Connecticut General Statutes Title 53. Crimes § 53-304. Nonsupport. Support orders and agreements. Administration of oaths by family relations counselors and support enforcement officers

(a) Any person who neglects or refuses to furnish reasonably necessary support to the person's spouse, child under the age of eighteen or parent under the age of sixty-five shall be deemed guilty of nonsupport and shall be imprisoned not more than one year, unless the person shows to the court before which the trial is had that, owing to physical incapacity or other good cause, the person is unable to furnish such support. The court may suspend the execution of any community correctional center sentence imposed, upon any terms or conditions that it deems just, may suspend the execution of the balance of any such sentence in a like manner, and, in addition to any other sentence or in lieu thereof, may order that the person convicted shall pay to the Commissioner of Administrative Services directly or through Support Enforcement Services of the Superior Court, such support, in such amount as the court may find commensurate with the necessities of the case and the ability of such person, for such period as the court shall determine. Any such order of support may, at any time thereafter, be set aside or altered by the court for cause shown. Failure of any defendant to make any payment may be punished as contempt of court and, in addition thereto or in lieu thereof, the court may order the issuance of a wage withholding in the same manner as is provided in section 17b-745, which withholding order shall have the same precedence as is provided in section 52-362. The amounts withheld under such withholding order shall be remitted to the Department of Administrative Services by the person or corporation to whom the withholding order is presented at such intervals as such withholding order directs.

(b) Any person who violates any provision of this section may be prosecuted before any court of this state in the same manner as if such offense had been committed within the territorial jurisdiction of such court.

(c) A written agreement to support or any modification of an agreement to support filed with said court or the assistant clerk of the Family Support Magistrate Division shall have the same force and effect as an order of support by the Superior Court and shall be enforceable in the same manner as is provided herein for orders of support issued by the court.

(d) Family relations counselors and support enforcement officers employed by the Judicial Department may administer oaths in all affidavits, statements, complaints and reports made to or by such family relations counselors and support enforcement officers in the performance of their duties.