Suspension or Denial of Licenses for Child Support Arrearages

In order to improve the effectiveness of child support collections, states are required to enact laws to deny or suspend the driver's license or professional license of anyone found to have failed to pay his or her child support obligation.

International Child Abduction Remedies Act

The Hague International Child Abduction Convention is a convention signed by many nations around the world that provides a method of securing either the return of a child or access to a child who was wrongfully taken into another country. The International Child Abduction Remedies Act establishes federal law to implement the Hague Convention.

Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act

Problems arise where a parent and a child do not reside in the same state. To deal with jurisdictional problems in establishing and enforcing child support obligations, the federal government enacted the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act in the 1950s. Although it has been mostly replaced by the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, enacted in 1998, URESA still applies in some situations.

Putative Father's Right to Custody vs. Non-Parent

Recent years have witnessed a number of changes in the nature of marital and other domestic relations in the United States, with a concomitant modification in public attitudes toward such things as the status of children born outside of marriage. These changes have been accompanied by an evolution in the way in which the legal system views a number of issues related to family law. One such group of issues concerns the right of a putative father, that is to say, a man who is supposed or reputed to be the father of a child or children born to a woman to whom he is not married, or who claims to be the father of such a child or children, to assert an entitlement to custody of or visitation with such a child or children.

Natural Parent Presumption in Custody Awards

Although a court may order custody of a child to someone other than a parent or to an agency, in making that decision, the court must first consider the presumption that it is in the child's best interests to remain with one or both parents. The natural parent's superior right to custody of a child is not absolute and must yield to the best interest of the child.