Gyger v. Clement (North Carolina 2018)

When registering an order sent from a foreign reciprocating country, notice of a pending hearing is properly sent to the agency that initiated the action. Switzerland requested that North Carolina register a support order. The trial court didn’t register the order. It found that the notice provided to the father of the initial hearing didn’t satisfy North Carolina law. The mother filed a Rule 60(b) motion to set aside the order denying registration. She argued several grounds, including that she wasn’t given proper notice of the registration hearing pursuant to the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure. Notice was sent to the Swiss child support authority, not to her last known address. The trial court denied the motion, and the mother appealed. The appellate court found that federal and state policy and procedure supported sending hearing notices to the agency that initiated the registration action and not the individual party.