Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia
I had a child outside of my marriage, with a woman who claimed she could not get pregnant, due to cervix cancer and a hysterectomy. I advised her when she was first pregnant that I did not want to be a father, nor did I wish to leave my wife. She (the mother) moved to NC, shortly after the child was born, approx 4 months ago, advising me that if I had no intent in being part of her life or the child's, that she was moving back home, and wanted nothing further from me; monetarily or otherwise. I attempted to establish communication w/ her, and come up with an amicable solution of my contributing monetarily - such as a savings account with direct deposit- which she initially said she had no interest in. Instead, she ignored me emails, and went to Child Support Enforcement in NC, as though I've made zero attempt; which is not the case. She then finally responded to my emails, advising me that my attempts were "laughable", and her lawyer advised her to go to CSE, to get the maximum amount of money from me.
Now, the CSE offices in NC are sending financial info request forms to my place of employment, so I need to understand : If I have not been served by my local county, or had a judge set a support order, is it even legal for another state/county to send request for financial information to my place of employment to enforce child support, when there's no child support order in place yet? I'm trying to determine if I need to take this request to a lawyer, and see a judge in my home county, or if I need to simply fill the form out and send it back to NC, in order to pay through them; and consider their request to be a support order.
I am not trying to get of paying, I just want to insure it's done properly, as I do not know if I should be paying child support based on NC laws, or GA, and do not wish to go to jail over something as simple as ignorance of law.
1 Answer from Attorneys
When you decide to have sex you are responsible for the consequences, and it is normal for a mother to go to the state to seek support when you and she disagree. You have both a civil and criminal obligation to pay support (even with no court order) and requests for financial information are normal.
Having said all that, you need to see a lawyer, and should have already done so, to ensure that the support process is done properly. Support will be based on NC law.
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