This is a question my fiance really needs to ask but I am asking. Ok, He has an 13 year old daughter. He did not find out about her till she was 11. the mother finally called him and told him he had a daughter. well, they went to court and he did a dna test and she is his. ok, so he pays child support once a month. calls the mom ever so often or text her to see how his daughter is doing, she never answers and she never replies to any text. before he started sending her money once a month the mother brought the daughter down several times to visit with Allen ( the dad). now that she is getting the money in, she is not making any kind of effort in letting him see the child. when he calls she does not answer and does not call back. she does not reply to text either. now today 2/4/11 she text Allen wanting him to give her some prices on a new vehicle. He stated nice that you can text me and ask about a vehicle but you cant reply when I call or text asking about my daughter. It does not make sense to me ( a woman) that a man have to pay another woman child support after 11 years of keeping her from him and now that he does know she still keeps her from him. All she wants is that money. AND, the only reason she called Allen and told him he had a daughter was because her and her husband at the time had split up and she needed extra money to spend on herself. I just wanted to know if there are any laws on the mother keeping a child from seeing the father. Why should he still have to pay child support?
He should get an attorney and draw up an agreement for the child support AND visitation. He certainly should be paying child support since the girl is his child, but he should also be able to see her and find out how she's doing.
Why didn't he request for an order of visitation when he was taken in for child support? Rhetorical question.
He should go to the courts and request formal visitation since he is desiring a relationship with his daughter.
Well, he still has to pay, but he is entitled to visitation, not just a response from the mother. Time to take it back to court and get that ordered.
child support and visitation are 2 seperate issues and it sounds like he needs to take her to court and get the visitation he deserves.
Child support and visitation are not the same thing, nor do they automatically go hand in hand. If your fiancee wants visitation with his daughter, he needs to initiate it through the courts. The fact that he pays support for her has absolutely no bearing on whether or not he sees her regularly.
He needs to go back to court to get visitation. And please do - the best thing for her is to have a relationship with her dad. In any case, she is his - he needs to support her no matter what.
Child support and visitation are 2 totally different things. A person is paying for the care of their child, not paying to see them. She's entitled to child support (and in some states 11 years of back support... in others, no back support if bio dad had no idea). He's entitled to visitation. BUT they are 2 separate court appearances/filings. Go to court and file for visitation.
The way the law works:
The law supports that if a man lays down with a woman, it is also his responsibility to follow up on any potential pregnancies. It specifically reads that a man should assume he is the putative father if a woman becomes pregnant in a time period where he laid down with her. I don't know all the details of his situation, but it seems he is not exactly the victim here.
Visitation is not automatically tied to child support payments. They are different issues. The mother is not legally bound in any way to give him updates of his child, nor to respond to his texts and messages about her, and nor is he entitled to this from her. He is legally entitled to visitation, but he must file for it through the court.
And to answer your last question: He should continue to pay child support because he laid down with a woman many years ago and the result was a child that requires financial support. He should assume his financial responsibility to that child without confusing it with visitation issues.
Allen can go to court and file for visitation. And yes he still has to pay support. I think he is lucky that he does not have to pay 11 years of back support.
As others have stated, he simply need to file a request for modification with the court asking for visitation. Child support and visitation are technically not related (it's not "pay to play," so to speak) but unless there is good reason to deny visitation, it is in the best interest of his daughter to have a relationship with her father and visitation will be granted.
He doesn't even need a lawyer to do this...just go to the court house and the clerk will have the forms and will be able to give him things like the docket number, etc. (you just copy them from the court case that established child support) and will tell him what he needs to file. There will be the request for modification then a few other forms (request that the mother be served notice, request for a hearing etc.) and maybe a small filing and server fee and that's it!
Child support and visitation are completely separate. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
He needs to pay child support because he brought a child into this world and it's his responsibility to financially support that child.
If he's been to court for child support, why hasn't he been to court for visitation? Even though they are unrelated, they are both handled by the same court. If he wants visitation, and the mother is not allowing it, he should get a court order. Yes, the mother can keep the father from seeing his child if she is has full custody, and there is no court order stating otherwise.
unfortunately he will have to pay child support until she is 18 regardless but he could petition the courts for actual visitation because he is paying child support and is the child's father. He could also petition for part of the money he is paying to go into a fund for her college that the mother does not have access to.
If he pays child support he has a right to see his daughter (morally anyways)... even if he didn't pay technically she'd have to go to the courts again and file that he can't see his daughter (if there are visitation papers in place). You can go to the court system and "report her" (lack of better words) or do whatever paper work they need to say he's paying but she is keeping his daughter from him (if there are visitation papers in place). She's 13, she doesn't have her own cell or facebook? It sounds like she is using his daughter to get a paycheck which (to me) is disgusting. Does she know he is her father? Maybe she told him about the daughter, but not the daughter about the father. Some lawyers offer free consultations... I'd find one if I were him.
Was there a custody/visitation paper filed? He needs to jump on that if not because the courts don't just assume visitation when child support papers are filed.
Post a follow up about what happens :)
Yes the laws are pretty strict regarding child support. If your fiance wants a relationship with his daughter than he need an attorney and a legal agreement needs to be put in place so he can see her and then if the mom violates the order she can be arrested and the court order can be enforced.
Not an expert on child support, but did they have to go to court to determine child support payments. At that time, wouldn't they have come up with a visitation schedule? I think he should have to pay support, but he's definitely entitled to visitation too!
if he has a custody order along with the support take it back to court even if he doesnt have an order for visitation just support take it back to court and tell the judge that she is not letting him see his daughter even though he pays the support and show the judge everythign that you have to prove that he has contacted her to try and see her and see how his kid is doing an that he is paying one of two things will happen either he wont have to pay or he will get visitation rights and a schedule will be written up by the court that both will have to follow i would NOT stop paying until it is taken back to court and the judge has rulled because he could get into serious trouble for not paying if its court ordered
With him paying child support there should be a visitation order as well, assuming they've been through the court system.
Life isnt fair and you are experiencing that right now. Please take note of this that you are now marrying a man with baggage and the child support thing will be a sore spot until the child turns 18 or even longer if she chooses to go to college. If you are riled up about it now just think how irritating it's going to be a few years from now having to share that money with a woman that ticks you off already. Your b/f is doing the right thing by paying and he needs to be the bigger person and do things legally. His ex is gonna be a biatch, you can see that. It will be a stressful thing for both of you and when you have your own children together you'll even get madder that the money is going out and you dont get to see what it's being spent on. Make sure you and b/f have good communication skills to get through this.
