As used in the Support Enforcement Act:

A. "authorized quasi-judicial officer" means a person appointed by the court pursuant to rule 53(a) [Rule 1-053A NMRA] of the Rules of Civil Procedure for the District Courts;

B. "consumer reporting agency" means any person who, for monetary fees, dues or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties and who uses any means or facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing consumer reports;

C. "delinquency" means any payment under an order for support which has become due and is unpaid;

D. "department" means the human services department;

E. "income" means any form of periodic payment to an obligor, regardless of source, including but not limited to wages, salary, commission, compensation as an independent contractor, workers' compensation benefits, disability benefits, annuity and retirement benefits or other benefits, bonuses, interest or any other payments made by any person, but does not include:

(1) any amounts required by law to be withheld, other than creditor claims, including but not limited to federal, state and local taxes, social security and other retirement and disability contributions;

(2) union dues;

(3) any amounts exempted by federal law; or

(4) public assistance payments;

F. "notice of delinquency" means the notice of delinquency as provided for in Section 40-4A-4 NMSA 1978;

G. "notice to withhold income" means a notice that requires the payor to withhold from the obligor money necessary to meet the obligor's duty under an order for support and, in the event of a delinquency, requires the payor to withhold an additional amount to be applied towards the reduction of the delinquency;

H. "obligor" means the person who owes a duty to make payments under an order for support;

I. "obligee" means any person who is entitled to receive support under an order for support or that person's legal representative;

J. "order for support" means any order which has been issued by any judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative entity of competent jurisdiction of any state and which order provides for:

(1) periodic payment of funds for the support of a child or a spouse;

(2) modification or resumption of payment of support;

(3) payment of delinquency; or

(4) reimbursement of support;

K. "payor" means any person or entity who provides income to an obligor;

L. "person" means an individual, corporation, partnership, governmental agency, public office or other entity; and

M. "public office" means the state disbursement unit of the department as defined in Section 454B of the Social Security Act.

History: Laws 1985, ch. 105, § 2; 1993, ch. 254, § 1; 1997, ch. 237, § 6.

Cross references. — For district attorneys, see N.M. Const., art. VI, § 24 and 36-1-1 to 36-1-28 NMSA 1978.

For the human services department, see 9-8-1 to 9-8-14 NMSA 1978.

For provisions relating to establishing a state case registry of obligors and related information and additional support enforcement procedures, see 27-1-8 to 27-1-14 NMSA 1978.

For single state agency designation for Title IV-D, see 27-2-27 NMSA 1978.

For district court clerks, see 34-6-19 NMSA 1978.

For the State Directory of New Hires Act, see 50-13-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.

For Section 454B of the federal Social Security Act, see 42 U.S.C. § 654b.

The 1997 amendment, effective April 11, 1997, inserted "bonuses, interest" following "benefits" near the end of Subsection E, and rewrote Subsection M.

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, substituted "or" for "and" at the end of Paragraph (3) of Subsection E; substituted "40-4A-4 NMSA 1978" for "4 of the Support Enforcement Act" in Subsection F; deleted a proviso concerning foreign orders from the end of the introductory language of Subsection J; and made stylistic changes in Subsections G and J.