Articles on Family Law
My Daughter Turns 18 After She Graduates High School, How Long Do I Need to Pay Child Support?
I pay NC child support for my daughter who graduates NC high school in January 2010. She does not turn 18 until August 2010. What are my obligations toward NC child support payments in this case? My ex refuses to let me see our son, she also refuses to let me talk to our son.I pay child support through deductions from my weekly paycheck. I am in arrears, but I do have the right to talk to my son and see him. Can I sue for pain and suffering damages? My niece was recently released from a group home in NC. She is bipolar and ADHD and is on quite a bit of medication. I have applied for Medicaid and it is pending. Is there any type of assistance I can apply for through the state ( Florida) or govt to help support her? But yesterday he showed up with a, officer an hour after normal visitation starts and demanded his daughter. I refused and I told all of this same info to the officer and showed him all of the records. Could I end up arrested for this? My childs father is currently ordered to pay me 568.00 a month in child support. Me and the father talk pretty regular so he informs me of how much is taken out of his check and from what he tells me..they are taking out almost the full amount but i’m not receiving half of that money on my end in support. I honestly was receiving more from him before the support than what i’m receiving now and that is so backwards. I feel like now i’m being cheated..like i made a mistake putting him on child support in the first place. My question is why are they taking out more than i’m receiving? Me and my ex-wife have joint custody of our 11 yr old daughter with me being the primary conservator. The case was filed and heard in Harris County- Houston Texas. Me and my family has since moved to Dalla s TX. in Dec 2004 and have been here ever since. If I needed to file for any modifications which venue do I need to file in since my daughter has been living in a different county for almost 4 1/2 yrs? Also if my ex-wife wanted to file for a modification which venue would she have to file in since she is in Houston and I have been in Dallas for 4 1/2 yrs? I had to read the book Lolita and need to research a topic on it. I chose to research Humbert’s rights as a stepfather. In 1955 What rights would a stepfather have for custody over his step child if both biological parents are dead? Also what steps would he need to take to become the childs legal guardian? I gave temporary custody of my two little girls to their father 5 years ago so that I could go to an in-house drug rehabilitation for one year. He has since failed two drug tests (during a modification of custody hearing) and I have passed all of mine. We now have a 2 2 3 split, which is very hard on my girls, especially my oldest with adhd. The father is also facing a 4th degree assault for smacking our youngest daughter in the mouth 4 times. Are there any organizations that review cases to make sure things are operating in a checks and balances type of way without charging me thousands of dollars? My daughter’s dad and I had an argument over the holiday’s and I finally called him to see what was going on and he said that he wanted me to file something so that he could sign off his rights. What kind of information can you give me so that I can prove to him that this is not an option? And what exactly could he do if he took me to court to try and sign off his rights and not pay child support? I married my wife in late 2007…she had a son with another man in 2004 out of wedlock and did not list the biological father on the birth certificate. Is there a way I can place my name on my son’s birth certificate so that he is my son and not just a “step-son”? I’ve raised him as my own since early 2006. My boyfriend/fiancee’s ex had a son without his knowledge. My boyfriend wants nothing to do with her or the child and she claims that there is no name on the birth certificate. Is there a way the adoption can be done with out a DNA test or going to a Wisconsin court? I have a marital dissolution agreement (MDA) that states each spouse waives the right of the other’s retirement account settled in a divorce 10 yrs. ago. One spouse is now threatening the other to go back and get half of the retirement account. Can a MDA be renegotiated? I have a 6 year old daughter who I have kept from her biological father for over 3 years, due to concerns for her safety. He is a level 3 registered sex offender in another state with an incest conviction involving his sister. Do I have grounds to severe his paternal rights, change her last name from his to mine, and put a restraining order in place? My wife is “dragging her feet” on the completion of a Marriage Separation Agreement. Am I obligated to pay the mortgage, utilities, and other bills without an agreement in place? My daughter was arrested for theft in a grocery store, (while pregnant). I found out through a police friend. She has been to her court date, and is on probation, with a few other minor rules. She graduated high school early (almost 17 when she graduated). My question is: Can I legally stop paying child support because she was arrested, or any other reason that you know of given the circumstance? My stepson had a child by his girlfriend at the time but was never told it was his child until 5 years later. During that time she got married and her husband at the time was the named father on the birth certificate. When they separated a DNA test was done and proven my stepson was the father and his name was added to the birth certificate. Her father does not like my stepson so he kept calling child services until they took the child and turned him over to the ex husband. What can we do as grandparents to see our grandson that was moved from NC to WV? In NY, with a NYC child support order, how do I get the child support terminated when my daughter lives with me now, the non-custodial parent? Hello I am 16 years old and pregnant. My boyfriend is 26. However I lied to him and told him I was 18. Can he still go to jail because I lied to him. Even if he just wants to help support his child? The biological father of my now 4 year old son left me when I was 7 months pregnant, he was seperated from his wife or so he claimed at the time, they have 2 young children. He is not on the birth certificate and only temporarily paid support from when my son was 3 months to 1 year old. I met my husband and moved to the USA with my ex telling me I was doing him a favor and all support stopped as he claimed he did not want to give money to me and my husband to spend! We have a daughter and loving sister for my son and I just want to make sure that my ex cannot do anything to ruin my family, can he claim custody? I am 17 years old, my mother has full custody of me and my little brother. I am gettin married but my father is paying child support. If I get married would he stop passing child support for me or what happens…? What is the law about this…? Where a complaint can be filed against an ad litemguardian if there are proofs that he is biassed? I am getting a Dissolution of my marriage, but I have had a baby by another man while separated from my ex-husband. Do I have to let the court know about my baby with another man? As a child, my son had cancer and was given money by city police officers, (called a “10-13″) totaling 13,000 in case our medical coverage became exhausted. My ex husband and I have been divorced about 4 years now and he says he doesn’t have the money because he spent it on all the furniture that we owned at that time. When he left us, he took the money from our then bank account. What can I do to get back what is owed to my son? A few years ago the court decided to just switch the papers to say my mother had and always had full custody. Now my father has been paying for child support to my mother even though I lived with him most of the time. Now I’m in college, and he apparently must continue to pay until I graduate college and live on my own… even if I go to graduate school. Is this legal, and do I have any factor in stopping this irrational child support? My brother wife of 15 years had a short affair, which ended in a pregnacy. My brother and his wife decided to work it out and tho he was not sure if baby was his or the OM he was willing to raise it as his own, his name is on the B/C. Last week he found out his wife and the OM secretly met a few weeks ago and had a private DNA test done, which proved that the other man was the father, and behind his back last week they started court procedures to establish other man as father and visitation. Does he have any rights to stop this? Can the wife do this all without his permission? I am an Active Duty Soldier (US Army) and was deployed in Baghdad, Iraq all of 2007. When I was in Iraq my wife committed adultery with another soldier and she became pregnant. Is there anything I can do to protect me during all of this, I just feel helpless and exposed while my wife who committed adultery on me with another soldier I am the one who has to send her my money every month, and she said she wouldn’t help pay for the divorce fee’s. Recently major changes have happened wherein my daughter’s acting detached, having deteriorating school report, and disinterested in extra curricular school activities. At her age, it seems very ideal for her not to switch homes every few days. What do you suggest I submit to court as far as a modification in custody? Also, what are the chances of me modifying custody agreement? In the state of Florida, do minors have the right to decide to change custody and live with a non-custodial parent? My daughter is now 19 years old. Here father and I were never married and I did not pursue Child Support from him. She has been in contact with him over the last few years. He continually tells her how well his business is doing, but when she asked for a small amount of money he became ballistic with her. I want her to be able to get some money from this man, is there anyway that she can do that? If my husband failed to file state tax returns prior to our marriage, am I now responsible to pay the past due taxes? My husband was awarded physical custody of his two children, at the time his ex was not working. She was ordered to provide paystubs to our attorney but failed to do so and we could not keep him on retainer. The court order was done in Arizona and we live in New Mexico. How can we go about filing to get child support set up without having to go back to AZ? I just spoken with DCFS Admininistrator Office about my child name keep showing up in the computer as being with an agency. However, my child has never been with an agency. I mention to the Administrator Staff that the case was closed a year ago. My question is? What court forms do I need to present to the Judge to show that DCFS did not close the case as she instructed? I have been legally divorced since 2002 however never lived like divorced people. This year we split up and I moved out. Shortly after I became unemployed and filed for unemployment which I am currently collecting. He lost his job shortly after that as well. I’m extremely broke and bearly have food for my daughter. Please help with any advise. I live in Texas and have a question about claiming both my kids on my 2007 federal income tax return. We officially became divorced in Feb 2008, however in 2007 I received no child support whatsoever from my ex for the months of June through the end of the year. Should I just file married filing separately for 2007 and take the deduction for both kids, and what if he has already filed and took the deduction for one the kids? We live in Colorado & I want to add my wife’s name to our deed of trust. a 50 /50 situation. I’m assuming a quit claim deed is the way to go? My ex-husband told me that he has a drug & alcohol abuse problem and that he needs to go into a rehab program. He has not done this. Do I have to continue to send my children on their weekend visits? I live in Texas and I am going through a divorce. We have been separated since June of 2007. I received my 401K 1099-R form in the mail this January ‘08 and learned that 17K was distributed from my 401K account without my knowledge. What are the legal ramifications for her falsifying my signature and calling in and lying to obtain the disbursement from the 401K investment firm? I am legally seperated from my wife, and she wont sign the divorce papers. I have children, and i have primary custody of them. I also have a girlfriend, is it ok for my girlfriend to be around my children? Ive kind of been scared because i know my ex-wife might try to find some way to use it against me. please help. I am out on my own, I presently donrt work, but my fiance does, we have a home, and been together for a year now, my mother and I are in an argument and she now wants nothing to do with me, and saying I cant see or visit my son, and she is going to get grandparents rights to my other two who are 11 and 8 years old, I live in GEORGIA, and was wanting to get some advice on what should I do, is there anything I can do without having a lawyer? Is a “Limited Power of Attorney” useful for child care issues, i.e. temporary guardianship, school related issues, child care, child support, etc.? What is the legal penalty for not disclosing a previous divorce on a new marriage license? I was in a quick marriage when I was 18 and we quickly divorced never even living together as a couple. keep hearing that it’s against the law to not put this on the marriage license but what is the actual penalty? Are we talking a small fine or jail time? Besides how would they ever find out, who would care enough to go searching for this? As of right now, my wife and I are separated (not legally, however). My wife’s name and my name are both on the contract. I’ve asked my mother-in-law to take my name off the contract since I’m not living there anymore. Also, I’ve tried to give a 30 day notice as well, but to no avail. Does she have a right to keep my name on the contract even though I’m not living there anymore? We live in Idaho and have been raising our two granddaughters, age 7 and 5, since Halloween 2006. The father and mother of the 7 year old are divorced and the mother, our daughter, had been granted the tax deduction for the 7 year old from the year 2000 on. Our question is if according to IRS laws we are entitled to the exemption on our taxes? I currently live in North Carolina with wife and 2 small kids. I want to move back to California to be closer to my family. She does not want to move. Can she get a court order to make me stay in NC? I’m getting married to a man that has been previously married. His wife is presently collecting child support from him. She will probably take him back to court to ask for an increase in child support. Under Maryland law, is she entitled to come after my income once I’ve married her ex-husband? My sister died in February 2007. She was married to the father of her two youngest children when she died. She has one older child with a different man. After her death both fathers signed a custody agreement for the three minor children to be raised by the maternal grandparents. Now both fathers are asking for custody of their respective children. We are afraid that the courts will allow the respective fathers custody and the children, who have expressed a desire to live with their father, will move and then later regret their decision. Do we have any hope of retaining guardianship of these children? My husband and I have been married for 30 years. 18 years ago I had a brief affair and became pregnant. My husband is named as my 17- year-old’s father on her birth certificate. He is aware of the affair, but has raised my daughter as his own. Now, the wife of the man whom I had the affair with wants to know if he is the father of my daughter. Can she force me to have my daughter tested? Can she force her husband to be tested? In December 2006 I allowed my son’s mother to relocate to Utah through a court order. Now in less than three months my son has been moved from Arizona (original state since birth), Utah for 1 month and now the State of Washington with no prior notice from mother. Since moving out of Arizona, mother has denied phone contact and visitation between my son and me. Will the judge order her to return or let her stay in Washington even though she did not notify me? We have one child together who will be 4 this December. We were never married, and he left to move across the country when our son was 4 days old and has had minimal contact with him since then. The court has ordered joint custody while giving me sole physical custody. I have now been contacted by his current girlfriend who is 8 months pregnant with twins fathered by him. She has just filed a domestic abuse charge against him because he came over and rough housed her and left bruises. If he is arrested, and when the charges proceed, what can I do about petitioning the court for Sole custody? Would the court even consider my petition if the abuse is happening elsewhere? I have full custody, both residential a legal custody of my (2)year old boy. The father has not seen his son either have asked to visit for about a year and a half. He is paying child support through the court. I want to move to a different state. Does he has the right to stop paying child support because we are moving? Do I have to notify the court or child support agency we are moving? I have recently came across and issue, I have gotten pregnant by a guy that had a girlfriend. Last week I got a call from both of them telling me that they would like me to have an abortion and that I was lying about my medical condition that would put me at risk if I were to have another abortion. My question is that with all of these emails at work and phone calls can I or should I file a Restraining Order on both of them? I have a 17 yr old daughter that wants my boyfriend to adopt her. Her father said he would sign a paper to give up his rights. My boyfriend would like to adopt her. Can this be done in the state of NC without me giving up my rights? My step-children live in NJ and my husband and I are in PA. He has joint legal custody of children. My question is, numerous times on the phone and even in writing my husband has asked his ex to stop putting the children in activities that interfere with his visitation without discussing it with him first. Any suggestions? I owned a home before my marriage. Now I am getting divorced and my husband has been added to the deed. Can he only get a portion of the house since the time we were married (3 years)? Is he entitled to more? What happens when judge ignores best interest of child: we are grandparents who have custody of our 3 yr old grandson, CPS have proven parents unfit and neglectful. They were caught in lies in last court, concerning letting their pit bull attack gs, we had to drug test, they did not, judge still says little man has to go for visits. My ex boyfriend and I have a daughter together and we live in the same town. He just started paying child support after I filed for it and has been trying to get me to stop it because he got a DUII and his license will stay suspended until he pays off all of the back pay. Since he now pays child support does he have any say in where I take our daughter? If that is the case, would I be able to stop the child support and move away without him having any say so about it? I have never received official child support from my son’s father. My son’s father has helped to support my son from child care through high school. My son is now 18 and a full-time college student. Is my son entitled to receive anything from his father while he is in college full time? We moved from Illinois about 5 years ago, have been married almost 17 years and my husband is having an affair with someone from Illinois. Last night he talked with the children (12, 14) about getting a divorce (I was attending an CoDepency Meeting), and my son (14) wants to go to Illinois with him. While I wouldn’t mind it , I don’t believe it’s a good idea for my son. 3 weeks ago my husband pushed me down in the driveway, I received 8 staples in my head, all because I was to ‘persistent’ in asking about the affair. I’m wondering what I need to do so my son isn’t shattered when they go to Illinois and live with her, being his age can I still maintain custody of him. I am 16 years old. My parents divorced when I was 3 or 4 and my mom always gets child support from my dad on time. However, whenever I ask my mom for something, she says we don’t have any money. The only thing she pays for me is food. I pay for all clothes, shoes, and anything else I need with money from my job or birthday/Christmas money from other relatives. My dad also pays for my insurence, driving lessons, etc. I also do not get allowance. All of my friends with divorced parents get their child support themselves. Is there someway I could do this? I just wanted to know if I can put life insurance on my ex-wife without her consent? I live in California and I am currently dating a man who is going through divorce. His ex has promised to do whatever it takes to not allow their daughter to be around me during his time with her. The ex just does not like me and does not want me around her daughter. Does she have the right to keep their daughter away from him or me legally in the state of California just because she doesn’t like me? Or does he have the right to bring her around whoever he wants during his time with her? I have a question regarding the language in my husband’s separation agreement with his ex-wife pertaining to his 401K. Is “appropriate court order” his divorce decree? Or does he need to file something additional regarding this part of his 401K? There is nothing in the divorce decree that further outlines specifics regarding his 401K. My fiance has a 9 year old child who is living with us at this time since his mom is a drug addict trying to clean herself. This child doesn’t want to live with us and hates us and he even called child services on us and accused us of child abuse. He hates grown ups and anybody who tries to disciplined him, even his teacher and doctors. My fiance wants to give up his parental rights, but we are concerned about the consequences. We were told that my fiance could go to jail for abandonment of a child if he decides to give up his parental rights. Is that correct? is this a crime in the state of CT? My Mother has been my father’s conservator & guardian for close to 6 years in the state of Michigan. My mother exhausted over 90% of their liquid assets into his care costs. The only thing she has left is the house. Was she entitled to any percentage of their combined liquid assets? Can she sell the house to make-up the percentage that is owed to her? I have recently received a letter from a state agency wanting me to pay child support for a child that was born 15 years ago and that I don’t even know if it’s mine. From what I have found out so far, the man listed on the birth certificate had a DNA test done after the child was 3 years old and found out that it was not his child. However, he never had his name removed from the child’s birth certificate. I’d like to know if this man is still the legal father and therefore responsible to pay the child support and what kind of options I have in fighting this. What is the proceedure in Oklahoma to file custody of my unborn grandchild, the mother is 17, unmarried and a meth user? My husband bought rental property several years ago after we got married. The purchase was made in his name only. He now wishes to sell that property and use it to buy a lot to sell cars in. I do not want him to do so. Can he sell without my consent? My husband and his ex-wife both agreed to a child support amount, was written up and all legal. She recently served him with papers that she wanted more money than he was paying, and wants to get back child support over and above what she had agreed on. We reside in Tennessee, please let me know if this is legal, or once an agreement is made how can she back up now and say she wants more? My wife has denied me the right for Joint custody since our divorce in 1996. I am in arrears and now am being prosecuted by an attorney of the state. I could not pay support because of Economic Hardship with my employment career. I would like to know if I could fight for joint custody and sue my x wife for all the years she had not allowed me Joint custody to eliminate arrears and see my children more. I have a termination of parental rights in place. It was granted in 2002. I have now found out that there is money in my sons name and was told to do an amendment to the TOPR. The lawyer I talked to said that this can’t be done unless you set aside the termination. IF I was to do this what is the likely hood of the father being able to get any rights if he even tried during the period it is set aside? My fiance’s ex-wife has asked him to give up his rights to his two sons. My question to you is will he still have to pay child support? She is planning on getting married in the near future would the courts allow this. We live in the state of Missouri. My ex wife and I were divorced in Bergen County, PA. She has now moved with my son to Northern New Jersey. She has file a complaint of domestication and she says it is for the sole purpose of legally stating that she resides in NJ now. In this complaint it now states a lot of different things. Such as paying support until the child is 23. How can I stop all these new things from happening? Can I drop my divorce attorney and represent myself? I’m not happy with the service I am receiving from her and I feel that she is charging for extra work that does not have to be done. I live in Austin, TX. If I divorce my husband of 20+ years I would want to relocate to Tyler, TX where I have family. My husband says I can get a divorce, but I cannot leave the Austin area since we have a 14 year old son. Is there a law that prevents divorced moms from taking their son to another town, leaving their ex-husband in the town that they have all lived in the last 20 years. My son’s father and I were never married. He wasn’t there for the birth and is not on the birth certificate. He has been in and out of my son’s life seeing him only about a dozen times (he is now over two years old) sometimes with as much as a year between visits. I want to get child support from him but I don’t think its in the best interest of my son to have him around. I’m curious if I can get support from him without him seeing my son. My son came to this decision after learning that his father (who had physical custody of our son while he was a minor) bounced checks for college tuition he had originally agreed to pay, claimed that he supported my son on his income tax returns for the past 12 years though he lived apart from my son and paid no child support or general support to my son, and left medical bills unpaid from while my son was a minor that are now appearing on my son’s credit report (our child support order had his father responsible for these bills). Does he have any recourse to “make” his father pay the back tuition to the college since he now is unable to enroll due to outstanding tuition bills and inability to make a “payment arrangement” with the school since his father passed an NSF check to the college? I live in New York State and My husband knows I plan to divorce him and I have been doing the books for his business for the past 8 years. I gave the information to the accountant to do the income tax and received a call from him that my husband had, had an income of 93 thousand for the 2006 and would have to pay 30 thousand in tax returns. After that my husband filed an extension. I received a copy the returns today (because it is my right since we are still married) and he came up with a bunch of false deductions that lowered his income to 34 thousand this year. Can I sign them under protest because I don’t believe they are correct? And will that help me in court when I divorce? Or should I not sign them at all because I feel they are incorrect? I live in Missouri and I have to pay for half of my sons college and I still am ordered to pay child support on top of that, do I have to pay the child support to my ex or is there any way I can pay that support directly to my son? My ex disappeared for a few years now she’s back and wants back support, can I take it to court and fight it, or will I have to pay it? I have no idea where her and my kids have even been for the past few years. Do I have to allow my ex-inlaws to visit with the children when the children’s father is out of town. The father works out of town and is not home most of his weekends. Do I have to allow his family to see the kids on his weekend? Me & my daughters father fell upon hard times so I took our daughter to my parents and asked them to look after her they said they would no problem, shortly after this myself and her father were incarcerated myself for 5 months during the first months of my incarceration my stepfather and mother informed me they got guardianship of my daughter, myself or her father were never notified or served any papers, nothing, my parents knew our whereabouts at this time. I need to see my daughter what should I do what are my rights I cannot afford an attorney. My son and daughter-in-law wanted to purchase a mobile home about 10 years ago. Their credit was bad, so my husband and myself took out the loan to buy it. They are now divorced. The loan payment amount is $ 333.24 monthly. I make a payment each month for $335.00. She sends me a check for $333.00. I am losing money on this. What are my options? In my divorce papers my husband & I stated: No overnight guest of the opposiet sex while minor chidren are present. Does this mean until my children are of age or until I re-marry? Or does this mean until our divorce is final? My ex-husband receives disability benefits, including food stamps. He is about to be recertified for his food stamps, and wants a letter from me stating that he has the kids with him at least 50% of the time, so that he can obtain more food stamp money and more in the way of assistance benefits. While I don’t wish to stand in the way of him receiving his benefits, I am unwilling to make such statements when they are not true, and I am afraid I would be opening myself up to potential fraudulent activity. Am I over-reacting to this, or are these warning sirens in my head going off for a good reason? I have two adult children that I pay child support to. one is 22 the other is 19. the oldest graduated high school at the age of 20 the other is still in high school and looks like he will not graduate till he is 20 all so I have several issues that need answers. To me I am having my wages extorted by wash.state who at no point in time has made the mother accountable to the well being of the children. Is there anything legally I can do on any of this or do I just have to keep getting my wages garnished and me to live paycheck to paycheck. I am separated from my husband and we have a 4 year old daughter together. He refuses to pay child support and he comes and goes in and out of our child’s life. He gets paid well under the table and he basically shows no income. I make good money and I’m afraid if I do file I will end up paying him support. Is this possible that he can pay child support and that I may end up paying him since there is no proof of his income? i have 3 children and am divorced. my middle daughter age 6 said i touched her inappropriately during a visitation. i did not do this. since this dcf interviewed me, they referred to state atty office, i have not heard from the state atty office ever. now today i was served papers stating that my ex wants no visitation rights with my daughter and a continuance of visitation of 2 hrs a month with my other 2 children. they are asking to terminate my rights to my daughter. can they take my parental rights from me with my daughter? why cant i have regular visitation with my other 2 children? if they take my parental visitation rights, am i obligated to pay child support? My ex and I agreed to my paying $300.00 a month in child support for my 3 children. The courts further stated that I need to keep medical insurance on my children as well. I really don’t have a problem with either of these conditions, however, now my ex wants me to drop the insurance and pay her an extra $100 dollars a month in child support. Is there anything which can be done about this? My mother passed away in February of this year. My father, of course, now has my younger siblings. He remarried about a year before my mother passed away. If something were to happen to him and he would pass away, who would get custody over my younger siblings? So if something would happen to my dad, and my step-mom never went and tried to get custody of them, where would they go? And would I be able to gain custody? My boyfriend’s ex-wife is upset because their 5 year old daughter jumped in the shower with me while I was taking a shower. I was about to get out of the shower when she started to get undressed and wanted to come in. Shortly after she came in I exited the shower and that was it. Then she started accusing my boyfriend, their daughter and I of taking showers together. I just want to know if legally she can do something. Is there anything that I can do to protect any assets, such as 401k, collectibles, etc, before I get married, assuming that the spouse will not sign a prenuptial agreement? Is my ex-wife required to supply me with items of necessity when my daughter is in my care, such as diapers; since I pay my child support regularly? My wife and I have been separated for 15 months. During this time we have had separate accounts. 8 months ago I began seeing another woman with my wife’s full knowledge. Now that we are finalizing our divorce she claims that any money spent on my new relationship is community property and she is entitled to half of it. True? I paid extra in child support for 3 years because my ex threatened me. We have just terminated the child support and I found out that while I paid in extra support, the courts did not pay that money out to my ex. What happens to that money? Can I get it back? I filed for divorce due to verbal abuse towards my daughter and myself and physical abuse by his drunkenness. Now I find out he did not report “cash” income he received from a lawn service he has been doing for a few years. What is my chances of holding him responsible to pay the IRS without me being involved as I had no idea he did this? I married my husband in 1993 six years later I left him, when I found out he was still married to his second wife. Are we still legally married even though he never divorced his second wife?? My ex-wife received full custody of our son while she resided in the State of Wyoming. My son has been incompetent from birth and is now 30 years old. Both she and my son live together now in Florida. If I want visitation with my son, what must I do and in what State must this be done? In Florida, at what age can a Child decide that they do not want to visit the other parent? So I guess what I want to know is if my son has any rights or do just the girl & her parents have all the rights. They are both 16 years old now & this is their baby – who then has the rights? My son & the ex or the ex’s parents? because every time we ask to see the baby it’s “I’ll have to ask my mom” My son does not have a job at this time & is going back to school in Jan. 07, he has had a lot of problems mentally dealing with everything & has depression & some other issues. Should we as his parents be paying the child support? We live in state of North Carolina & if my son wants to be in his childs life what steps does he need to take. What can I do as a parent to help him. Do I have rights to regain my paternity and custody rights if my parental rights were wrongly terminated? My ex-wife said she was very sorry but she wanted me out of the picture. Now she is happy to live with her husband, son and his siblings/two children were born during their marriage/, the boy has a bond with her husband and… in this way I am not wanted because it is not in his interest to have relationships with me. I only want to be a part…no-I want to be a very important part of my son’s life. I was told I do not have fair chance for success, the odds are not in my favor and if I file a motion I will lose. Is it true? When my ex-wife and I separated/divorced we lived in AZ. After it was final I moved to North Carolina. Our child support agreement is through the state of AZ. She has recently moved to Phily. What happens to the court order? Do I need to file and start the process over in Phily, or does it automatically carry over from AZ to Phily? My (ex) wife and I have lived apart as a divorced couple for more than 20 years although we never finished legal proceedings. We have filed our taxes this way, have titled ourselves this way. I want to re-marry someone else. Is this first marriage considered “abandoned”, or do I still need to go through a divorce? My ex-wife and I had an agreement in our decree ( not a court order) to “half college expenses” for our daughter. At the time, we intended our daughter would attend an in-state public college as we did. However, my ex-wife now expects me to pay half of out-of-state tuition (which is twice the cost), because my daughter wants to be on the swim team but was not offered a scholarship. Would the court require me to pay half of out-of-state expenses, or is the agreement too vague to enforce? My husband recently had an affair. The woman is pregnant and doesn’t want the baby. She has offered to let my husband and I have full custody. Am I correct in thinking that we would need to do a “stepparent” adoption? Does his name go on the Birth Certificate at birth? My ex-husband and I have recently discussed him giving up his rights to our son. He is in Washington State and I am in North Carolina…it has been over a year since he has seen our son and says that he has a new family out there now and doesn’t want to have to worry about seeing or talking to our son any more. What can I do about getting this done? I have been married for 5 years in Africa (Nigeria). Now the laws are different over there. I live in Danville, Virginia and I am a citizen of the United States of America. My husband is not a citizen and lives in Germany. I have a boyfriend that i live with and we plan on getting married soon. My problem is since I got married in Africa, do I have to get a divorce? Or if i go ahead and marry my boyfriend, will that be bigamy? I am pregnant, and will give birth in a few months and I want custodial and physical custody of my unborn child before it is born. The father of the unborn child and I have never been married and he lives in a different state. How would I go about to get the custody of the unborn child? Since his divorce we have had another baby, also their tuition has went up again this year. We just can’t afford it anymore. His attorney hasn’t really been helping us, so I was just wondering if there was some way we could go in front of a judge have our case heard. We cannot afford the retainer fee for another attorney, and I want to file some sort of motion, but I don’t know what type of motion to file for this situation. When we initially filed for child support, we agreed that we would drop the back child support and add on to the minimum monthly payments instead. Now he is wanting to back out of the “add-on” and claim that the add-on was for a different reason that is no longer an issue. Can I go back and file for the back child support that was never paid, even though it was agreed to be dropped at the time? I know two young men who’s mother has passed away and their father has come and taken custody of them. He doesn’t know them and they don’t want to live with him. What can they do? They resided in Florida with their mother and would like to remain here with a close friend of their mother’s who is willing to be their legal guardian. I currently collect SSD & alimony $650/mo. Will the alimony affect my SSD? Also, I’d like to work a little, can I work in addition to alimony & SSD. My ex girlfriend of 8 years and I have 2 kids together. The kids are with me Monday through Friday and with their mom on the weekends. My ex has been dating a guy for a very short time and has been having him spend the nights when the kids are over and spends all her time with him when she should be spending it with the kids. Now, my daughter has come to me on more than one occasion saying that she is uncomfortable being at her moms when this guy is around. I have tried to discuss this with my ex and tell her of our daughters discomfort and she won’t listen or do anything about it. Is there any way to keep this guy away so my kids are happy again? Therefore leaving us with no income, the only money that ever comes in is $380 a month, which is supposed to go to myself and my brother, and its from my mother. We never knew this was from my mother because we thought she was dead. I later found out that it was all a story worked up so my dad could get the money every month and not let us know about it. My brother and his girlfriend which are later getting married said that if it comes down to it, they will take custody of me. They have normal income, and they have more than enough to support not only themselves but myself also. How would my adult brother take legal action to have custody over me? My ex-wife was given permission by the courts to move the children out-of-country to Germany and subsequently relocated to a military base in the Marshall islands without notification to myself or the courts. The court orders state that I am to have visitation every summer and alternate major holidays along with liberal communication. Since my ex-wife is the custodial parent, is this in any way considered parental kidnapping or any other criminal offense or is it okay for her to continue alienating me from my children in this way. What can I do about having a court order issued to provide medical insurance of my child when I can’t afford to pay the premium? I am a mother of two 12 and 7, both boys. I have had to carry insurance and everything to daycare even the few hours he was around. Here I am after 12 years I finally got brave enough to file. But, I finally got a letter to got to court within the week and I am nervous as hell. I cant afford an attorney and don’t even know what to expect. What does this mean for him to be at court? My sister had a baby out of wedlock and for about the first 12 months a man who was not the biological father took him about once a week or so. This man was an ex-boyfriend of my sister’s who was just simply a pest and nuisance. Now, a year later, he is trying to get custody. Can he do this? Even though he is not the biological father and has a terrible record? My son has two last names (ex. will-stre) I want to know what legal steps can I take to have the stre removed. There is no child support action against the father, but he is also not helping with child expenses on his own. My father never paid child support for me or my brother. We are both adults now and wonder if he can be sued? I was born to a very prominent Miami family (fathers side) My mother placed me with the State of Florida in 1959. My state Case Worker gave me copies of my state file. I know who my father is because of the file. I was eventually adopted and after 13 years removed for child abuse. Do I have any legal entitlements under Florida law as an heir to this man. He has never married. My husband’s son lives with his mother in Tennessee and we reside in Minnesota. His son is graduating from highschool one year early – age 17 -. If he moves out of his mother’s home and goes to college, are we responsible to continue to pay her child support until his 18th birthday. I am married and have two children with my husband. We are now separated because of an affair my husband had with a girl that is now saying he is the father of her son. What can I do as his wife to demand a DNA test? Do i have that right? I live in the state of Florida. I’m married with four beautiful children. I had a one night stand with another woman. A month later she told me was pregnant. I had a paternity test done and found out that I’m the child’s father. I’m sending money for the child. By the state of Florida am I required to sign the birth certificate even though its carrying my last name. My ex husband has not made an attempt to see our son who is now 9 for 7 years now. He is paying child support only because I filed with the Department of Revenue and they garnish it right out of his check. My ex is now threatening me that if I don’t stop the Department of Revenue from garnishing his wages, he will take me to court to fight for visitation. What can I do to prevent this from happening? I couldn’t force or make him want to be a father to our son, but financially I could. What are my rights? In South Carolina can a woman put a fathers name on the birth certificate if he is not present and are they required by law at the hospital to I.D. the man? I married my husband when he was incarcerated in a NY State Prison. Is he entitled to any assets I acquire while he is incarcerated? Specifically I am looking to purchase a home with a partner who is concerned with my husbands legal right to my assets since we are legally married. He was incarcerated before I married him and will remain incarcerated for at least the next 8-13 years. What are his rights? I have Bipolar Disorder, and wrote some bad checks and used a credit card illegally. I was in jail for one month. Then went through a domestic violence with my husband who is now my Ex- husband. The father of my two children keeps getting my parenting rights suspended because, of all that has happened this past year. What should I do to regain at least some visitation rights? I’m working now and paying child support again also. If our Grandchildren’s mother, who is our daughter, is using cocaine or other illegal drugs, is there any way we can get temporary custody of the 2 minor children? Their father is out of state, and is court ordered to not have any visitation. We do not want to notify Department of Children and Family Services because of the power they have in placing the children. We are prepared to get our daughter into a rehab program if she will accept it and are prepared to take temporary custody of the children. Is it child abuse if a parent or guardian is using illegal drugs in the home while the children are in the home? Should we hire an attorney to have temporary custody assigned to us, the grandparents, and do we have to notify their father? The Non-Custodial Parent of my 3 children all of which are his has motioned for a decrease in the court ordered child support due to the our oldest child turning 18 years of age. I am literally between a rock and a hard place as Before he issued the motion for a decrease and before the court has even had a chance to hear the case for a decrease he has taken it upon himself to modify the court ordered child support by decreasing the child support by 1/3. He has continually no showed in court when I did have an attorney. I want to go to court for an increase in child support as he placed his other children all of which are over the age of 27 in private schools and medical schools but won’t help Financially for my children to have a better life. My fiancee is going through a divorce, it should be final in April. I got her pregnant and she is due in May. Is it true that because they were married when I got her pregnant that her soon to be ex-husband will be the legal father of the child? Does he have any rights to the child? Her biological father has not been in her life in any way shape or form, and he and I have never been married or lived together. He and I came to an agreement regarding custody, visitation, payments, etc., had it notarized and we signed it. Now that child support has been ordered, he’s trying to go against our agreement. How much right do I have with this notarized document? My mother divorced my father due to an abusive relationship, they then went into a custody battle, where he had money and she did not, so he had a lawyer, while she was stuck defending herself. They agreed to take two each, and he got it, where she had to pay child support for the two he had, but he did not have to pay anything for the two she had. Well due to financial problems, she took the two she had and moved away. Fourteen years have passed, without her paying any child support. If the subject was brought up, would she have to pay for all the back owed child support, or would the statue of limitations protect her from owing that? About seven years ago my fiance was being evicted from her home. With her daughter’s best interests in mind she signed over temporary guardianship to the child’s father with the understanding that the child would be returned to her once she got back on her feet. When she attempted to retrieve her daughter the father refused to give her back. Now her daughter is twelve and is old enough to make her own decision, however her father has made it clear that if she leaves him he will never forgive her. She desperately wants to live with her mother, but is terrified of her father. So my question is this: Is there anything that my fiance can do to obtain her daughter without forcing the girl to choose between them. My son will be 18 years old this July 2007 and he will not graduate till June 2008. My understanding is that I have to pay child support till he gradates June 2008. Recently, my daughter has been told the truth about her “real” dad. I told the bio-dad of this, and he is THRILLED. He has been seeing her, and wants to establish paternity and get visitation, and pay child support. All the stuff a “dad” does. No-one wanted to take away anything away from my ex husband since he’s been a decent father to her all these years. He doesn’t want to work with us at all and change the visitation schedule so we can all have some time with her. I don’t blame him really, but no-one is trying to hurt him. My daughter wants to see her biological dad and her half brother and sister on his side. When my ex and I divorced, child visitation and support was detailed out in the paperwork. He says that if we want to change that we have to go to court. We are wondering if the bio-dad stands any chance to re-gain legal rights to his child since it’s been 12 years since she was born, and he has had no formal contact with her during that time. My wife’s mother and father purchased a property that has since then turned into a very successful lodge. About ten years ago they divorced, but he did not sell his half to her-nor was she awarded it in court. He later died. Now My wife’s mother and current husband are trying to sell the place. We think that my wife’s father’s half ownership of property would go to his daughter (my wife) when he died, and therefore she would be half owner of the property. Is this the case? My question is whether or not I, an adult (24 years old) child, can sue my mother for emotional damages incurred based on her actions when I was a child. I have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and several other anxiety disorders. These anxiety disorders, all can be traced back to the separation anxiety disorder as the chances of being diagnosed and having another anxiety disorder increased exponentially when previously diagnosed with a disorder. I understand that there may be a statute of limitations issue as this happened many years ago. However, I feel that the anxiety issues are ongoing and typically only surface in adulthood and will be issues that I will have to deal with for the remainder of my life. I live in Texas. CPS recently placed my nephew in my mothers custody. His mother signed away her rights and now my nephew is ward of the state. My nephew’s brother as lived with my mom since he was born. He is now 8 years old. If CPS made her sign her rights away what happens to the siblings??? She also has another son that lives with her aunt, they have had him since he was born and he is now 10. Does she still have rights to her other two boys? A few years ago, I asked my wife to move out of the condo that we purchased together, and she asked for some equity out of the property. We have since divorced. After filing the quit claim deed with the county, it was returned to me indicating that more detailed information is required to identify the property for recording purposes. Is the quit claim deed therefore invalid, or does the fact that she signed it at least show that the intent of the exchange of money and property between us still intact? Can I file an amendment to the original quit claim deed with the additional identifying information for the property requested by the county without her signature? Her father and I were engaged to be married but broke up 4 months before she was born. He is in the army and was in the state of Hawaii through out my whole pregnancy. He never called to see if or when she was born. I met someone when she was 3 months old we have been together ever since and he has taken on the responsibility of being her father. My fiancee wants to adopt her. He loves her like his own. He has been there for all the doctor appointments, first shots, first word, first step, first everything. Will adopting her be expensive, and what about her bio-father. He never did sign her birth certificate. We are planning to get married in the fall of 2007 and wanted to add adoption to celebration. I am a father of two estranged children living with their mother. I’m being hit very hard with child support, recently I ran into my ex’s old best friend (they are no longer on speaking terms) and she said to me that my son is not actually mine (I have always suspected but never raised the matter.) If I have a dna test done and it shows that I am not his father, will I have to continue paying child support? I have a 4 year old son. My ex signed the birth certificate, but is not the father. I know who is dad is but not where. How can I make him take a paternity and make him pay child support as well as get my ex off the birth certificate. How do I gain custody of both of my children even though their father and I are not divorced yet? My husband abandoned me in February 2006. He inherited a huge amount of money from his father’s passing in January 2006 of which I know I am not entitled to nor have I ever asked him for any of that money. Is there or do you know of an attorney that does pro bono work? My soon to be ex-husband has financially ruined me while he is living a lavish lifestyle and I need to be legally represented. I am a single parent and I have been having trouble with my 17 yr old he is both very argumentative and combative with others in the home and shoving with me. My question is: How can I legally terminate them from my lease and make him move out on his own. I am very close to getting evicted due to the noise level in the apartment. He does not listen to me as a parent. I filed a motion for child support modification on 11/06/2006 and reissued it on 01/06/2007 because my co. closed it’s business. I’m now 1,600 arrears and child support in about to suspend my license, report this on my credit and they are taking 160 dollars from a weekly unemployment check of 340. Is there any thing I can do or motion I can file to stop or put a hold on what child support is doing while I wait for an answer for my motion. My ex husband has had no interaction with our minor child and lacks the finances to pay support, so he has asked to terminate his parental rights so that my new husband whom has taken care of my daughter since she was born can adopt her, my question is this : Can I write this paperwork up myself or do I need to hire an attorney to do this for me? Also, in either case, he has not paid support in almost year and I would ask that the arrearages be dropped so that we may just move on with our lives, is this possible or will he have to pay arrearages before terminating his rights? I have been divorced for a few months now, my ex is turning out to be the typical dead beat dad. He disappears for days without returning phone calls and/or text messages, and no one knows where he is. Right now I have sole physical and we have joint legal custody, I want sole custody of all 3 kids without visitation. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make him give up his rights to them, or at least give me sole custody with supervised visitation. I live in New York State and my ex in New Jersey. My ex constantly violates court orders by not paying what he is court ordered to do and he never faces any consequences for them. We are going back to court on Friday because he now is refusing to pay Catholic School tuition for our daughter who is in the fourth grade. It was the school of choice for my son who graduated two years ago and now attending public high school. He has been paying all along, but now refuses. How can he do that? Another issue is health care. I have been paying the cost for the past ten years. I have a 1 year old daughter the father and I were never married actually we were only together 2 months. He is not on the birth certificate and we haven’t had a dna test. We also don’t have any court orders to follow at this time. So my question to you is that if i wanted to move out of state would i be allowed to since we have no court orders papers or anything established at this time. I have my whole family out there and it would be nice to be out there. I just don’t want him to be able to stop me. My ex-girlfriend lied about my daughter’s birth date (09/30/05), so that she could keep me unaware of her birth. This was so she could claim she did not know who the father was and sign over parental rights to a family friend. How legal and binding is that in the state of Arizona? The hospital paperwork was stuffed in my ex’s diaper bag pocket by mistake. They show the signature of the new mom and my ex-girlfriend signing over her rights to the child. I filed for full custody about 2 weeks before I had knowledge of my daughter’s birth, since there is a history of depression and suicidal tendencies from the mother. How can I find out when my daughter went back to my ex-girlfriend and why the court is still allowing my ex-girlfriend to have joint custody, in light of this? Should there be something in writing, stating that my ex-girlfriend took my daughter back. Is that legal, seeing as how she was turned over at the hospital after birth and not through a normal adoption process? My husband and I have raised his 2 sons for the last 14 years and their mother was ordered to pay $50 a week and to pay half of their doctor bills. The boys are 17&15 right now and the youngest wanted to move in with his mother, so we let him and my husband didn’t want to get into trouble so we give her the $50 back every week. My husband still has custody of him so my question is, Do we have to keep giving her the money? I would also like to know if she does get a lawyer, Would we have to pay her back the money from the time he moved in with her? My father passed away 2 years ago and his estate was set up in a trust. His home was left to myself, my sister and my brother. My question is can my brother and I just quit claim the home to my sister? Can someone force me to have a paternity test done on my child? My husband and I have been married for over 4 years and have two beautiful children together. This past fall we went through a rough patch in our marriage and were “separated(not legally)” for a couple of months. We were still sleeping together at the time, but one night I made a HUGE mistake and slept with a man, that I had considered to be a good friend at the time. My husband knows of the incident and we have worked past that. We found out shortly after he moved back in that I am pregnant with our 3rd child and have been adjusting to that as well. This other guy has found out that I ma pregnant and will not stop sending me e-mail telling me that he is the father of this baby and is in contact with a lawyer and wants me to have a DNA test done. Does alimony still have to be paid when the x-spouse files and receives social security benefits off of the one paying alimony or do the two combined just have to equal the amount? For example: alimony is $1,000.00 a month and social security she receives would be $800.00…..would only $200.00 need to be paid out of pocket to equal the $1,000.00? If not, how does it work? About three years ago my DR thought that I had cancer and ran a boatload of medical test on me. leaving me owing thousands of dollars in medical bills. I am now fixing to get married but my fiance is wanting me to file bankruptcy first because she is afraid they may come after her for the debt. Is this possible. Do I have to sign up for child support if my ex is giving me wages already, or is it illegal not to make him pay child support? We would like to file for a legal separation but the woman involved is pregnant. We live in Greenville, Texas and don’t know how all the laws work. We don’t have a lot of money and every lawyer we have spoken to wants at least $400.00 just to speak to us. Could you please suggest someone we could speak to within our area. Also what legal rights she has within this separation. He has been abusive and increasing threatening and now that things have gotten so far out of hand we are at a point that we feel we no longer have any options. She is disabled and can not work and he has now withdrawn his financial support from her. I Lost my Prenuptial Agreement, What are my Options? My Son is in Iraq. His wife has left the state with his son, and has no intention of returning. Son wants divorce, and custody of child. I have his POA. Need help in how to proceed. I would like to know how to go about getting custody of a younger sibling, I live in Idaho and the child in question is in Wyoming. I am 20 years of age, financially stable and completely supporting myself. I am also a child of the foster care system, and was adopted when I was in the Fourth Grade. I lived with my biological mother until I was three, until her then boyfriend beat me so severely that I had to be hospitalized. I have a younger brother, the fruit of my biological mother and abusive boyfriend. Because of excessive drug use, my brother was for a short time placed in foster care with me. I believe that the incident that incurred the action was when my mother was arrested for a DUI with my brother in the backseat of the car. I don’t know how, but she ended up getting my brother back, until a few years after that incident, he burned down their home. He was left alone, while my mother and her boyfriend went out to the bar. My brother was 8. After that, he was placed in the custody of his father’s parents, where he stayed until they sent him to a boy’s home. During that time, my mother has been on and off of drugs, always saying that she is cleaning up and moving on with her life, but it never lasts. She recently spent two years in jail, for robbery, and taking drugs into jail. While she was in jail, she met a man who was also in jail, who she is now living with, and has had a child with him. As much as I would like to think that she has cleaned up and has gotten her life straightened out, I don’t think that it will last. Her history of being a mother is very clouded, with bad decisions. She has always put herself before the child. It is clear to me that this child will not be raised in a safe environment. Do I have’ a chance of getting custody? And if so, what would be the best way of obtaining custody? ok, i have been divorced for seven years and i was awarded sole custody of my daughter. i remarried a man in the military 1 year ago. i moved from IL to VA and back. now, in six months i am moving again to VA. my ex says he will get me for kidnapping if i go. is it possible? do i have to get a court order to let me go or can i just go. Anyway, my son has recently told me that he found “pot” and “pot tubes” in his mother’s kitchen drawer. My son has told me repeatedly that he thinks his mom is using drugs too. He is constantly asking when he can come home. I currently have visitation with my son 2 out of 3 weekends. I have filed an appeal with the court- for custody of my son. Is there anything I can do to have my ex-wife drug tested at random? My partner and I have been wanting children for a few years now. We are both unable to conceive. My sister is pregnant and would like us to adopt the baby. We live in California and she is in Arizona. What do I have to do to adopt? My mother in law has not seen her husband in about 20 years and wants to know if he has divorced her in that time…She lived in MA. and now lives in FL. How would she find out that info? I was divorced in Oct/99 my ex is now going back to court to recover property that she feels was not divided properly. The wording in the agreement states “remainder of furnishing to be divided equally” but does not specify any particular items. She has named items she wants and the Judge appears to be going along with this. Is there a statue of limitations on any of this? It has been seven years since our divorce. She has not claimed these items until now. I live in New York State. Can my ex sue me for monetary help to provide a car or collage education for my child, in addition to my regular monthly support payments? Would costs of a car be covered in the regular monthly support or could a court grant her money for this? My divorce was granted in Texas. If a spouse (husband) conceals substantial financial gain acquired during a 26-year marriage, and withholds disclosure of this overseas bank account in a divorce settlement, and then the other spouse (wife) finds out about the concealed money–after the divorce is finalized; can the wife reopen or sue the husband. And is there a time limit in the state of Mississippi. I live in Ohio and a few years ago I went to court for child support when the child turned nine years old and I asked the judge for paternity test, I was denied because the judge did not want to basturize the child. Is the judge allowed to deny paternity because of basturizing a child? do not have custody of my children and they reside with there mother. I am greatly concerned for there welfare. My children are being neglected in many ways and i want to file for custody but I know that they are not being cared for. Is there anything i can file for temporary custody until my case is heard by the judge. I reside in the state of Mass and I am unsure of what my rights are. I know of two men, my relatives, who are obligated to pay child support. One receives, what’s called, General Assistance, in Pennsylvania. The other one receives TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Both have outstanding child support orders and both have arrearages. Please tell me if these cases are enforceable in the terms of child support. Also, what is the Statute of Limitations of Child Support Payments? My fiance & I purchased a house together in the state of Maryland. We would like to write up an agreement that if something happens to me, he gets 100% ownership of the house and everything in the house and if something happens to him I would get 100% ownership and everything in the house. Is there a legal document that we can pick up at Staples and have notarized? Would the document be a legal and binding in the State of Maryland, or would it be in our best interest to get an attorney? I live in Los Angeles, Ca and my Ex fiance and i have a 17 month old son who she refuses to let me have any contact with. Now the court entered a judgement that i can have supervised visitation with my son when agreed upon by both parents. I called the House where i was led to believe that my Ex and my son were staying at only to have the Grandmother answer the phone and tell me that they now live in New York. I was never notified about the move to New York by her family or her lawyer. Are there any charges that can be filed? And what can I do as a single father to see my son? I am the custodial parent and I am owed current child support and I am owed arrearage in child support for two children one 20 and 17 in excess of $ 35,000. My ex husband (father of the 2 mentioned children) is going to receive an inheritance from his father who just passed away last week. How do I collect or intercept legally the monies he is going to receive to offset the arrearage he owes me. Can I do this myself and if so how do I file a lien , against my ex and his father??? My niece is 15 years old and nine months pregnant. Her mother for the past three years has consistently kicked my niece out after arguments, not caring where she stayed, and my family has tried to help by taking her in. Yet, this last time, she stayed with her boyfriend for three months and then got pregnant while living there. When our family found out about this we called Child Protective Services as my niece had been living with these people since conception through her sixth month of pregnancy. We have been in contact with the Case Worker investigating the case but we are afraid that because of her age and her mother’s consent to let her continue living with her boyfriend (though she is underage and that is illegal) there is nothing we can do. Is there any legal measure we can take to ensure that CPS will follow through with the neglect and abandonment of my niece by her mother? I am 18 years old. I have a steady job and can support myself. My brother, who is 10 now, and I were both taken from my mother at a very early age. my brother was adopted by our grandfather who is now very old, has back problems and heart problems. He doesn’t have that long left to live to be able to care for my brother until he is old enough to be on his own. Can I obtain custody of him, and if so how could i go about getting it? I am 38 years old my father died 9 to 10 years ago, he did not pay any child support while I was growing up is there a way to collect that money from his social security. My parents where divorced when I was 5 years old, my brother was 3 and he was ordered to pay $200.00 a month for support and $200.00 in spousal support. We never received any money from him the entire time I was growing up. I have a 6 month old daughter. Her biological father has never seen her and has never even asked to see her. He has brought up the fact that he would like to terminate his rights. I am engaged, and my fiance wants to adopt her. He has supported her financially, and was even in the delivery room when she was born. I would like to know if he can adopt her before we get married or if we have to be married first? I was married and naturalized my Chinese wife and her son from another marriage into the USA. We are divorced but remain good friends. My ex-wife will be vacationing in China for 3 weeks and asked that I stay at her house for the duration of her vacation and take care of her 15year old son while she is away. We live in NJ. Are there any legal forms/process we need to fill out that gives me the authority to temporarily care for him? My husband and I have been separated for 3 years now and when he left he agreed to give $200 a week child support i don’t know why he hasn’t filed for divorce but if i had the money i would have already been divorced, but anyway he is behind $3,200 right now and he hasn’t called or talked to his kids in over a month then he calls today wanting the kids and my social security numbers to file taxes Should i let him file or should i refuse to give him the social numbers. i have a 14 yr old daughter that is pregnant and her mother is moving her to another state without my consent. we were never married and have never been to court concerning custodial rites, can this unborn child be placed for adoption without my consent? I live in NJ and one year ago I was granted full legal custody of my child’s 17 year old friend. She has now turned 18 and is a high school senior. Am I still legally responsible for her? Or does it terminate on it’s own? If so, at what point does this happen? Do I have to go through any legal channels to dissolve my responsibilities? Even though they have been separated for approximately 8 years and they live in different states she absolutely refuses to give him a divorce so he and I can get married. Who’s last name can I legally put on the birth certificate as the baby’s last name, mine or his? If I can give the baby his last name and she finds a way to keep avoiding divorce, does she have ANY rights what so ever to my child? Is there any way that I can take legal action to ensure that she has NO contact with my child even though she has not made any threats towards my unborn child, me or my boyfriend? There is a chance I might be going to jail. Can my ex get alimony payments stopped if I am imprisoned? There is no termination date on the alimony in the judgment, We’ve been married for over 30 years. My 6 month old’s father has filed for joint custody with the court. He has had 2 DUI’s and has been ordered to have a breathalyzer in his car. He also lives with his marijuana dealer, whom I have witnessed selling drugs. I want my daughter to have a relationship with her father, but not in his home overnight. Is there anything I can do? If his name is on the birth certificate, does the biological father of my son have legal paternity if we were never married? I am now married to another man who would like to adopt my son. I would also like to secure a passport for my son and passport applications list that both parents need to file for the passport. My son is now 10 years old and his biological father has never met my son nor paid child support. Is it safe to say that I have sole and legal custody of my son? Will I have to contact the biological father and obtain his consent in order for my husband to adopt him? My friend’s wife passed away recently. She had filed for divorce and paid an attorney to handle the divorce. She never finished giving the attorney all of the information required before she passed. My friend and his mother-in-law have both asked for the fees to be returned, but neither has received any answer or information from the attorney. I am a single mother with 3 young boys who were recently taken from me by the state of Indiana, at which time I had lost my job through no fault of my own. Also the court had ordered me to pay child support to the state while they were wards of the state, at which time I had filed a petition to modify the child support due to no job (job went to China). As of December 21st 2006 I have had my children back in my home (meaning the state placed them back with me from foster care) but they are still making me pay child support. My question is how do I get them to stop the child support order due to the fact I am sole provider of my children and living only on unemployment weekly benefit, barely able whatsoever to provide them with the neccessities after I make the weekly child support payments to the county court house? I make about $78,000.00 a year, I pay all my child’s Health Insurance and Private School cost, the School is about $360 a month, I also pay her Health Insurance and Car Insurance, and I pay her $305 a week for child support. basically my total cost of support a week is somwere between $380 & $400 a week… Like I said I am not looking to use this info for any legal process, just for my information and peace of mind… I separated from my wife 2 years ago when I caught her cheating. I took the 3 kids and she moved in with her lover. I have never asked her for a dime and she does not see the kids often enough. QUESTION: SHE HAS CLAIMED THE KIDS ON HER TAXES THESE PAST 2 YEARS AND THEY ARE IN MY CUSTODY 100% I never received the divorce papers, but she brought me a copy with A FORGED SIGNATURE that states she has full custody. WHAT CAN I DO?????? I have sole legal and physical custody of our 10 year old son. My custody papers issued in the state of California back in 2000 say that if I intend to move, I must notify my ex of our new address. It does not state that I have to notify the court system, or anything along those lines. I still live within the state, although 9 hours away, but we plan to move to the east coast this summer to be near family. My question is, with the papers having been drawn up 7 years ago is the agreement still considered current, and could my ex block the move if he wanted to? When I was married with my ex-husband we bought a house together, then later 7 years later we divorced and I was granted the house. It says in the decree that he was to get $11,500 plus 9% annum interest until I sold the house or I lost custody of the kids or they turned 18. Soon after the divorce I lost the house in a foreclosure with the bank, the house was taken from me and taken to the courthouse to sell. I was able to buy the house in full with my parent’s money at the auction’s asking price. Now I am selling the house and the house in under my name for the past 9 years and wants his part of the money that was stated in the decree. Does he have a case with this? What recommendations do you have for someone whose spouse was arrested during her 6th month of pregnancy, stayed 2 days in jail due to her BAC of .247 (determined by her visit from jail to the local hospital) and later charged with 3rd degree assault followed by probation. ubsequently the mother went on a trip to visit relatives promising to return in one week. One and one-half years later she has now filed for divorce. She was asked repeatedly to come back home to no avail, and even denied visitation until recently when the court ordered visitation times. The child is behind in speech, development and not potty trained and just recently learned to start wiping herself. Is this parental kidnapping, child abuse, child neglect, ???? And if so, should charges be filed in the state in which I reside or in the state the mother lives in? Is a judge allow to deny paternity test and rule the test out of the court if one is taken? “My husband and I live in Louisiana. Our marriage is his 2nd marriage. In his 1st marriage, his estranged wife became pregnant during a time when they had been separated on and off. They reunited right before the birth of a second child in 1995. (They already had one child together who was born in [...] My husband and I have been married for little over 2 yrs, he became disabled during that time, can he ask me for alimony? He collects SSD and I work full time and have a child from a former marriage. I went to probate court to determine the amount of child support and while there I asked the judge about paternity test and I was denied paternity test because the judge did not want to bastardize the child. Can a judge deny a paternity test when my name is not on the birth certificate? My parental rights were terminated after five years in New York City family court, I filed an appeal and lost. Now I am in the process of petitioning to have my appeal reconsidered. It’s been seven years. My question is do I have resources if my petition is denied. I was an active participant in my service plan and visitation. My children are now in prospective adoptive homes, separately. What can I do? My wife has recently asked me for a divorce. We will be divorcing in the state of North Carolina. The state has a one year separation obligation that must be fulfilled before filling for the divorce. I am a member of the USAF currently stationed in Wichita, KS. She is keeping our son with her in NC. Can she legally relocate with him like this? My mother does not speak to any of her children and ex-husband and has taken sole custody of the family house. She will not let any of the children in the house. My dad took my mom to court to get a court mandated date to allow the children to get our belongings. I cannot go to the house on that date because I am at university out of state. I would like to get a second date when I can go into the house once and for all to collect my property. I have tried contacting my mom through e-mail and family friends to avoid legal fees and having to go to court but there is no response. I do not know what my options are. What the the minimum and maximum sentence for child abuse? There was a physical abuse of a girl that I know and I was wondering what the penalties for a child abuse can be. My girlfriend and I are planning to get married. Just recently, she hit a pedestrian and the pedestrian sustained some injuries. Is it advisable for me and my girlfriend to get married? Can the pedestrian come after me and my assets if we get married? My child’s father owes me a large amount of back child support. He is going to be receiving a settlement for a car accident. Will the state take the back child support out of his settlement automatically like they do with his tax returns, or will I have to rely on him to pay it on his own? I live in the state of Texas and I would like to know if me and my boyfriend or common law husband can legally adopt my 14 year old daughters baby after it is born? She has already stated to me that she wants us to raise the baby as if we were the birth parents. I know that I will be able to adopt the baby because I am the Grandmother but him I don’t know about. Also to adopt a close family members do you have to be a legal resident? I reside in Arizona my wife resides in Oklahoma with our two kids. I want to file for divorce, is this possible with us living in different states and how will the custody/visitation be decided? My child support case was set up in CA. Then my ex wife moved to AL. She applied for AL child support. My ex say I owe back child support. Child support is garnished from my paychecks so I provided NC with copies to prove that I have paid. Months later AL is still sending me letters stating I owe back support. I’ve written letters asking for a case review, and have heard nothing. Sent emails, called. I don’t know what to do now. My ex wants to voluntarily sign over his rights if I stipulate that by doing so he is no longer responsible for child support. I will not cut off contact as I feel it is important she still sees her dad even though he has court ordered supervised visits as of now. My ex is Bi Polar and frequently makes decisions on whims, signing over his rights was his idea and it sounds good to me as I will be assured he wont drag me into court all the time anymore? My little girl is 10 years old. She will turn 11 in June. I’m having a problem with her wanting to go to her Dad’s every other weekend. She goes over to her Dad’s and a lot of the time his bowling, golf, hunting, etc. comes first. She doesn’t understand why she even has to go if she is going to be left with her stepmom. I know that her visitation is not going to be about her all the time but some of the time would be nice. What can I do in the State of Louisiana. Can I bring her before a judge or what? My husband was granted 50/50 custody of my 3 children based on the mediation report. He continuously leaves the kids with me on his days, so he can visit his girlfriend who lives 300 miles away and when he does have he kids he is on call at work or on the phone to his girlfriend. I have been documenting every instance and would like to know if the courts will grant me an order to show cause, so I can revisit the child visitation. After informing my wife of my desire for a divorce she has claimed that I will have to pay for her medical bills the rest of her life. She is not medically disabled. She could work but declines to. My fiance has a half-sister who lives with her mother and father (my fiance’s step father but sister’s biological father). The father was recently arrested by the FBI for child porno. Failing to acknowledge the daughter has gone through stress and pain due to the arrest the mother is focusing on her own needs. We feel and know (along with the grandparents – her mother and father) that the biological mother cannot be fit to take care of the daughter. She is 11 years old. We have an idea to get married and pursue custody of the half-sister. Our income combined is well worth five times that of the father and mother. We do have a house and stability. Is there any chance in pursuing this case to win? I was dating a woman for a short period when she became pregnant. If I do not sign the birth certificate or a paternity agreement, do not take a paternity test, and she does not pursue child support through the courts can the woman years later hold me liable for child support from the date of the birth? About a year and a half ago, my daughter’s ex-in-laws hired a lawyer to pursue gaining custody of their Other Son’s children which were born out of wedlock. This lawyer was a neighbor of this family and attended their church, etc. Now this lawyer is a judge and he was assigned to the custody case of my daughter and her ex- husband (who this now-judge knows the family well, etc.) Without doling out the whole messy story – isn’t there a conflict of interest here regarding this judge? Shouldn’t my daughter have been allowed to have a different judge? My son was living w/his than girlfriend and her two children (by two different fathers) She goes out almost every weekend by herself, goes on vacation to Florida, Puerto Rico by herself and always my son is here with his son and her other two children. Now, she decides that she’s leaving and taking the baby with her (my son’s baby) Does he have any grounds that he can use to get custody of his baby? I was never married, and CA is not common law – a 14yr relationhip, I have 3 children with this man who has a verbally abusive history with all in the family. We seperated now for 10 mos…What can I do to control his harrasing phone calls and emails? A restraining order? and how may I file for child support? I live in New Jersey, and obtained a guardianship bond. They wording of the joint-controlled was flawed and the bank will not honor it because the attorney was not listed as a co-guardian. I was wondering if you sign a Bond / Indemnity Agreement and the Surety turns around and asks you to sign a Joint-Control Agreements, is this considered two separate agreements or contracts? That is, if the Joint-Control Agreement gets invalidated because of errors or omissions does the Bond / Indemnity Agreement get canceled also and the bond revoked? He won’t give up his rights to a child that he’s have no contact with in or over six years. He has no part her life at all. I’m in the state is Wisconsin. My daughter’s father and I have not been together since I was three months pregnant. I want my daughter to know her father, but he never calls and never even tries to see her. On the rare occasions he does actually come over, he sits around talking to my parents, and pays her very little attention. Every time my daughter has seen her father, she hides behind my dad, whom she called daddy for the longest time. Well, the last time I spoke with him, he said he wanted to pick her up one weekend. I do not feel right about that. Am I wrong for asking him to come over at least like one day a month so that our daughter will get used to him being around before I allow him to take her off? All I ask of him is to get to know our wonderful little girl before he tries to throw another complete stranger on her. How do you think I should handle this situation? Is what I am doing now wrong? My daughter was married in Aug of 2005 and in Sept of 2005 she discovered that her new husband had been sending text messages while she was asleep to her younger sister. These messages were sexual in nature. We confronted him and he promised he would never do anything like this again. At that time we told him if he does he would have to pay us back the $45,000 we put out for their wedding. My daughter asked him to leave the marital domicile upon this discovery and also after he said he changed his mind and did not want children. Can we (either my daughter or her parents) sue him for “breach of promise” or something like that in a civil action for damages and the cost of the wedding? My soon to be ex husband and his father own the house in which me and the children occupy. Well, they want to sell house. Do I have any rights in this matter? I don’t want to move. I don’t think it is in best interest of children to move. The house was bought during the marriage. I have a 14 year old step daughter who wants me to adopt her. Her real father pays support but talks to her seldom and hasn’t seen her in 8 years. Does this child have any rights or does she have to live with the fact that he said no? Do I have to have the fathers permission to have his name on the birth certificate? Can my child have a hyphenated last name (mine and the fathers) without his permission? I live in Colorado and my Ex has filed a Modification of Child Support and Maintenance back in April of 06 and our Court date is Feb 5th 2007. He filed it because he was fired for reasons unknown from being a Network Engineer making 90,000 a year and is now claiming to be self employed installing windows on houses. Well my question is how can I make sure that his income will be imputed and will the Judge make me pay him back the difference in child support and pay back the maintenance from when he filed the motion if the Judge lets him get away with making $12 a hour now compared to 90,000 a year just because he has letters from his Doctors and is a disabled Veteran? Can you please tell me what could happen to a parent who refuses to give her child medication. My grand-daughter was just recently diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. The mother refuses to give my grand-daughter the insulin shots that she needs, thinking that there must be some sort of herbal medication she can take. Doctor has told her that if her daughter does not receive her medication that it could be fatal. Doctors and nurses in the hospital have heard her say that she will not give her daughter the insulin shots needed. Will the hospital release her to her mother knowing this? I live in Louisiana, my grandchildren live in Florida. They are visiting for the Christmas Holiday and have told me some things that have concerned me. The children have spoken to Child Protection but the step mother always seems to clear the air so to speak. What can be done about this? They are to scared to say any more to any one due to the trouble they get in when they do. My husband has assets over 12 million dollars and refuses to make a will, have a life insurance policy, IRA or any other legal document where I am named as beneficary. After months of fighting, my husband agreeded to list me on the title to our primary home which is worth 1,400,000 but he’s done a will naming both his children to get his half when he dies. As it stands right now, if my husband passes away I have nothing. What can and should i do? My husband and I are divorcing. He is taking everything that I have done over the past 10 years and twisting it around and basically lying. But because he made these types of accusations, it worries me that if mediation does not work and we end up in court, it may be hard for me to get shared custody of my daughter. Can he just flat out lie like that? We both have lawyers and mine is more laid back while his is not. I just want to get through this divorce as quickly as possible and try to get along but he doesn’t seem to want to do that – he wants a war. What should I do? My brother was unable to get any information out of the mother or see his son for several months. Since he found out that the mother placed the boy into the mental ward of a childrens hospital where the state took him over and placed him into a mental institute. He is still paying the mother child support even though the mother no longer has custody of the child. My brother loves his son and wants to get him out of this mess. What should he do? My husband owns a business from before we were married. He has not filed his business or personal taxes for at least 4 maybe 5 years. I was not aware of this situation until about a year after we were married. I own a rental property from before we were married. I have a CD worth $14,000 that I acquired after we were married but it was from my divorce settlement from 3 years prior. My questions are what will be in jeopardy as far as my assets, can there be a lein put on either of my houses, can they take my money? My daughter is 19 and is pregnant the father of the child wants to sign off his paternal rights. Can this be done? After Divorcing, the 3 children, ages 4, 6 and 10 were taken away from the biological mother from Child Protective Services. The father has paid child support through wage garnishment. The biological mother is getting the child support check, but she does not have custody of the children. Is this legal and what can we do about it? I am getting divorced from my wife (disillusionment). The car that she drives is in my name. She would like me to keep the car in my name and she will make the payments to the bank. In the disillusionment agreement, it states that I am not liable if she should get in an accident, default on the payments, etc. Will this hold up in a court of law? Me or my baby’s father has not been to court to determine who has custody if I decide to move from California to Arizona is that considered parental kidnapping? Can I go to jail for this? My ex husband and I divorced in Michigan and the court ordered him to pay support on 2 of our daughters. We had it arranged so that he would pay me directly. He has now moved to Boston and I live in Washington state. I am tired of him calling the shots and would like to put it back in the hands of the state. My question is, which state? If my child lives in North Carolina and I live in New York, how would the amount that I am responsible to pay be determined? Can I be held accountable for my future husband’s unpaid lawsuit after we are married? My husband and I divorced, and the medical benefits I depended on also disappeared. I eventually suffered a stroke from the pain, and I knew something had to be done. I left my 5 year old daughter in the care of my ex husband, while I left the state for proper treatment. Now I have returned home. I am grateful that family cared for my daughter while I was ill and away, but now they refuse to acknowledge that I am her rightful mother. Can you please tell me what legal rights I have, and who I can turn to for help or more information? My son is 18. His father has contributed in the past to his tuition and general support. My son is now going to college full time and his father is not giving any financial assistance at all. Can I file for child support now for the first time? Now I am in the process of establishing paternity, child support and custody . He has been dodging service and completely not interested in seeing his son. Next month is the third time we will have to go to court. Will he get the credit back? Can a wife sign her husbands name to a credit application without his knowledge? My Soon to be Ex is Trying Damage my Reputation, What Can I Do?He is bent upon damaging my reputation and I will remain silent until a court date. He has not responded to the divorce papers, nor the following notice of default. I’m in divorce process and was wandering if my wife would be entitled for alimony payments. We have been married in Russia about 20 years ago and live in US for 10 years . I agree to live her our house with an equity of about 100 K, 2/3 of our non pension savings (I only get about 35 K, she gets about 70K), and also agree to compensate her to equalize our pension funds. Will I need in addition of leaving her so much assets in her benefit still pay alimony if she decides to go to court? Also, would be divorce process any different for people who married in foreign country? Can back child support be requested for a time period wherein the custodial parent moved away without notifying the noncustodial parent, and that parent had no idea where to even send child support payments? He and i were never married…but from my understanding he is allegedly on drugs. He and i do not have the best relationship anymore…neither is his relationship with our sons on good terms. I know that he receives social security disability and i want to make sure that in the event that he dies…that there is a policy in place for him to have a burial. I was wanting to find out, If you are still married, and have not filed for seperation do you still have to pay for support in S.C.? I have my son for around 150 days per year (If not more)! 10 years ago my husband and I divorced. per the divorce decree he was to “maintain” an insurance policy that was in affect. He did NOT, so I made the monthly premiums myself. He is now deceased and his estate is being entered into probate. My friend took his ex-wife and child back into the house as he did not want them living in the streets. He is still paying child support and the checks are being mailed to her but at his address. I do not know what my rights are I’m married 10 yrs 3 kids in a very abusive relationship. I want to get out of My Husband and I bought a house in Phoenix, Arizona. My credit was bad at the time of purchase so his name was solely on the Mortgage as well as the Deed. Before we divorced I paid the Mortgage and all bills by myself for two years and shared the Mortgage and all bills for an additional four years out of a total of eight years of ownership. My husband and I have talked in depth about adopting his sister’s son whom is residing in the Phillippines. We made contact with his sister and she believes it’s a great idea as well. Unfortunately we came to a problem on how do we go about starting the procedures. We do not have any custody order established, at this point I only agreed to him staying with her because of the other two boys being there also. I do not feel she should be allowed to try to get more money out of me, and put me into the child support system when I already take very good care of my son. I have been divorced for about 6 years and at the time of the divorce, I trusted my ex to support his six children without the request for child support. He has been terrible to deal with and I can’t get him to pay enough support to support my children. I should have listened to the lawyer at the time and asked for alimony and support. Let me start by saying that I have joint custody of my 12-year-old son, who has resided with his father and his stepmother in Arizona for 3 years now. However, there is an impending divorce now with the two of them, and his soon to be ex wife has admitted to me that my ex husband is an alcoholic, and that it has gotten out of hand. My husband and I have permanent custody of his 6 year old son from his previous marriage. He came to live with us 2 years ago after his birth mother was in a car accident and found with crystal meth on her person. The state of Nevada child services went in to the home and removed my step son. . We have a letter from them saying that have charged her with abuse and neglect. We wanted to remove her parental right at the time this happened but our lawyer at the time advised against it for the sake of the child and the mother. I am considering getting a second job, my child support payments are being met by the first job, will my payments increase if I take on a second job? My wife’s brother should be paying child support. However, his parents agreed to take the children and raise them in their home several years ago. They have now lived with the grandparents for the past four years. The brother’s wife is now asking for back child support during that period. My husband is not working right now and I just started again. If his daughter’s mother take out an order for support, could this money be taken ( as in garnished from my paycheck ) and will my professional license be in jeopardy if he is ordered to make payments for back child support? From a legal standpoint, would I be able to obtain a life insurance policy on my child’s biological father? I was never married to the child’s father and the child does not carry his last name. I was never married to my daughter’s father, his name is on the birth certificate and we have done a paternity so that she would have a medical card. He does not pay child support through an agency and we have never been to court over any custody issues. I gave him notice before my husband left that we would be leaving after Christmas and he was fine about it. Her father has told me that he can have a judge put in an order that I can not live farther than 50 miles from him. I am an active duty military member on tour in Iraq, I have two daughters with my soon to be ex-spouse, paperwork was not filed due to monetary issues prior to my deployment. My sister has a full parental power of attorney regarding my daughters…I am now concerned because she has been speaking of going to my sister’s house and getting my daughters. I am 18 years old and live with my mother and younger siblings. My father died earlier in the year and he was our primary caregiver. Now my father is dead and we are living with this woman that screams at us all the time. I don’t want to leave and leave them with her. I would like to take at least 2 brothers with me. Ages 16 (3/07) and a 9 year old that she screams at all the time. Is there any way I can get custody of them. Our youngest daughter has a serious medical condition which her father ia aware of. She has to take medication and I send it with him on visitations. She came home after a weekend and all the medication was still in the bag. He had not given her any of the prescribed medication. We live together and he is very temperamental and he has hurt me in various occasions but he has told me that if we separate his father will fight me for custody of my child. Is it possible for a grandparent to get custody of my son. If I use a certain law firm to do a closing on my home, which is in my name only, and afterward I get a divorce, can my husband use this same firm to represent him in the divorce or is it a conflict of interest? The case has since been handed off to another attorney that works in the same firm but I still can’t seem to get this finalized. I stand to recieve a large sum of money that could be and could have been drawing interest since 1999. She is insisting that she wants the “so called father” to be a part of her life. She is 17 and he is 18, I was reading over the birth certificate papers and I thought that I understood it to say that since she is a minor that her parents or legal guardian had to also sign the BC. We also believe that he is not the father. “I signed away my parental rights over ten years ago and now my child’s mother wants to reinstate them to collect child support. Can she do this?” Do I still have to pay child support if my child has gone to jail for drugs? My husband have been with me and my son for a long time and my husband wants to adopt my son is their a way he can file for adoption without having to get a lawyer or pay all that money people said it is for adoption?? During a part of our relationship, we were both doing cocaine and smoking pot. Since moving away with my son, I have become clean. I looked into the court system in Maine and it says I must live here for 6 months to take this to court for custody. I am 23 married and pregnant by another man. Does the child get to keep her fathers last name which is not my husband or will she be given my husbands last name? I am married and have three children from my ex-husband. My husband has been taking care of me and the children for over 9 years (we live in Georgia). I am thinking of getting a divorce. I have never gotten any money from my ex-husband, he is disabled and could not pay. My ex-husband has a court order that he is not to drink alcohol 8 hours prior to or any time during his visitation with our 5 year old daughter. He is a diagnosed alcoholic. Proven in court – and that is the reason the judge imposed this order on him. I have confronted him – he admits to it and then tells me he’ll stop. We have joint custody, although I have physical custody of two of our daughter’s and my ex has physical custody of our other two daughter’s. I have just recently discovered that my ex and his wife, have both been indicted on four Federal felony charges of which if found guilty on all four counts, they could each land themselves in prison for up to 55 years and/or a $750,000.00 fine! I need advise on my case, I want to sue my biological father. I have one main obstacle, he’s American of Malaysian-born-origin living in California, married few years after i was born and I’m Malaysian living in Kuala Lumpur. I’m 33 years old now. Can my age now sue him? My mother is quickly slipping into some sort of dementia. She has an appointment with a lawyer to sign Power of Attorney over to me. She is divorced and I am an only child. I am afraid that she will become totally confused by the time we get to the lawyer. At the time of the child’s birth, her mother and I both lived in Ohio. The mother subsequently moved with my daughter to Michigan. We have never had a court order. I willingly pay support. I am happy to pay whatever is reasonable, but want it to be as close to what a court would likely rule to protect myself as much as possible from owing a large arrearage at some point (and, of course, to do the right thing). My Mom is on SSI and just recently got a divorce from my Dad. He sent me a check but it is made out to my Mom. The problem is that my dad said when I have the baby he is going to put the father on child support or put him in jail. I don’t want him to do that because the father is helping support the baby and he has never forced me to do anything. My husband and I are trying to adopt an 18 month old girl from my husband’s cousin who is Bipolar. CPS has taken the child away and placed her in foster care. She is a mother that isn’t taking the proper steps to get her child back. We want to know what we are getting into. My fiance was married for almost 8 years. His, at the time, wife had a child from another man. While they were married, they began to explore the process of adopting said son. They decided it wasn’t necessary for the price. PA, the state I reside in will not take into consideration that I pay support for two other children and do not receive support for the two at home. t the present time I am about ready to lose my children to the state welfare system and they will be placed into foster care because I do not have enough money after paying $520.00 a month in child support to take care of them. “Should you have to pay paternity on a child that is not yours just because he has your last name?” We are from the state of Maryland in a hopeful private adoption. The birth father contested the adoption in the very beginning. The baby was approximately 11 months when he found out he was the biological father. Our attorney offered him an open adoption plan which he agreed to. A couple weeks later he now changes his mind and says he wants custody. I signed a prenuptial agreement before I got married 14 years ago. Now we have to children, my husband is cheating, is it possible to get the prenuptial overturned. I was advised from my attorney to not send money to my ex-wife for it will be viewed as a “gift” and not counted as “child support”. My attorney told me to wait to be notified from the courts and if they do not notify me then my ex-wife did not pursue it and not to send her money personally. Now my ex-wife is pursuing child support in Butler County, Ohio where she now resides and I received a note for four years worth of back child support that was never enforced or established. This is the situation: my son who is now 18, moved out of his mother’s home (missouri) two years ago. Since then he has been on his own, at that time I discussed with his mother, sending the support payments directly to him. She has since threatened numerous times to take me to court so that support continues to be paid to her. Bottom line: she says the money still goes to her to “maintain” a home for him to “visit/stay” at, and that is the basis for the money to still go to her. My husband and I have been seperated for about 8 months, but I have not been able to get a divorce because I am pregnant with our second child (which I have placed for adoption). We have a 2 year old child that he has never supported, and I can barely support her on my own. My husband retired from a CA police department. Shortly afterwards he and his wife of 30 years divorced. She passed away two years later due to alcoholism and left her half of his pension to their son who is 45 years old. The son gave his father a certified letter requesting the return of his inherited half of the pension back to his father. The retirement board refused to acknowledge the letter and return the pension. My son just found out that he is one of 5 men tested to be the father of a 2 or 3 year old girl. He was under age when this child was conceived and she was between 23-26 years old. I am pregnant and the father of my baby said he wanted nothing to do with my child, and said he refuses to give my child support because he has doubts that he’s the father of this baby. He has two previous children with two different mothers making this one with me his third. Once my “wife” found out that I was having another baby and was engaged to be married she tried to go after me for child support, which I had been paying her directly for the last 10 years, but she also filed for alimony. I just made a physical appearance at our last court hearing this week and when I showed up, low and behold my soon to be ex-wife looks to be about 6 months pregnant, and this was confirmed by her attorney. Two weeks after I found out I was pregnant I found out my boyfriend was using drugs and I asked him to move out and we broke up. My question now is, if I put his name on the birth certificate so my child will have access to his fathers identity when he or she grows up, can I still move back to California to be near my family after the baby is born without having to worry about future kidnapping charges? Even though right now the father doesn’t appear to be concerned about either of us, people do change and I don’t want to have to worry about him coming after me someday. In the divorce decree, she had six months in which to move off of the property they owned together so that it could be sold. She has not moved nor has she made any attempt to move. Can a one spouse be held liable for the other spouse’s debts? My fiance was married for almost 8 years. His, at the time, wife had a child from another man. While they were married, they began to explore the process of adopting said son. Now, they are divorced. He’s been the child’s father for 8 years and change. My husband (boyfriend at the time) is on my 6 year old daughter’s birth certificate. He has raised her and we are still married. Now, 6 years later another guy is making accusations that my daughter is his and that he went behind our backs and did a DNA test proving it? I would think that taking someones cells without permission would be illegal. If I own property in state X and I am brought to court in state Y for a civil tort, can the court issue a judgment lien against my real property in state X? I filed for bankruptcy in 1999 and listed my child’s mother as well as other creditors under ch 7 (Chapter 7). I now have a court order to pay child support to her. Does a Dad Still Have to Pay Child Support For a Teen Who Became Pregnant, and Cover the Insurance Expenses on an Unborn Child? She’s told me that he has threatened her before, but has never admitted to him actually hitting her. He also has a history of drug abuse and violent behavior. Though I am an outsider to the whole situation, I know she’s trapped and wants out. Should the father still pay child support if the mother met a man and moved to another state leaving the children with the father? Upon the death of the custodial parent, my husband’s daughter came to live with him (prior to our marriage) and he called the Texas Attorney General to begin proceedings in order to cease child support. We are now in September 2006 and we are still getting letters saying he is delinquent on his child support. However, since he purchased the home in his name only, and his name is the only name of the deed, would I be entitled to my part of the equitable increase in value if we were to divorce? I am 47 years old, was married 13 years and divorced, then remarried and became a widow at 47, we were married 12 years. I am on soc sec disability, I was told I basically cannot be a widow at this age by soc sec. My son’s father and I were never married. He left the state two months prior to my son being born; returned for the birth; then left again 10 days later. He has returned to this state approximately 4 times for a total of roughly 8 days since my son’s birth. My son is now 3.5 years old. Now the father is demanding visitation; do I have to let him have visitation? My wife and I want to be able to give her son my last name, and I want to adopt him. I have been responsible for his healthcare and well-being since he was born basically. The ex-husband/father has not been around for over 2 years, and is approximately $10,000.00 behind in child support. My wife wants to have his parental rights terminated, so that I can legally adopt him. Although we weren’t married at the time the property was being purchased, we both contributed to the down payment. Everything was done in my husbands name only, and his name is the only name that appears on the mortgage. My husband is taking his ex back to court for contempt. She was supposed to have drug and psycological counseling, parenting counseling and have their daughter in continued therapy. Also she was to assure the court that she would send their daughter to school on a regular basis. Does a 17 year old have the legal right to make the decision not to live with her parents without her parents consent, in the State of Florida? I left my husband and bought a house with money from his business, and hid it from him. Then I bought a second house, and hid that from him too. I’m being evicted from the second house and can’t find a buyer for the first house to pay off the second house. Have I commited fraud? What should I do? If my 16 year old step-daughter quits school and does not pursue her GED, does my husband’s child support obligation still have to be fulfilled? After nine years my daughter’s father has decided he no longer want to be a part of her life. He has requested to terminate his rights in exchange for no child support. Can he do that? What happens if the custodial mother relocates the children without telling the father? 20 years ago my mother received AFDC for myself and 2 sisters for about 3 years as my Father did not pay child support. The inquiry was to find out the amount she was entitled to as they now want my Mother to pay the State of Wisconsin back for receiving AFDC. My Mother never did receive any child support from my father at this time. Isn’t my father liable to pay this back to the state? My mother has been caring for my niece since my sister passed away. We have no idea where the father is. Is it possible for my mother to obtain custody or some form of legal guardianship without involving the father? I was severely beaten and raped by an ex-boyfriend 3 months after the break up. The beating was so severe that I was in a coma for 4 days. I want to get him to sign away all his rights. Will his name still have to be on the birth certificate? I am a mother of two, living with although not married to their father. What would happen if he died? Would I still be their legal guardian? If a child is already 18 years old, can a father be made to pay child support? If so how many years would the father be required to pay back pay? My boyfriend and his wife’s divorce was just finalized earlier this year. In the divorce decree, she had six months in which to move off of the property they owned together so that it could be sold. She won’t leave. What can we do? In feb.06 his children’s mother died. He went to court for guardianship in July 06, and he was told his rights had been terminated by default. They (DHS) terminated his rights through publication. His tribe (native american) intervened and his children are in the tribes custody. I live in New Jersey and my three year old daughter’s father lives Illionois. He has yet to file for visitation, however, he does not pay me any child support. He also has a past of abusing drugs and alcohol. I am afraid that he would try to run off with her as he can be unstable. If my finacee get married in “secret” at the courthouse can we still have a formal ceremony with the same vows? Will any preists do that? The mother of my child has been ordered by the court to pay child support, she simply will not pay a penny and hasn’t since the baby was born 10 months ago. The oldest son I will call him Greg, just turned 18. Ot his 18th birthday his biological mother threw a party at her home for him. The adults were all drinking liquor and smoking pot. Greg admitted that he was drinking with his biological mom and that she gave drinks to the 14 year old son as well. We have been told by childrens services that it is not illegal for a parent to give alcohol to their child. He (Greg) said that he would be willing to tell all to a judge if we end up in court over this. I do not want the courts to decide custody, but I am not ready to come to an agreement with my spouse. My final judgment, in the state of Florida, states that I have sole decision making authority for the health, education and welfare of my son; but that I should also make good faith efforts to include his father in the decision making process. I called my son’s father to discuss after care and the benefits of having our son stay with the facility he has been at since he was 1 1/2 yrs old. But he refused to discuss the best interests of our son and wanted his “karate school” to pick him up everyday. Am I allowed to make these decisions since it does pertain to our son’s best interests, eliminates additional stress and confusion (also for his new kindergarten school), and will help with his continued education? I’m not married to the baby’s father and he is in the navy reserve does he have any rights? We received a call from our attorney after the bankruptsy was finalized; telling us that we could now sell the inventory because the Trustee did not do anything with it. There is an adoptive father to take over responsibilities, do I still have to pay child support until it is final? We went to court for the Equitable Distrubution Hearing, and now some 6 months later we have nothing on paper from the judge. I have been representing myself “pro-se” in this action and can’t seem to get anywhere with the court to put the descision to paper. Per my divorce decree, my ex was to maintain the premiums on his life insurance policy – he never did, so I paid the premiums each month. The child support I pay was increased even after the ex and I agreed to what amount was too paid. The root of the problem is I am the biological father of the child. I want to support her but I feel the amount is unfair. Is there anything I can do as far establishing paternity after the fact to reduce the support payment? I believe I conceived a child at the age of 17 years old. The mother, put her boyfriends name at the time, on the birth certificate but they were never married. He raised the child as his own for 17 years. The child will be 18 years old in a couple of months. I have a 5 year old, my husband (stepfather) has been in her life since 14months old. I am terrified that if something were to happen to me, that our child would go to her biological father, who does pay minimal support and maybe sees her once a month for 4-5 hours. My son-in-law and his uncle inherited a peice of land with a mobile home on it, my daughter who has been married to him helped him payoff his uncle for the land recently. My son-in-law actually took her end of year bonus (this year 2006)and paid his uncle off so that the land would be all his but with them divorcing we don’t know if my daughter has any legal right to the land since it was left to my son-in-law. He was married for 10 years. Can his ex collect any of his social security benefits when he starts collecting it? A 24 year old girl I met a while back is having problems with her children’s father. She’s told me that he has threatened her before, but has never admitted to him actually hitting her. He also has a history of drug abuse and violent behavior. I want to know if there is anything I can do to help her? My husband and I have 3 nearly grown children, and wish to have a cooperative and amicable divorce. What is the best way to do this? I married a man and became pregnant, due to problems we seperated before the birth of my child…we went to court for a divorce and the father gave up all of his parental rights (on his own freewill). Our marriage is about to end and he is threatening me that he will take the children if I do not pay him off. He has never worked full-time and is claiming he can do this as he is the primary care giver. My husband was married 25 years ago and ex told him she would only ask him to pay support if she needed it. So for the past 25 years no payment was made . Now the children are ages 36 and 25. My divorce was filed and granted by the judge 1/12/1983, a month prior to this date my attorney called me to say my divorce was final. I married the man I have been with now for nearly 25 years. Unbeknownst to me, we were married 3o days before my divorce was final. It has been kept a secret all these years,the husband of the first marriage is deceased,what do we need to do to get this marriage made legal or can we? After being in jail for drugs, is there any hope for visitation with my child? Her mother may still be doing drugs, can she be randomly tested? I want to terminate my child’s father’s parental rights, and still receive child support. Can I do this? “I’m the non-custodial parent of a beautiful 8 year old girl. A huge reason I divorced my now ex-wife was because of her bipolar disorder. My daughter is now getting scared, as she’s seeing the effects of my ex-wife not taking her medication. What can I do? My fiance was convicted of a sexual assault about 11 years ago. He was 18 and slept with a 14 year old girl. He received a statutory rape charge and served 2 years. Will that charge hinder us from gaining custody or becoming foster parents? My fiance was married for almost 8 years. His, at the time, wife had a child from another man. While they were married, they began to explore the process of adopting said son. Now that they are divorced, does he have to have the mother’s consent to adopt him still? Could the bio dad give up his rights to my fiance without the mother’s approval? My daughter was ordered by the court to a residential treatment facility. Does her mother still have to pay the support to which we agreed? My husband’s ex girlfriend, with whom he has a child, makes more than he does. Can she still get child support from him even though she makes more, and we have a child and another on the way? If a pregnant woman leaves the state and has the baby without telling the alleged father, what are the alleged father’s rights? “My husband married back in 1970. He then had an accident which left him in a coma. His wife went back to her family and did not bother to stay with him. He came out of the coma not realizing he was married. He married someone else who has since died. He then married again and divorced and then married me two years ago. Now the woman he married first has surfaced and refuses to divorce him, He has gone to live with her and walked out on me, where do I stand? He refuses to divorce me.” My son is 9 years old and my ex wife has been regularly denying me visitation since we got divorced when my son was about 1 year old. Is denying visitation grounds for a change of custody in Indiana? My friend and her boyfriend were together 5 months, and she found out she was pregnant. She decided never to let him back in her life, and due to the safety and wellbeing of herself and her existing 2 children, aborted the unborn baby 8 weeks into the pregnancy. “Can the parents of deceased son be forced to submit to DNA testing. The son died eight years ago and the paternity of the child had never been established. Now the maternal mother has threatened to file a civil suit against the parents of deceased son if they do not comply with her request to submit to DNA testing. This is not a life-threatening situation.” Our daughter lives with my ex in Florida. I moved to Canada, and I have her with me in the summer. I want to regain custody of her, as the conditions in Florida are neglectful. What can I do? What does the court normally do in cases when the father is self-employed (stating he has a low income), which I’m sure his tax returns (for reasons of not paying a lot of taxes), shows he made very little? My divorce decree clearly states that child support shall continue past the age of 18 if the child goes to a full time accredited college. My ex husband has since moved to another state and faithfully pays his child support. My question is, can he stop paying the ordered child support at the age of 18 even though our agreement states he must continue the support payments while the child is in college? If a minor child moves in with a non-custodial parent in a different state and lives there for over a year, does that make the child a resident of the new state? Can I sue my father for education/college expenses and for a car that he promised to me? My ex-wife is trying to get her spousal support extended even though she is capable of working. She is also trying to get me to pay her additional child support as back support, even though I paid that child support – directly to our son who was 18 at the time. I will never be able to purchase a home or have any type of comfortable life-style if I am forced to care for her indefinitely! Do you think a judge would grant her what she is requesting? I am wondering if I will have to notify my son’s biological father or have him sign off on anything in order to do so even though he did not sign the birth certificate. I am an adult and have a 15 year old sister. Our father has passed away, and I would like to get her out of a bad situation and take custody of her; she also wants to live with me. How can I get custody of my sister? My teenage daughter is troubled, has moved out and I hear she is still getting into trouble and running with gangs. My question is, since the courts let her live with her uncle and wouldn’t let me put her in a home, what can I do to protect my self if she really gets into trouble? My step-daughters father has recently begun to pressure her to come live with him. When she tells him “no” he will proceed to pout, sometimes weep, and when that doesn’t work he will resort to giving her the silent treatment and eventually begin yelling at her and accusing her of not really loving him. This just really breaks her heart! What can we do? My husband and I bought a home about a month ago. We haven’t signed the mortgage papers yet but he wishes to have his name off the mortgage and I would like his name off the house as well. How can we do this? I live in Kentucky. My husband and I have been seperated for almost a year and he is not the father of my unborn child. I want to put the real father’s name on the birth certificate and I also want her to have my maiden name. Will I be allowed to do this? My daughter-in-law is threatening to take our grandson away from my son here in Florida and move to New York with her relatives. Is there any recourse that we or my son have to keep her from taking that wonderful little boy from us?” I am an immigrant, and unmarried. The father of my child and child-to-be is violent. Can I qualify for immigration help under the Domestic Violence act even though we were never married? Can my son have his daughter’s last name change to his last name? His daughter lives with him and she hasn’t seen her mother in 7 years Last year my daughter graduated from high school. Her father and I agreed to put her through college; just until she completed her BA. Now he has told her that he will not help her pay for her BA; but will only help pay for her to get an Associate degree. What legal recourse can I take to maintain my daughter’s future? y question is my boyfriends 18 year old daughter decided to quit school in her senior year. Now she is studying for her GED. We live in Pennsylvania. Does he still have to pay child support? I am a mother of a 4-year-old old and I am expecting another child in 6 weeks. My first child lives with my mother, and I pay child support. I lost my job due to health issues and I can’t get the child support I pay reduced. What should I do? My Ex and i have joint custody with our 10 year old son but i got granted manager conservator in this custody battle , i am planning to relocate from Texas to California and of course take my 2 sons with me.How can i gain sole custody into taking my 10 year old son with me? My son and his ex-wife have just been through proceedings for property settlement. During their marriage I gave them a loan. The court recognized the debt as part of community property to be split equally between the parties. Can I enforce this against my ex daughter-in-law to get my money back? My abusive gay ex drew up custody papers, pointed a gun at my head, and told me to sign them. So I did. Unknowingly I signed away all my rights to our daughter. What can I do to get my parenting rights back? My 12 year old son wants to go live with his step-father (my ex-husband). Do I have to let him? What rights does the step-father have? My wife and I are separated. Last week I checked my credit, and it is loaded with her medical bills. I never signed anything saying I would pay her medical bills. My ex-husband is verbally abusive. We have a 9 month old and he will say ugly things about me in front of our son. He tells me I get on his nervous and cusses at me. He calls me names, and he calls me several times during the day and night even when I ask him to stop. What can I do? Does my son’s father have any legal right to him if we were never married and he did not sign or put his name on the birth certificate? I have a three year old son who hasn’t seen his biological father since he was 7 weeks old. I’m getting married next month and my fiance wants to adopt my son. Where do I start? I have been divorced for 3 years, my ex-wife contacted me and said that she was going to go back to court to try and get 1/2 my 401 K and pension. In the divorce agreement it states that I retain all rights to this. Can she reopen this after 3 years? My divorce decree states that child support shall continue past the age of 18 if the child goes to a full time accredited college. Can I get this enforced? When I moved to Georgia, I let my daughter’s father keep her until I got on my feet there in Georgia. He was arrested, and his mother said that she would take care of my daughter until I was financially able to take my daughter back. It has been 9 months now and I want my daughter back with me. I am an 18 year old who has had an affair with a 33 year old married man. I don’t want him to have any parental rights to my child. He has agreed to terminate all of his parental rights. How do I do this? My 13 year old son does not want to go see his dad. Do I have to make him go? Can a parent take a child across state lines during visitation? My husband is willing to terminate his parental rights to our daughter, I want to do this before filling for divorce in Washington State. Can we do this? My ex-wife is telling my daughter that at the age of twelve she can make the decision to come and see me when she wants to. I got pregnant and I don’t live with the father of my baby. I’m afraid he’s going to move without telling me where to find him when the baby’s born. Can something be done if I contact a lawyer before he leaves? Can my fiance’s ex-wife sue me for his child support in Texas? Can a grandparent demand a paternity test on the grandchild? With or without the parent’s consent? The family law system is very much weighted against fathers. To compound matters, it’s very easy for women to manipulate the family law system to assure just about any outcome they want. “How do I know when to ask for pendente lite alimony?” The alimony law in most states bases alimony (also called “maintenance”) on the need, the relative financial position, and the lifestyle attendant to each spouse. Can a biological father voluntarily give up his parental rights? What property may I take when leaving my spouse? Can a minor with a child get married without their parents’ consent? I have been contemplating moving out of Florida, but a friend tells me that the alimony will be stopped if I move, is this true? It takes more than failure to pay child support and your desire to make a new life and have your ex out of your life, to terminate their parental rights. My daughter’s father is bipolar and does not take his meds. Can I use this to terminate his parental rights and let my fiance adopt my daughter? How do I lower my child support when I get a lower paying job? What happens if the mother takes off with the child with no warning or consent from the father, across the U.S.? It may be considered parental kidnapping. How do I prevent divorce proceeding slander? Are there any laws that obligate me to make any sort of ‘support payments’ even though we’re not married? My ex is moving 3 hours away. Should we change the 50/50 custody order, and should I travel to help facilitate visitation? How does one go about serving a notice of divorce by publication of a newspaper ad? Does one need to do this if the other party has already been served, but the court found errors in the paperwork? What should someone do when their husband kicks them out of their home, is behind on the payments on the home and business that are in both of their names, and has become addicted to drugs? If an incident occurred at the babysitter’s house with my daughter could they take her children from her? There are processes for having a parent’s rights terminated, but is it the best thing to do? Can a parent with bipolar disorder get a fair shake in family court? In a situation where the parents have been living together since prior to the child’s birth but have never been legally married, who is considered to have primary custody of the child? Is it legal for the same judge to sit on two different cases for the same person? How is child support calculated for a 1099 or self-employed wage earner? What are the allowable business expense deductions? “I am a single mother of three. I have been divorced for a couple of years now and have been receiving child support until recently when I didn’t get a check in the mail. I confronted my ex and he informed me that I would get a whole check at the end of [...] How one divides a family business, and the property associated with it, depends on many factors, including the state in which the action is taking place, whether it is a community property state, and what the parties would like to have happen with the business. When the statute of limitations has run on collection of child support, there is little that you can do. Even a bipolar ex has rights to see their children, but the time together may need to be supervised. There are very few grandparents rights, and it may be possible to keep grandparents away from seeing their grandchildren, but it isn’t always advisable. When a support-paying parent makes an arrangement with the other parent to reduce the amount of child support, if that agreement is not in writing and confirmed by the court, it’s as if the agreement was never made and arrearages will accrue. A spouse may be responsible for credit card charges run up in their name by the other spouse, even if the other spouse forged their name. If a spouse doesn’t willingly leave the family home when the other spouse asks them to, the other spouse may end up seeking a restraining order. Answering machine messages left on an answering machine may be admissible in court; laws vary from state to state. Most states also consider medical insurance to be an additional requirement, to be provided on top of child support. Whether earned through the military or an after-school job, income earned by a child does not end a parent’s obligation to pay child support. Just because a deed is in the name of “a married person, as their separate property” doesn’t necessarily mean that the property is really their separate property. Demanding supervised visitation is not the best way to encourage a father to step up to the plat and spend more and more regular time with a child. Terminating parental rights is rarely done lightly. Termination of parental rights is very serious, and once done, very hard to undo. DNA paternity testing is the key to determining paternity. Unless both parents agree between them to an informal DNA paternity test, a court order will be required to get DNA paternity testing under way. A single mother who in an act of desparation burned old love letters is now facing arson charges and afraid that she will go to jail and her children will go to CPS (child protective services). Can a spouse’s income be used to satisfy premarital settlements and judgements against the other spouse for an accident which occurred before the marriage? It depends. Hours after getting married, the groom assaulted the bride, and she left. Can she receive money for emotional distress in the divorce proceedings? Unless you live in a very unusual state, a court order is almost certainly entered into the record as it was being spoken by the judge. So go with the spirit of the order if there is no reason not to. Nowhere in law but in family law is there such a blatant disregard for the premise “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Child support guidelines and child support calculations are only as accurate as the information which the agency calculating support has available to them. Child support guidelines and child support calculations are designed to cover the cost of generally providing for the child. There is a common misconception about at what age or event a child can decide not to see the other parent. This reader who is slated to take a DNA paternity test wants to know whether he can substitute somebody else in for that DNA paternity testing. A spouse’s own divorce investigation into her husband’s online adultry activities may actually be considered cyber stalking. When a non-married couple splits up and both people are on the lease, what can they do and what are their property rights? And when one of them threatens the other and pins them down, that meets the definition of domestic violence. After criminal charges of welfare fraud were dismissed, the defendant is still being made to pay back welfare benefits, and is having $300.00 a month taken from her minimum wage paycheck. Are there any laws protecting grandparents rights in Oklahoma? As of May of 2005, there are in fact laws protecting grandparents legal rights in Oklahoma. After being married only a few months, this couple separated and she is filing for divorce. Can he can claim some part of the house she owned before the marriage? If a married parent, with no pending divorce or separation, and no court orders, takes their child out of state without the other parent’s permission, are they guilty of interstate parental kidnapping? Child custody issues often bubble to the surface around when summer-time visitation ends and the school year begins. Child custody laws don’t usually define “summer visitation”, and it’s important to have a working relationship and agreement between the parents. Can a child support payor be obligated to pay child support for college? The so-called stop age for child support is typically 18, although it may continue until the child graduates from high school. Child support for college, on the other hand, is not common. When child protective services (CPS) gets involved with your family, they wield an immense amount of power in determining what will happen with your children. How can one obtain child support enforcement against someone who lives in another state, and may be working off the record? Child custody rights and child support payments are not easy to acquire for an older sibling wishing to take in a younger sibling. Teen drug rehab is necessary for this 17-year old, believes her father, with whom she moved in six months ago. Does he need to get the mother’s consent to put their daughter into a teen drug rehab program? There are many advantages of joint custody, but they don’t include being able to automatically keep your child from the other parent, even if you feel that the other parent is a danger to the child. Is failure to disclose that one is an alcoholic grounds for a marriage annulment? A reader wonders how to change the name on a loan after a divorce. She says “My divorce was final August 2001. In 1997 my ex husband took out a loan from his job. This is a joint account. This still shows up on my credit as a joint account. I received a letter [...] Community property states have strict guidelines about how marital property will be divided and distributed upon divorce or death. Are reasonable visitation rights in Florida possible to achieve? The term “reasonable visitation” almost always means that it won’t be, in Florida or anywhere else. Arbitration and mediation, such as divorce mediation, are forms of ADR (alternative dispute resolution) designed to help people reach a settlement without going to court. Nearly any legal dispute can be arbitrated or mediated. Tax relief for paying child support is not available to non-custodial parents. The tax deduction still goes to the parent with primary custody unless there is an agreement or court order otherwise. Can child custody be changed over to the non-custodial parent after the other parent has already moved away with the child?
I am 20 years of age, financially stable and completely supporting myself. I am also a child of the foster care system, and was adopted when I was in the Fourth Grade. I lived with my biological mother until I was three, until her then boyfriend beat me so severely that I had to be hospitalized. I was then put in foster care, and she was given certain terms to live by in order to regain full custody of me, i.e. becoming financially stable, staying away from the abusive boyfriend, staying clean. My mother however, was unable to live up to these standards, and ended up losing full custody of me. I have a younger brother, the fruit of my biological mother and abusive boyfriend. I am 20 years of age, financially stable and completely supporting myself. I am also a child of the foster care system, and was adopted when I was in the Fourth Grade. I lived with my biological mother until I was three, until her then boyfriend beat me so severely that I had to be hospitalized. I was then put in foster care, and she was given certain terms to live by in order to regain full custody of me, i.e. becoming financially stable, staying away from the abusive boyfriend, staying clean. My mother however, was unable to live up to these standards, and ended up losing full custody of me.
