Unmarried parents, father adopted child, father now in prison - ? about child support

[transmed]

What is the name of your state? Alabama

I had a child out of wedlock in Alabama in 1988, her father established paternity but the court we used stated child support/visitation was done in another court and that if we were amicable we should just do it ourselves, which we did. He has been convicted of a crime and sentenced to 8-10 years and began serving 2 years ago. I have not received child support since that time. I am wondering if there is any law that covers this type of situation, i.e. obtaing some type of child support while he is in prison or obtaining some type of order that would ask for "payback" of child support once he is released from prison and working? This has affected my daughter tremendously as she was used to being able to do the things and buy the things that child support enabled and now I have to tell her no a lot.

 

[Grace_Adler]

If AL is like here, then child support doesn't accrue while in jail. So you won't be able to get any.

If you go to the following site, it gives a link to the statutes in your state. If all else fails, you can call the magistrate or an attorney to see if the law allows you to collect child support while someone is incarcerated.

http://polisci.com/web/slegis.htm

 

[transmed]

Thank You for reply

Thank you for your reply. It seems such a shame that when a parent is incarcerated he/she not somehow held responsible for support of their child - its like incarcerating the child too.

Again, thank you for you reply.

 

[stephenk]

since most prisoners dont hold paying jobs in prison, how do you expect your ex to make support payments while incarcerated?

 

[transmed]

pay back

I'm not expecting him to pay while he is in prison, I was attempting to find out if there is any precedence regarding holding the prisoner responsible for paying back child support once they are out of prison and working again. I'm sorry if you find that offensive. It is not my daughter's fault that he decided to break the law. He has very marketable skills (i.e. welding and electrical educations) and will obviously be back in the work force eventually (he received a 8-10 yr sentence and from what I understand will not spend half of that time in prison but will be given a shorter time for "good behavior", etc).

It seems a shame that the children have to change their lifestyle as well when a parent breaks the law and yet the prisoner gets to add to his (i.e. her father is in college courses at the prison, etc.)

Once again, I'm sorry if you find that offensive but I think we all have responsibilities in life and we should be held accountable for them. If you break the law, then obviously you should go to prison but you should also be held accountable for other responsibilities in your life whether it be now or later.

 

[Whyte Noise]

transmed

You said that the courts told you that if you two were amicable, to work it our between yourselves, and that's what you did. You've never had a child support order issued?