Mandy Mobley Li v. Chao Li

The Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act (FFCCSOA) grants continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to a court of a State to modify its child support orders. A State tribunal shall not modify another court’s child support order if only one court has issued a child support order and an individual contestant has not filed written consent for the tribunal to assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over the order. Georgia law requires a petitioner seeking a child support modification to file in the court of the county where the defendant resides. Child support may only be prospectively modified in Georgia from the date the modified order is issued. The questions presented are:

1. Whether Georgia law has been pre-empted by the FFCCSOA, which assigns continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify child support orders to the courts that have issued the orders

2. Whether the FFCCSOA and Ross v. Ross prevent a Georgia tribunal from modifying a child support order if another Georgia court has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over the order

3. Whether a Georgia tribunal may refuse to transfer a petition to modify a child support order to the court with continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify the order

4. Whether Georgia laws governing child support modifications violate the due process and equal protection constitutional guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment