§ 15-5-16.2 - Child support.
SECTION 15-5-16.2
§ 15-5-16.2 Child support. – (a) In a proceeding for divorce, divorce from bed and board, a miscellaneouspetition without the filing of divorce proceedings, or child support, the courtshall order either or both parents owing a duty of support to a child to pay anamount based upon a formula and guidelines adopted by an administrative orderof the family court. If, after calculating support based upon court establishedformula and guidelines, the court, in its discretion, finds the order would beinequitable to the child or either parent, the court shall make findings offact and shall order either or both parents owing a duty of support to pay anamount reasonable or necessary for the child's support after considering allrelevant factors including, but not limited to:
(1) The financial resources of the child;
(2) The financial resources of the custodial parent;
(3) The standard of living the child would have enjoyed hadthe marriage not been dissolved;
(4) The physical and emotional condition of the child and hisor her educational needs; and
(5) The financial resources and needs of the non-custodialparent.
(b) The court may, if in its discretion it deems it necessaryor advisable, order child support and education costs for children attendinghigh school at the time of their eighteenth (18th) birthday and for ninety (90)days after graduation, but in no case beyond their nineteenth (19th) birthday.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the court, in its discretion,may order child support to continue, in the case of a child with a severephysical or mental impairment still living with or under the care of a parent,beyond the child's emancipation as defined above. The court shall consider thefollowing factors when making its determination: (1) the nature and extent ofthe disability; (2) the cost of the extraordinary medical expenses; (3) theability of the child to earn income; (4) the financial resources of the child;(5) the financial resources of the parents; (6) the inability of the primarycaregiver of the child to sustain gainful employment on a full-time basis dueto the care necessitated by the child. The onset of the disability must haveoccurred prior to the emancipation event. The court may periodically review thecase to determine if circumstances warrant the continuation of child support.
(c) The court may, if in its discretion it deems it necessaryor advisable, appoint an attorney or a guardian ad litem to represent theinterest of a minor or dependent child with respect to his or her support,custody, and visitation.
(i) In determining whether an appointment should be made, thecourt shall consider the extent to which a guardian ad litem may assist inproviding information concerning the best interest of the child; the age of thechild; the wishes of the parents as well as their financial resources; thenature of the proceeding including the level of contentiousness, allegations ofchild abuse or domestic violence and the risk of harm to the child if aguardian is not appointed; or conflicts of interest between the child andparents or siblings;
(ii) The guardian ad litem shall be appointed from a list ofpersons properly credentialed pursuant to administrative orders of the chiefjudge of the family court;
(iii) The court shall enter an order of appointment statingthe specific assignment the optional and mandatory duties of the guardian adlitem, the guardian's access to the child and confidential informationregarding the child, and a provision for payment of the costs and fees of theguardian ad litem;
(iv) Communications made to a guardian, including those madeby a child, are not privileged and may or may not be disclosed to the parties,the court or to professionals providing services to the child or the family;
(v) The guardian ad litem shall meet with the child, conductan investigation and upon request of the court shall prepare an oral or writtenreport that contains the procedural background of the case, identification ofall persons interviewed and other sources of information, a statement of thechild's emotional, medical, educational and social service needs, the child'swishes and other factors relevant to the court's determination regarding thebest interests of the child;
(vi) Any written report of the guardian ad litem shall bemarked as a full exhibit in the proceedings, subject to cross-examination;
(vii) If the guardian ad litem requests confidential healthcare information and consent is withheld, he or she shall apply to the courtfor leave to obtain such information after compliance with § 5-37.3-6.1;
(viii) The guardian ad litem shall be given notice of andshould appear at all proceedings in family court that affect the interests ofthe child;
(ix) A person serving as a guardian ad litem under thissection acts as the court's agent and is entitled to quasi-judicial immunityfor acts performed within the scope of the duties of the guardian ad litem;
(x) The chief judge of the family court shall issue, throughadministrative orders, rules governing the appointment and performance ofguardians ad litem in domestic proceedings.
(2) After a decree for support has been entered, the courtmay from time to time upon the petition of either party review and alter itsdecree relative to the amount of support and the payment of it, and may makeany decree relative to it which it might have made in the original suit. Thedecree may be made retroactive in the court's discretion only to the date thatnotice of a petition to modify was given to the adverse party if the courtfinds that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred; provided, thatthe court shall set forth in its decision the specific findings of fact whichshow a substantial change in circumstances and upon which findings of facts thecourt has decided to make the decree retroactive. The child support order shallcontinue in full force and effect, by wage withholding, after the youngestchild is emancipated, and shall be applied towards any arrearage due and owing,as indicated on the child support computer system. Upon satisfaction of thearrears due and owing the child support order shall be automatically suspendedand wage withholding terminated without the necessity of returning to familycourt.
(d) In a proceeding to enforce a child support order, or aspousal support order for a custodial parent having custody of a minor child,the court or its magistrate may assign to the obligee such tangible personalproperty of the obligor that will be sufficient to satisfy the child or spousalsupport arrearage owed. The court or its magistrate, after a hearing, shallestablish the amount of the child or spousal support arrearage, and the natureand value of the tangible personal property. To effect the assignment, thecourt or its magistrate may order the obligor to execute and deliver thedocuments of title which may be necessary to complete the transfer of title tothe property, and may order the obligor to deliver possession of the propertyto the obligee. Whenever the obligor fails to comply with the order assigningthe property, the order of assignment shall be regarded as a judgment vestingtitle to the property in the obligor as fully and completely as if the obligorhad executed and delivered the documents of title.
(2) Any order for child support issued by the family courtshall contain a provision requiring either or both parents owing a duty ofsupport to a child to obtain health insurance coverage for the child whencoverage is available to the parent or parents through their employment withoutcost or at a reasonable cost. "Reasonable cost" shall be defined in accordancewith guidelines adopted by administrative order of the family court inconjunction with the child support guidelines.
(3) Any existing child support orders may be modified inaccordance with this subsection unless the court makes specific writtenfindings of fact that take into consideration the best interests of the childand conclude that a child support order or medical order would be unjust orinappropriate in a particular case.
(4) In addition, the national medical support notice shall beissued with respect to all orders issued, enforced, or modified on or afterOctober 1, 2002, in accordance with chapter 29 of title 15. The notice shallinform the employer of provisions in the child support order, for health carecoverage for the child, and contain instructions on how to implement thiscoverage. In lieu of the court ordering the non-custodial parent to obtain ormaintain health care coverage for the child, the court may order thenon-custodial parent to contribute a weekly cash amount towards the medicalpremium for health care coverage paid by the state of Rhode Island and/or thecustodial parent. The method to determine a reasonable weekly amount shall beaddressed in the family court administrative order pertaining to the childsupport guidelines.
(e) In a proceeding to establish support, the court in itsdiscretion may, after opportunity for a hearing, issue a temporary order forchild support payable into the registry of the court and to be held pendingentry of judgment. In the event of a final adjudication requiring no payment orpayments in an amount less than those payments which have been made pursuant toa temporary order under this section, the defendant shall be entitled to arefund of all or a portion of the amounts paid.
(f) In any proceeding to establish support, or in any case inwhich an obligor owes past due support, for a child or children receivingpublic assistance pursuant to chapter 5.1 of title 40, the court or itsmagistrate, upon a finding that an able bodied absent parent obligor isunemployed, underemployed or lacks sufficient income or resources from which tomake payment of support equal to the public assistance payment for the child orchildren, or is unable to pay the arrearages in accordance with a payment plan,may order that parent to perform unpaid community service for at least twenty(20) hours per week through community service placements arranged andsupervised by the department of human services or to participate in any workactivities that the court deems appropriate. The performance of communityservice shall not be a basis for retroactive suspension of arrears due andowing.
(g) In any proceeding to establish support for a minor childwhose adjudicated parent is a minor (minor-parent), the court or its magistratemay order a grandparent of the minor child to reimburse the department of humanservices in an amount not to exceed the total amount of cash assistancebenefits paid to or for the minor child pursuant to chapter 5.1 of title 40until the minor-parent reaches the age of eighteen (18), less any payment madeto the department by the minor parent.
(2) The obligation of reimbursement for the minor child shallbe the joint and several responsibility of the minor parent and thegrandparent(s) until the minor parent reaches the age of eighteen (18);provided, that each joint obligor shall have a right of contribution againsteach joint obligor, which right shall be enforceable by an action in the familycourt.
(h) All support orders established or modified in the stateon or after October 1, 1998, shall be recorded with the Rhode Island familycourt department of human services child support computer enforcement system,which maintains the official registry of support orders entered in accordancewith applicable administrative orders issued by the Rhode Island family court.The support order shall be recorded whether or not services are being providedunder the IV-D state plan.
(2) The obligee to a paternity or child support proceedingshall be required to file with the family court, upon the entry of the order,the appropriate form as provided by family court which includes the full nameof the parties, residential and mailing address, telephone number, driverslicense number, social security number and the name, address and telephonenumber of the employer. The form shall also include the full order amount anddate and amount of arrearages if any, the name of the child(ren), their date ofbirth, address and social security number and any other information as requiredby administrative order.
(3) After this, each party is required to file an amendedform whenever any of the information contained on the original form has beenchanged in any way, within ten (10) days of the change. The information shallbe entered in the child support enforcement computer system within five (5)business days of receipt of the amended form.
(i) In any subsequent child support enforcement actionbetween the parties, upon sufficient showing that diligent effort has been madeto ascertain the location of such a party, the court may deem state due processrequirements for notice and service of process to be met with respect to theparty, upon service by first class mail or, where appropriate, by service asspecified in the Rhode Island rules of procedure for domestic relations for theFamily Court of Rhode Island, of written notice to the most recent residentialor employer address of record.
[See § 12-1-15 of the General Laws.]