support obligations are established and enforced fairly,efficiently, and swiftly through the judicial system by means that make thebest use of the State's resources. It is the purpose of this Article tofacilitate this policy. The Administrative Office of the Courts and judicialofficials in each district court district as defined in G.S. 7A‑133 shallmake a diligent effort to ensure that child support cases, from the time offiling to the time of disposition, are handled fairly, efficiently, andswiftly. The Administrative Office of the Courts and the State Department ofHealth and Human Services shall work together to improve procedures for thehandling of child support cases in which the State or county has an interest,including all cases that qualify in any respect for federal reimbursement underTitle IV‑D of the Social Security Act. (1985 (Reg. Sess., 1986), c.993, s. 1; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1037, s. 86; 1997‑443, s. 11A.18.)