Child Support Question on a 16 year old school drop out!

[staciemjr]

I have a question about my 16 year old step daughter. She was living with us for a little over a year, then decided to live with her mother. We have found out that after all this time (about a year now) that she hasn't been living with her mother all the time, but that her mother has allowed my step daughter to live with her boyfriend and his parents. She has also quit school this past school year and has no intention of going back to school. My question is : Does my husband still have to pay child support for his 16 year old daughter when she is no longer in school, and the child support has never been court ordered??? I am wanting to know because the mother keeps threatening my husband to pay the child support and I would like to know my husbands rights....he does not agree with the situation of his daughter staying with her boyfriend and the fact she dropped out of school.

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by staciemjr I have a question about my 16 year old step daughter. She was living with us for a little over a year, then decided to live with her mother. We have found out that after all this time (about a year now) that she hasn't been living with her mother all the time, but that her mother has allowed my step daughter to live with her boyfriend and his parents. She has also quit school this past school year and has no intention of going back to school. My question is : Does my husband still have to pay child support for his 16 year old daughter when she is no longer in school, and the child support has never been court ordered??? I am wanting to know because the mother keeps threatening my husband to pay the child support and I would like to know my husbands rights....he does not agree with the situation of his daughter staying with her boyfriend and the fact she dropped out of school.

If there is no court order, then your husband has NO legal child support obligations whatsoever.

And are you guys sure that the mother is allowing the daughter to live with the boyfriend and his parents? If so, why is that? Is the daughter pregnant? (If not, she will almost certainly become pregnant pretty soon - and the boyfriend's parents are irresponsible for allowing this girl to live under their roof under those circumstances).

[goddessoflubboc]

Why was their never a court order? That can come back on him if mom decides to file.

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by goddessoflubboc Why was their never a court order? That can come back on him if mom decides to file.

While that's true, the court is NOT going to order retroactive child support payments prior to the date that mom finally decides to file.

In addition, the court will also consider the fact that the child is not currently living with the mother, and may hesitate granting a support order to her because the child does not reside with her.

[goddessoflubboc]

I've had many dads who were in shock when the court orders back child support. In some states it can be ordered up until the child's 18th birthday.

Mom has sole legal and physical custody. That means she decides the child's place of residence.

[Friend In Court]

The father does have a legal obligation to support his daughter. It is common law. One does not have to go to court to have the court tell it that bothh parents have a moral and legal obligation to support their children.

Your husband needs to step up to the plate for his parental role as her dad and petition the court for custody of her to get her out of that situation. She will have the choice of either returning to live with him or ending up as a ward of the state.

[staciemjr]

This is quite a long story to describe our situation to present time. Before she came to live with us about 2 years ago he had been paying child support to his ex-wife and the daughter was living with her mother. Things got pretty bad between the 2 of them, and she came to live with us. While she was living with us, her mother never paid nor offered to help with support, nor did we ask for it (my husband and his x DO NOT GET ALONG)...so all of a sudden one day my step daughter got angry because my husband tried to ground her for a weekend, and well thats when she decided to move back in with her mother (that very day). Now we have helped her (my step daughter) in many ways and my husband has given her child support money for quite a while since she has been gone. Recently we have stumbled into financial problems and we have told her we will give her (our daughter) money as soon as we can. Then we found out that the mother let her daughter drop out of school this past year (towards the end of the year) and we found out that she was basically living with her boyfriend and his parents and the mother allowed this, because the living condition there at their house is horrible!!! Actually bad for our daughters health. The mother refuses to do anything about this, and thinks this whole situation is ok. My husband has offered help to his daughter, but she refuses because it comes with stipulations (like going back to school). The mother is now calling and making threats about paying child support. As far as we know right now, our daughter is not living with her mother or is only at her mother's part time. This is where my question on child support comes in. They never had it court ordered I guess because he always paid her directly.

[goddessoflubboc]

So has he been sending money directly to his daughter?
If the living conditions were so horrific why didn't he make a motion to change custody?
It appears that "dad" is no more a parent then "mom" since the child is doing as she pleases.
This is a CHILD, in every sense of the word, who is being allowed to destroy her future.