324                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                     [CH. 295

support was furnished for the purpose of securing reimbursement
of expenditures so made and of obtaining continuing support.

9.

All duties of support, including arrearages, are enforceable by
petition irrespective of relationship between the obligor and obligee.
[Jurisdiction of all proceedings hereunder shall be vested in the
Circuit Court of any county in this State, either the Circuit Court
or the Circuit Court No. 2 in Baltimore City; Juvenile Courts and
Trial Magistrates having jurisdiction over the enforcement of laws
respecting duties of support.]

10.

Jurisdiction of all proceedings hereunder is vested in the Circuit
Court of any county in the state, either the Circuit Court or the
Circuit Court No. 2 in Baltimore City, juvenile courts, trial mag-
istrates and people's courts having jurisdiction over the enforcement
of laws respecting duties of support.

[10.] 11.

The petition shall be verified and shall state the name and, so far
as known to the [petitioner] obligee, the address and circumstances
of the obligor and his or her dependents for whom support is sought
and all other pertinent information. The [petitioner] obligee may
include in or attach to the petition any information which may
help in locating or identifying the obligor including, but without
limitation by enumeration, a photograph of the obligor, a descrip-
tion of any distinguishing marks of his person, other names and
aliases by which he has been or is known, the name of his employer,
his fingerprints, or social security number.

[12.

(a)  When the Court of this State, acting as a responding state,
receives from the court of an initiating state the aforesaid copies,
it shall (1) docket the cause, (2) notify the State's Attorney of the
jurisdiction, (3) set a time and place for a hearing, and (4) take
such action as is necessary in accordance with the laws of this
State to obtain jurisdiction.

(b)  When any court of this State, acting as a responding State,
shall receive a petition from a Court of an initiating State in any
proceeding, whether civil or criminal, it shall be the duty of the
State's Attorney of the jurisdiction to prosecute such cause.

(c)   The court of this state acting as a responding state may,
pursuant to the statement of the court of the initiating state or on
its own initiative discharge all duties imposed by this Article without
fees or other costs to the petitioner.

(d)   If a court of this state, acting as a responding state, is unable
to obtain jurisdiction of the obligor or his property due to inac-
curacies or inadequacies in the petition or otherwise, the court shall
communicate this fact to the court in the initiating state, shall on
its own initiative use all means at its disposal to trace the obligor
or his property, and shall hold the case pending the receipt of more
accurate information or an amended petition from the court in the
initiating state.]