Moore v. Bedard

On July 31, 2006, Moore filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order. As part of her request, Moore requested child support. The parties later entered a stipulation where the parties agreed to a child support amount, but the temporary restraining order was dissolved. In 2009, the Department of Child Support became the payee of the child support instead of Moore. In 2011, Bedard filed a request to modify child support. The trial court dismissed the support action because it believed that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to make a child support order because the temporary restraining order has been dismissed. The Department of Child Support appealed, arguing that “[i]f the court makes any order for custody, visitation, or support, the order shall survive the termination of a protection order.” The Court of Appeal agreed with the Department of Child Support and overturned the trial court’s decision. Noting that the trial court had jurisdiction to make child support orders, the Court of Appeal found that this jurisdiction survived the “’dissolution’ of the temporary restraining order.”