Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
Child Support Beyond the Age of Majority in URESA case
My daughter and I live in Maryland. I am not sure
where my daughter's father is but believe he may
be in Delaware or Massachusetts. My daughter
has been 18 years old since last October. I have a
court order which was very simple and in my
current opinion very inadequate. I would like to get
additional money on behalf of my daughter for 1)
excessive medical expenses incurred before she
turned 18; 2) extended support through high
school (she was 19 by the time she graduated) -
as I understand the law in Delaware allows;
and/or 3) extended support to age 23 for my
daughter as long as she is in an education
program as I understand the law is in
Massachusetts. How can I find out where he is?
Under what conditions would another state have
jurisdiction over our case? What would happen if
my daughter and/or I moved to another state with
more favorable support laws? She is now in
school in Maryland and living at home. She will be
19 in October and is tentatively planning to move
to Oregon where the support laws extend to 21 if
she attends school.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Child Support Beyond the Age of Majority in URESA case
Assuming you can find your daughter's father without spending more money than you could collect, you might be able to require him to pay for the medical bills. There is no way, under Maryland law, that he could be required to support her past her eighteenth birthday, much less to the age of 23. Moving to another state, a year or more after she turned eighteen, would not help. Jurisdiction would still be in Maryland, although jurisdictin for any change in child support would have terminated when she turned eighteen. I am not familiar with Oregon law, but I suspect that if she moved to Oregon and filed for a continuation of child support she would be unsuccessful, as if would appear that she had made the move just to ge a continuatin of child support. In every state with which I am familiar she would have to be there for sometime, in most cases a year, to establish jurisdiction, and by that time she would be age twenty or more. Oregon is a beautiful state, but if she plans tomove there I hope it is for a reason other than child support.
Re: Child Support Beyond the Age of Majority in URESA case
The medical expenses may be recovered; however, you
need to locate her father to do this. There are several
tools available to locate individuals. An attempt to locate
him must be demonstrated before any judgment against him will issue.
Her moving to another state will avail her of the laws of that state.
Most states have minimum waiting periods before jurisdiction accrues.
After 18, she has no basis for a claim in Maryland (assuming she is able to
care for herself--I infer this from the "education program" indicated as
being self-driven). On the other hand, if she is destitute and her father
is able to contribute to her support, a different analysis applies. There are numerous
factors in force here not to mention the laws of the varied states.
If you would like to acquire an understanding of the laws of the various states, I may
be of assistance. In order to pursue action in those states, you would need to acquire representation
in each state or I could file to represent you pro hac vice. Alternatively, I could assist you
by serving as a liaison with out-of-state attorneys. Moreover, if you would like to locate
her father, I may guide you with this process.
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