Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My ex wife and I have been officially divorced now for about 4 or 5 months. She has sole custody of my 14 month little boy. She lives in Texas with him where he was born and I moved back to Louisiana to try and get back on my feet financially and live with my parents since she took everything in the divorce including my son. I am supposed to have my son every other weekend and during the summer months. When I was still living in Texas she refused to let me see my son on the weekend and due to the fact that almost every penny i make goes to child support I was unable to seek legal help for this matter. A few months back over the summer I asked to take him for a few weeks back to Louisiana with me to which she declined. What can I do about this? Another huge issue I am having with her is child support. She is currently getting three child support checks, including mine, all from different fathers while she doesn't work or support any of her children. She is living with her new current husband to which i have texts saying that she tells my son to call him daddy because im just a pay check to her. Every month over $500 of child support is taken out of my check and sent to her for my son which I have no problem with. However, every month once that $500 is gone, usually in about 2 weeks, she is begging me for extra money for "our son" to which I have blindly given her almost every month that we have been separated. She is constantly telling me that the child support isn't enough and she is having a hard time taking care of my son. I would like to get custody of my son since she clearly cant take care of him or her other two children whom she gets 1200 a month for. My only problem is that i have very little money for an attorney if any since all of my money is going to her. What is the courts view of her collecting three child support checks and not supporting the children including mine at all? She is clearly living off of my and the other fathers support while she doesn't contribute a penny. What can I do to get custody of my child since she can provide for him?
1 Answer from Attorneys
If you have no money or little money to hire a private attorney, whose hourly rates and retainers vary, and if you have no or low income, you should try to calling Legal Aid in the county and state where the order was entered, to see if they can help you - I do not have their phone number but you can look them up on the internet. However, I don't think you can ask for income service assistance if you are not residing in the county and state where the aid is requested - such as in this case, Texas.
Otherwise, the only other thing that you can do is get a second job and save up a very large sum of money, much more than a years worth of the child support that you now paying, and hire a very good private attorney to defend you and take her back to court for contempt of court orders and to modify the orders so that you can have a normal relationship with your child.
Further, in all states, it does not matter how many children a person has. They can have 20 children from 20 different men and they can get child support from each one of the non-custodial parents or the parent with less parenting time. So long as there is an order to support that they are the primary parent or have the majority of the parenting time and per the income calculation that is made at the time the order was entered.
And that order cannot be changed, even if your income goes down, unless you take her back to court and modify that child support order order.
Next, the person named the primary parent or who has primary parenting time, has the right collect child support, based on the state's laws where the action is brought, from the non-custodial parent and they don't even have to spend any of the child support money that they receive from that other parent, on the child.
No states, that I am aware of, require an accounting of support received (which I do not agree).
However, the person ordered to pay the child support must pay it, and the state will keep an accounting of what is not paid, and if the person obligated does not pay, they can be jailed or have their bank account levied or later on, have their wages garnished for arrearages and current support or have their Social Security payments withheld.
Child support obligation never goes away - until the order that was entered is changed, changing the monthly obligation amount, or the primary parent agrees to waive arrearages not paid and/or reduce the amount paid, or the obligation has been paid and is satisfied.
Goldstein & Scopellite, PC has qualified family law attorneys and child custody attorneys available to represent you at either one of their law offices located in Dallas, Texas and Tucson, Arizona - Please visit their websites at www.LawyersDallas.com and www.Lawyers-Tucson.com for more information or to contact them. Thank you.
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