Many parties fall into situations over time when circumstances have changed since the last child support order. Agreeing to pay for certain other expenses in lieu of direct child support payments and paying child support obligations in advance are two common mistakes men make in divorce.
Many parties make “informal” agreements regarding child support, thereby veering from the written court order, but fail to file the new agreement with the court. While this may be a tempting option in order to avoid legal fees and the hassle of going through the court, the potential pitfalls and ramifications of such informal agreements are costly, and can lead to much higher legal fees...
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Marriage rates have reached an all-time low meaning more children are being born out of wedlock. This issue of paternity is one of the more complex areas of family law. Many men are curious about what an unwed father’s legal responsibilities are to a child born outside of a marriage. Will he automatically have to pay child support? Is he the legal father of the...
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New child support facts show that $35.1 billion in child support was owed in 2009 with fathers representing only 17.8 percent of custodial parents. Of the 11.2 million custodial mothers, almost 55 percent were awarded child support. Yet of the less than 2.5 million custodial fathers in 2009, only 30.4 percent were awarded child support. That is significantly down from 2007 when 40.4 percent of...
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Child Support Question: How do child support laws handle issues of potential paternity fraud? My former girlfriend and I had a child out of wedlock who I pay child support for, though I rarely see him. I’ve learned my ex lied to me about being the father and just wanted someone to help support the child. Can I take a paternity test to officially determine...
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A stepfather is just as much a father as the biological dad when it comes to paternity suits, according to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The court ruled that the child’s stepfather as well as the child’s biological father should both be parties when the legal presumption of fatherhood is decided on matters establishing paternity and child support.
Paternity law is one of the fastest growing areas of family law due to the increasing number of children born out of wedlock. When financially supporting the child through child support is involved, this confusing area of law becomes even more complex. In this divorce article, I’ll review two major issues of paternity law: signing the birth certificate will not necessarily obligate a man to...
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Child support collections in Mississippi have increased by 61 percent over the past 8 years due to increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics and an incentive program that rewards coming after men. Oh, and if you can’t pay because you’re unemployed, then “get a job.” The Clarion-Ledger reports Mississippi’s Division of Child Support Enforcement collected $314 million in fiscal 2011 compared to $195 million in fiscal 2003....
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Michael Turner, jailed for a year because he could not pay child support, was deprived of his 14th Amendment right to due process. However, the court also ruled indigent civil defendants facing jail time have no automatic right to counsel, according to the ABA Journal. Turner is from South Carolina, one of a handful of states that jail indigent...
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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “love child” has brought greater attention to a critical flaw in many states’ paternity laws; that a child “of the marriage” is the responsibility of the husband even if the child is not his. In general, according to Cordell & Cordell mens divorce attorney Leslie Lorenzano, if the husband and wife are still technically married when a child is born, the husband is...
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