Legal Question in Family Law in California
Receiving back Child Support with no Court Order
My daughter is 16 years old. I was engaged to her father for 3 years but never married. He left when she was 2. For 9 years he contacted me one to two times a year and never paid child support. When she was 9 he decided to enter her life so he started paying $150.00 per month.(not consistently) My question is since I never got a court order for child support am I entitled to the 7 years he didn't pay?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Receiving back Child Support with no Court Order
No you cannot collect retroactive child support. You should fild an action for paternity and collect the correct amount of child support. You may wish to look at my website www.californiachildsupport.com (it is being updated and that should be complete in a few days but even the old information is valuable) Child support even if the father is making minimum wage would be in the area of $300 plus half of the child care. You do not collect child support until you file an action and child support can be retroactive to the day that you file, I would run, not walk, to the court or an attorney. Don't use the DA, you will probably lose more in the delay in having the matter filed than you would pay for a good attorney. Good Luck, Pat McCrary