Legal Question in Family Law in District of Columbia

Re: Baby mother drama

Before he concerns himself with taking the mother of his child to court, your boyfriend had best get his own house in order, so to speak, regarding his own order for child support and

any unpaid arrearages which may be due and owing

under this order.

The mother of the child had no authority to tell

your boyfriend to stop paying the order as only

the court which entered the order has the authority to modify or vacate its order.

If the boyfriend is now supporting the child, he

can petition the court to vacate his child support order and, request that any arrearages that may have accrued since he assumed custody, also, be vacated.

Re: Baby mother drama

Well, several things need to be done. To start, your boyfriend needs a new court order which, given the fact that the child is now with him, asks the mother for payment of child support. Also he needs to file a petition for joint custody if this is really what he wants... why not sole custody? Does he know the difference? as a quick explanation: two parents can have normally speaking the following 3 scenarios:

1- joint legal and physical custody where the child spends 50% of the time with mom and 50% with dad. No one really pays for child support here.

2- joint legal custody where the child primarily resides with one of the parents however all major decisions regarding the child's life will be made by BOTH parents. The non custodial parent will pay for child support.

3- sole custody where the child is exclusively under the physical and legal custody of one parent and the other parent only gets visitation rights.. in this case not only the non custodial parent will pay for child support.. but all decisions concerning the child will be made by the custodial parent.

The petition for modification of child support and modification of child custody can be made at the same time.

Good luck.