As used in the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act:
A. "child" means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent;
B. "child-support order" means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country;
C. "convention" means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at The Hague on November 23, 2007;
D. "duty of support" means an obligation imposed or imposable by law to provide support for a child, spouse or former spouse, including an unsatisfied obligation to provide support;
E. "foreign country" means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and:
(1) that has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country;
(2) that has established a reciprocal arrangement for child support with this state as provided in Section 40-6A-308 NMSA 1978;
(3) that has enacted a law or established procedures for the issuance and enforcement of support orders that are substantially similar to the procedures pursuant to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act; or
(4) in which the convention is in force with respect to the United States;
F. "foreign support order" means a support order of a foreign tribunal;
G. "foreign tribunal" means a court, administrative agency or quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country that is authorized to establish, enforce or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. "Foreign tribunal" includes a competent authority pursuant to the convention;
H. "gross income" means income from any source and includes income from salaries, wages, tips, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits, workers' compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, significant in-kind benefits that reduce personal living expenses, prizes and alimony or maintenance received; provided that:
(1) "gross income" does not include benefits received from:
(a) means-tested public assistance programs, including temporary assistance for needy families, supplemental security income and general assistance;
(b) the earnings or public assistance benefits of a child who is the subject of a child support award; or
(c) child support received by a parent for the support of other children;
(2) for income from self-employment, rent, royalties, proprietorship of a business or joint ownership of a partnership or closely held corporation, "gross income" means gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce such income, but ordinary and necessary expenses do not include expenses determined by the court to be inappropriate for purposes of calculating child support;
(3) "gross income" does not include the amount of alimony payments actually paid in compliance with a court order;
(4) "gross income" does not include the amount of child support actually paid by a parent in compliance with a court order for the support of prior children; and
(5) "gross income" does not include a reasonable amount for a parent's obligation to support prior children who are in that parent's custody. A duty to support subsequent children is not ordinarily a basis for reducing support owed to children of the parties but may be a defense to a child support increase for the children of the parties. In raising such a defense, a party may use Table A as set forth in Subsection M of Section 40-4-11.1 NMSA 1978 to calculate the support for the subsequent children;
I. "home state" means the state or foreign country in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing of a petition or comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six months old, the state or foreign country in which the child lived from birth with a parent or a person acting as parent. A period of temporary absence of any of them is counted as part of the six-month or other period;
J. "income" means actual gross income of a parent if employed to full capacity or potential income if unemployed or underemployed. The gross income of a parent means only the income and earnings of that parent and not the income of subsequent spouses, notwithstanding the community nature of both incomes after remarriage;
K. "income-withholding order" means an order or other legal process directed to an obligor's employer or other debtor to withhold support from the income of the obligor;
L. "initiating tribunal" means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or a foreign country;
M. "issuing foreign country" means the foreign country in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child;
N. "issuing state" means the state in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child;
O. "issuing tribunal" means the tribunal of a state or foreign country that issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child;
P. "law" includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law;
Q. "obligee" means:
(1) an individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child has been issued;
(2) a foreign country, state or political subdivision of a state to which the rights under a duty of support or support order have been assigned or which has independent claims based on financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support;
(3) an individual seeking a judgment determining parentage of the individual's child; or
(4) a person that is a creditor in a proceeding pursuant to Sections 40-6A-701 through 40-6A-713 NMSA 1978;
R. "obligor" means an individual or the estate of a decedent who:
(1) owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support;
(2) is alleged but has not been adjudicated to be a parent of a child;
(3) is liable under a support order; or
(4) is a debtor in a proceeding pursuant to Sections 40-6A-701 through 40-6A-713 NMSA 1978;
S. "outside this state" means a location in another state or in a country other than the United States, whether or not the country is a foreign country;
T. "person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity;
U. "record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
V. "register" means to file in a tribunal of this state a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country;
W. "registering tribunal" means a tribunal in which a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered;
X. "responding state" means a state in which a petition or comparable pleading for support or to determine parentage of a child is filed or to which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded for filing from another state or a foreign country;
Y. "responding tribunal" means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country;
Z. "spousal support order" means a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor;
AA. "state" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession under the jurisdiction of the United States. "State" includes an Indian tribe, pueblo, nation or band;
BB. "support enforcement agency" means a public official, governmental entity or private agency, acting under contract with such a public official or governmental entity, that is authorized to:
(1) seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support;
(2) seek establishment or modification of child support;
(3) request determination of parentage of a child;
(4) attempt to locate obligors or their assets; or
(5) request determination of the controlling child-support order;
CC. "support order" means a judgment, decree, order, decision or directive, whether temporary, final or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse or a former spouse, that provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. "Support order" may include related costs and fees, interest, income withholding, automatic adjustment, reasonable attorney fees and other relief; and
DD. "tribunal" means a court, administrative agency or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child.
History: Laws 1994, ch. 107, § 101; 1997, ch. 9, § 1; amended and recompiled as 40-6A-102 by Laws 2005, ch. 166, § 1; 2011, ch. 159, § 1; 2021, ch. 20, § 15.
Recompilations. — Laws 2005, ch. 166, § 47 recompiled former 40-6A-102 NMSA 1978 as 40-6A-105 NMSA 1978, effective June 17, 2005.
Compiler's notes. — Laws 2016, ch. 61, § 1 repealed Laws 2011, ch. 159, §§ 69 and 70, an applicability clause and contingent effective date, respectively, effective May 18, 2016, thereby making Laws 2011, ch. 159, §§ 1 through 68, effective May 18, 2016. For provisions of Laws 2011, ch. 159, §§ 69 and 70, see compiler's note to 40-6A-100 NMSA 1978.
The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, defined "gross income" and revised the definition of "income" as used in the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act; added a new Subsection H and redesignated the succeeding subsections accordingly; and in Subsection J, after "'income'", deleted "includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject to withholding for support under the law of this state" and added the remainder of the subsection.
The 2011 amendment, effective May 18, 2016, added definitions of "convention", "foreign country", "foreign support order", "foreign tribunal", "issuing foreign country", and "outside this state"; included foreign countries within the scope of the definitions of "child-support order", "issuing tribunal", "oblige", "register", "responding state", "responding tribunal", and "support order"; included a creditor as an "obligee"; and included a debtor as an "obligor".
The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, deleted the references in Subsection (7) to the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act and the Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (former Sections 40-6-1 to 40-6-41 NMSA 1978); added the definition of "person" in subsection (14); added the definition of "record" in Subsection (15) to mean information in a tangible medium or in an electronic or other medium; defined "state" in Subsection (21) to include an Indian pueblo, nation or band and a foreign country or subdivision that has been declared to be a reciprocating country or political subdivision under federal law or has established a reciprocal arrangement for child support with New Mexico; deleted the references in Subsection (21)(iii) to the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act and the Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act; defined "support enforcement agency" in Subsection (22)((v)to include a public official or agency that is authorized to determine the controlling child-support order; and defined "support order" to mean a document issued by a tribunal, including a directive.
The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, in Paragraph (7), inserted "is forwarded or in which a proceeding is filed for forwarding to a responding state" and "or procedure" near the middle, and deleted "is filed for forwarding to a responding state" at the end; in Paragraph (16), inserted "is filed or to which a proceeding", "for filing from an initiating state" and "or procedure" ; and in Paragraph (19), deleted "the Commonwealth of" following "District of Columbia", inserted "the United States Virgin Islands", and "enacted a law or" and added "the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act or the Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act" at the end; and made minor stylistic changes.
"Duty of support". — The duty to support a spouse by way of alimony is a duty of support for purposes of the Reciprocal Enforcement Act. State ex rel. Benzing v. Benzing, 1986-NMCA-026, 104 N.M. 129, 717 P.2d 105 (decided under prior law).
Law reviews. — For article, "Child Support Enforcement: The New Mexico Experience," see 9 N.M.L. Rev. 25 (1978-79).
For article, "Arbitration of Domestic Relations Disputes in New Mexico," see 16 N.M.L. Rev. 321 (1986).
Structure New Mexico Statutes