Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri
My name is not on my son's birth certificate, and his mother and I have no legal paperwork between us. We do, however, have an old child support case (1999 to 2009 that was Louisiana CSE/Her and Florida CSE/Me). She is military active duty, and kept the case in LA, and never moved the case to MO when she transferred there. She just kept changing her address with Louisiana.
In August 2009, my son came to live with me in Florida, where he stayed until March 2011. In October 2009, I filed a request to have my child support garnishment stopped, because the child lived with me and his mother wasn't returning any of the money to me (or for that matter contributing support of her own). The Florida Dept of Revenue reviewed my request, verified the authenticity of the school records I attached, and ordered the child support stopped.
Now that my son is back in MO with his mother, she's gone to her local child support office to re-establish support. However, she keeps threatening/extorting me and saying that I, as the non-custodial parent, had no legal right to terminate the child support in 2009 (even though he lived with me, acquired a Driver's Learning Permit in Florida, and she bought the plane ticket to send him here), that I broke the law in Missouri and that I could be pursued (and that if I don't give in to her outrageous demands, she will certainly pursue it).
I am lost. First, the child support case was never handled through MO courts, so how could they step in on a case that never involved them? If the state of Florida has jurisdiction over support I pay, they verified my son's residency via public school records and the DMV, and they approved my request to terminate the support she received, what law/article did I "break" here?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Most of the states are part of auniform compact, whereby they honor the custody and support orders of the other states. She wa sokay still delaing with Lousiana when she moved to Missouri. Missouri will likely recognize the Florida Order you got. Now that the child lives with her in Missouir, she may be able to get support started again. From the facts you described, it appears that you broke no Missouri Law in opbtaing the order you did in Florida. However, you are only allowed a limited space to provide information here, and no documents. If your confusion continues, you should consult directly with a Missouri licensed attorney. There are many in Florida. Give them a copy of all your documentation, be available for follow-up questions, and hire them to give you a legal memoranda of your position.
Good luck
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