Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: What can I do about a child support order for my son?

You have several possible issues here. First, although I assume you wanted a divorce, the divorce which was granted in Texas may not be valid. It sounds is though you were never served with notice that your husband had filed for divorce. In most states, if not all, a party must be served with a copy of the complaint for divorce and a summons providing notice of the need to respond. If the person can't be located and the address is unknown, substitute service can be had by publishing a notice in a newspaper, usually a paper in the area where the person to be served lives. If your husband (ex-) lied to the Texas court and said that he could not locate you, the court had no proper jurisdiction in the first place. Furthermore, if your husband was stationed in Texas he may actually have been a legal resident of Maryland, in which case, again, the divorce would not be valid. This is pretty complicated and tricky business, and you should consult with an attorney about it. As for custody and visitation, that isn't what you asked a question about but it does sound as though you are not satisfied with the current visitation order. If that's so, you can petition the court to remove the case to your Maryland jurisdiction to consider a change in the visitation. As for the child support, you can file a request for an increase in support, if that is appropriate, with your local child support office. And you can ask for their help in enforcing the existing child support order. If your ex-husband is now living in Maryland and is employed, there should not be a lot of difficulty about getting a wage attachment which will cause the support to be automatically withheld and sent to you. One further note: If you do wish to investigate the way in which the Texas divorce was obtained, your lawyer will probably need to get a copy of the records from the Texas court.

Re: What can I do about a child support order for my son?

If you are unhappy with the previous order and are not receiving the child support that was ordered you should explore your options of having the judgment either set aside (depending on whether the Texas court had jurisdiction to begin with) or a modification. You would have to call my office to determine if either of these options are available because I need more facts. Please call me at 301-652-0663.