Ask a Lawyer: Can Child Support Be Dropped?

Get Expert Family Law Article Advice from our Ask a Lawyer Topic Section on SingleDad. Jeffrey Leving is the nation’s leading Fathers Rights Attorney and offers FREE Family Law advice for Men on SingleDad.com. This month, learn how Child Support can be dropped

Ask a Lawyer on
Single Dad: Can Child Support Be Dropped?

Get Expert Family Law Article Advice from our Ask a Lawyer
Topic Section on SingleDad. Jeffrey Leving is the nation’s leading Fathers
Rights Attorney and offers FREE Family Law advice for Men on SingleDad.com.
This month, learn how Child Support can be dropped. Read More…

Question:

My ex has been
hiding daughter for the last 9 years. I haven’t had so much as a phone number
to reach her. I fell behind in support early on (17 yrs old). I have only accrued
6 months in total visitation, and I owe in the ballpark of $38k.

At one point I tried to sign over my rights, because she
wouldn’t let me be a dad to my daughter, and she tried to blackmail me with the
paperwork. She sent me a text that I still have on my old flip phone, saying
that if I paid her $2000 cash she would sign the papers. I didn’t do it because
of my rights to see my daughter. My question is: If my daughter that I haven’t
seen in a decade is using her mom’s last name, can I have my child support
dropped?

Answer from Jeffrey
Leving

You are in a difficult situation and should immediately talk
to an aggressive family law attorney to enforce your visitation rights to see
your child. In some states, interference with court ordered visitation or
parenting time is a crime. A skilled custody attorney could review your
visitation schedule and determine what remedies are available to you.
Additionally, if the mother of your child is threatening you; you could also
seek an order of protection from the court. Either way, it’s important to
obtain the assistance of an experienced family law attorney who can best advise
you on how to enforce your rights to see your daughter.

Regarding your child support payment, you should understand
that courts do not equate visitation with child support. This means that as a father, you have
an obligation to pay child support and no matter how little or often you have
seen your child, your obligation for support remains the same, assuming that an
actual court order of support was entered. If this is the case, that order
remains in full force and effect and any past amounts owed, will remain
owed. Further, the fact that your
daughter uses her mother’s last name doesn’t affect your obligation to pay
child support. Once paternity has
been established and an order for child support exists, you are required to
pay.

However, this doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. Although you can’t get rid of
your past due amount, with the help of an experienced child custody attorney you
may be able modify your support payments going forward based on a substantial
change in circumstance.

For more information about visitation and custody rights,
please visit me at www.dadsrights.com.

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