legal problems reguarding child support and visitations.

@sissy15 (12269)
United States
February 8, 2011 7:52pm CST
OK so here is the deal my fiance has two kids from a previous marriage and he has to pay child support for them they government takes half of his check which leaves him with maybe $100 a week if he's lucky. He used to have a better paying job when he first started paying but now he makes minimum wage every time he has tried to call child support and court he gets the run around he wants to have it lowered because he doesn't make enough to survive or help support our almost three month son his ex also gets all of his tax money some of which he only got because of our son that money should go to our son. He owes a bunch of money in back support from when he didn't work. The money that he can't pay a week is added to his back support which isn't right. On top of all of this he hasn't seen his kids in almost 6 yrs give or take. His ex moved didn't tell him he hasn't seen his son since his son was for and he has barely seen his daughter at all she has no clue who he is. We find out most info about his kids via facebook since she doesn't have it completely blocked. We have found out stuff he should have known about like his ex having cancer awhile back if something would have happened to her he should have got custody not her now husband. When he has tried to get a hold of her she ignores his emails and refuses to give him her number. He has tried to get a lawyer through legal aid but they can't help. He is supposed to have visitations and get them every other weekend but she wont even talk to him and he doesn't know exactly where she lives she moved without telling him when he moved to another city he was still planning on seeing his son at that time and she just up and left. Is there any other means in which he can get a lawyer for free or cheap other than legal aid? He really can't afford the legal fees but what she and the court system is doing just isn't right, my son who he sees everyday has to suffer because she is taking most of his money and he isn't even able to see his kids. Any advice would be great if you could possibly help with any information you know that would be great keep in mind as said above we already tried legal aid.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
9 Feb 11
sissy15, While your husband has got to pay for child support as agreed during his previous divorce proceedings, I am very sure there would also be a visitation rights accorded to him. So, I am just baffled as to how he had failed to see his son from his previous marriage all these years. Because, if the other party is not living up their end of the bargain, then I am sure he could have called the police and hauled his ex wife in for non compliance - irregardless of any animosity between the both of them. The next question on my mind is, if he had not been given his part of the bargain - then why did he not follow up by seeking out legal aid or the police even to resolve the matter? Because, if he had done this, then I am sure he would not have so much in his hands now. All I can say for him now would probably be to call the police and file charges against his ex wife for breaching a court order. I do not think his ex could keep the child away from and/or deny your fiance access. However, there's nothing your fiance could do with the child support unless he engage his own lawyer to renegotiate on the amount or he will just have to find a way round to pay the amount.
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
9 Feb 11
did you not read he DID call legal aid they can't help they have a lot of other people wanting help they can only help so many people. He has tried many things in the past that's what this post was mostly about seeing if anyone has any alternatives he could try. We have tried about everything and the police wont do squat he keeps calling the court house and child support and they refuse to answer the messages he left them. I am just getting sick of all of this why should he pay child support for two kids that she wont let him see and doesn't want him to be the father. She wants the best of both worlds for him to pay child support and for her new husband to be their father and that isn't right.
• Singapore
10 Feb 11
I think you are not getting what I am trying to put forward to you tactfully here. In the first place, why does he need to wait for legal aid back when he could afford it? Also, when he is not the defaulter of the court order, he could easily engage his own lawyer, haul his ex to court and have her fork for the entire legal costs. 3 years to me is a heck of a time and waiting for legal aid to return his call for this amount of time is just unthinkable. I am sure your congress representative would love to hear from him too. His ex is really at fault and definitely guilty of contempt of the law. The least your fiance should have done was to consult a lawyer back then and know of his options. So, let's be objective here.
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
28 Feb 11
to answer all of this is first you should have read a little better he can't afford a lawyer he barely makes $100 a week half of the time. He just recently contacted legal aid because he didn't know about them before. He has contacted lawyers in the past but couldn't afford them he is so far in debt that most wont even let him make payments and most charge to even talk to him it's not easy finding a lawyer we have called a few. We have tried everything we could think of and it's hard to come up with things when you don't know much about the law we have looked some stuff up but haven't found much. Just because laws are out there doesn't mean they are followed especially since he isn't the one with custody. He has tried everything he could think of. It's easy to think of ideas but hard to make people listen that is the whole problem. If he had the money this would have been taken care of a long time ago. Someone just recently told us about legal aid and he tried he has tried this is about getting helpful ideas not peoples opinions I don't care if you are against it I don't need your opinion just help I am not trying to mean just want some advice that can help with things we haven't tried and I am sorry if I left things out because there is so much to write and I can only think of so much when I am writing it. As I said we don't know much about the laws but from what we looked up we know she is in hot water but it's hard to know how to go about getting help that's the problem we know she is in the wrong but we don't know much in the way of how to handle things when we don't have money to take care of it. I appreciate you commenting but we just need help on how to handle the situation when we don't have money to spend on a lawyer. It's a matter on how to make people listen when the child support office wont pick up and when all the court does is tell him to write a letter and then never gets back it gets frustrating. The only reason it has taken this long and still hasn't been resolved is because he doesn't have the money for a lawyer and doesn't know every option out there and isn't sure how to make people listen or get back to him. You can know the laws but not know how to have an issue taken care of without having the money to take care of it. That is the issue here he has tried everything he can think of but without having the money to take care of it we don't know what else to do.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
27 Feb 11
Wow!! This is so sad when people are allowed to do this to an ex partner and there is no one out there who can help. And in all rights what does his kids mom think this is doing to the kids? I know personally there should be a better system set in place for the parents who still want contact and are paying the support. I never got a real chance to ever know my Real dad because he did not want to keep in contact. I think personally in this case the system is wrong.
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
1 Mar 11
Thank you. We have been working on finding a way for him to see them she claims to be a christian but what she is doing is anything but christian. I read somewhere if we can prove it she could be brought up on kidnapping charges it's just the proving it issue because it's more of a his word against hers she can spin it to look like she did tell him because I don't think there is any paper work so IDK. It's just stressful we have enough with our son we have together on top of this it's just a lot, it is a shame that a father who wants to see his kids and spend time with them is denied and he is a good father he is so good with our son and fathers day has always been tough on him he would break down in tears because he couldn't see his kids at least this year we have our son but that still doesn't make up for the two he doesn't get to see, but thanks again it's always good to hear when someone agrees on these cases a lot of people favor the mother it's just hard.