Legal Question in Family Law in Iowa

Re: Child support

I am not licensed to practice law in Iowa, and you cannot consider this legal advice. And so . . .

Talk to a family lawyer attorney who is familiar with child support law, or talk with someone in your Child Support Enforcement department.

In Montana, the law says you may not ask for child support before the obligated parent had notice that the child existed and you were going to request support. So, if you had a child five years ago, the law says you can't ask for five years of retroactive child support. You can ask for support only

from the time Mother notified Father that he was an obligated parent.

However, if Iowa has a "putative father registry" Mom might argue that Dad knew or should have known he was Child�s father and, if Dad had taken advantage of the putative father registry (assuming Iowa has this registry), Dad would have known of his obligation immediately. That's a bit of a stretch, frankly.

As I said, I do not practice in Iowa, and I do not know Iowa's laws regarding paternity and child support. An experienced family law attorney can advise you of the law and how to get a support order.

Parenting is another issue unrelated to child support. Parents usually like the results of mediated parenting schedules more than they like court-ordered parenting schedules (we call them �crap shoot� because we cannot guarantee how the judge will rule). If you're"good enough" parents, should sit down with a mediator and try to work something out. If parents are willing to negotiate their own decisions, they have virtually a 100% chance of getting a Court order adopting their plan.