Legal Question in Family Law in Arkansas

Single Father/Child Support/Visitation

Dear Sir:

What state is your residence? Is there anexisting court order that grants you sole custody? What, if anything, have you donethrough your own child support enforcementagency to see that the mother is fulfillingher child support obligation? Sorry, but anattorney would need more facts to give anopinion relative to your situation.

In Maryland, the law makes no distinction between gender in family law matters. Also,people always confuse their rights to visit-ation versus their obligation to pay childsupport.

A determination must be made regarding custoday, if it hasn't already been made byway of a court Order. Secondly, the childsupport guidelines must be calculated basedupon either sole or joint custody. Third,your child support enforcement agency mustpursue collection of child support. If youare not satisfied with your case worker; askto see his/her supervisor and/or perhaps con-sider hiring a private attorney.

Hope this helps and good luck.

You must pursue your son's right to support

You have the same rights as a mother in the same situation, but you have to pursue them. If you're on the ball, you should get one of two solutions: either you'll get the support she is required to pay, or she'll be in and out of jail and you'll never get a penny. But, you'll be certain to hear about it from your son. Sometimes a brief stint in jail is helpful, but often it is disruptive to the person's ability to make that income contribution you seek. Some people enjoy sending ex-spouses to jail or having them lose their licenses, but don't stop to think about the ramifications. You need to keep the goal in mind: getting support for your son. So if you want the money, then think about trying to work out a public/private solution towards getting it. If you have a reasonable visitation relationship, you *might* try talking about it over lunch APART from the visitation transfer periods like two adults. If you don't, then your attorney can do it for you. But, don't tie visiation to money: visitation is your *son's* right to know his mother. But, she has to take her obligation seriously, so give it some thought about what motivates her to do the right thing. What can she realistically afford? This is about the art of negotiation to get what you want/need for your SON, NOT about coddling or making excuses for her. If you can imagine that you're negotiating the price of a new car, for example, you can become more imaginative in your methods of getting what you want. Figure out what the upside for HER is likely to be, then explain it and exploit it. Be firm, be realistic, but keep your goal in mind.

As a single Father do I have the same rights as a single

Though I'm in Tennessee and not licensed to practice in Arizona, the answer to the question in the Title to your post is a simple "YES", under federal constitutional law.But the question asked in the body of the text of your question can not possibly be intelligently answered by anyone without more information -- it may be as simple as the folks you are dealing with think you are a flaming a**hole and despise you personally and will not do anything to help you -- it is impossible to answer without much more information and you would be best advised to talk with a local attorney to try to get the answer.

Follow the child-suport guidelines

Consult local atty. Ask if Arizona has child-support guidelines. Get a copy of the worksheet and figure out for yourself what $$$ Mom should be contributing.Does Mom work? full time? part time? Does Mom have other marriage? other children?In Mass, parent has financial obligation to first family, i.e., second family takes second seat?Have you ever sought that she contribute child support?I think you as a Dad were so delighted and surprised and grateful to get custody that you maybe forgot to ask for $$$ too.You got a brave judge 10 years ago. At least you now also have a track record that you didn't have then.Go for it! Give it a shot! It doesn't have to get too complicated.