CHAPTER 482

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 20-88.21 and 20-88.22 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to contents of petitions and duties of courts of this
State as an initiating state under the uniform Reciprocal Enforcement
of Support of Dependents Act; and to amend the Code of Virginia by
adding §§ 20-88.21-1, 20-88.22-1 and 20-88.22-2, relating respectively
to provision of counsel for certain petitioners, bringing of petitions
with the appointment of guardians ad litem, arresting of defendants
in certain cases, and duties of the Department of Welfare and Institu-
tions as the State Information Agency. P

[S 74]

Approved April 5, 1954

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 20-88.21 and 20-88.22 of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted and that the Code be amended by adding sections numbered
20-88.21-1, 20-88.22-1 and 20-88.22-2 as follows:

§ 20-88.21. Contents of petition for support.—The petition shall be
verified and shall state the name and, so far as known to the petitioner, the
address and circumstances of the defendant and his dependents for whom
support is sought and all other pertinent information. The petitioner may
include in or attach to the petition any information which may help in
locating or identifying the defendant including, but without limitation by
enumeration, a photograph of the defendant, a description of any dis-
tinguishing marks of his person, other names and aliases by which he has
been or 1s known, the name of his employer, his finger prints, or Social
Security number.

§ 20-88.21-1. A petition on behalf of a minor obligee may be brought
by a person having legal custody of the minor without appointment as
guardian ad litem.

§ 20-88.22. Duty of court of this State as initiating state.—If the
court of this State acting as an initiating state finds that the petition sets
forth facts from which it may be determined that the defendant owes a
duty of support and that a court of the responding state may obtain juris-
diction of the defendant or his property, it shall so certify and shall cause *
three copies of the petition, its certificate and * this law to be transmitted
to the court of the responding state. If the name and address of such court
1s unknown and the responding state has an information agency compara-
ble to that established in the initiating state it shall cause such copies to be
transmitted to the state information agency or other proper official of the
responding state, with a request that it forward them to the proper court,
and that the court of the responding state acknowledge their receipt to the
court of the initiating state.

§ 20-88.22-1. When the court of this State, acting either as an initiat-
ing or responding state, has reason to believe that the defendant may flee
the jurisdiction it may (a) as an initiating state request in its certificate
that the court of the responding state obtain the body of the defendant by
appropriate process if that be permissible under the law of the responding
state; or (b) as a responding state, obtain the body of the defendant by
appropriate process.

§ 20-88.22-2. The Department of Welfare and Institutions 1s hereby
designated as the State Information Agency under this law, and it shall be
its duty:
(1) To compile a list of the courts and their addresses in this State
having jurisdiction under this law and transmit the same to the State In-
formation Agency of every other state which has adopted this or a sub-
stantially stmilar law.

(2) To maintain a register of such lists received from other states and
to transmit copies thereof as soon as possible after receipt to every court
in this State having jurisdiction under this act.