Child Support Request for Kidnapped Son

[Timothyjack]

This question pertains to the states of California, Florida, and Texas. This question is regarding someone I am dating. I will try to make this short.

I am dating a woman that used to live in Texas in her 20's. She was married and had a son. She went through some issues during her marriage and her husband at the time ended up leaving her and taking the son out of her arms and disappearing. She filed police reports , but they said they couldnt do anything. She did all that she could to track him down including Police, P.I., State help , but he used false names and never held down a job so he never filed his taxes. He moved to Florida 6 or so years after the incident and has been living there from what we know. She is still unable to find him. The only reason she knows that is because she received a letter from the state of Florida saying that she owes back child support. She now resides in California and has since divorced him. She has not seen her son in over 10 years.

Is there any litigation that we can take against the father if we ever find him? Or is the only thing we can do is pay the child support?

I appreciate all input given. If I left out any needed information, please ask.

Tim

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

were there ever any court orders in regards to a divorce/ custody / child support?

 

[Timothyjack]

were there ever any court orders in regards to a divorce/ custody / child support?

No, there were never any court orders. When she divorced him, he was still missing. She went through some process to divorce him without his cooperation. The only reason they are trying to request child support from her is because within the past two years he has filed for state assistance, so they did their leg work and are now asking her for support as well as back-dated support.

 

[Gracie3787]

No, there were never any court orders. When she divorced him, he was still missing. She went through some process to divorce him without his cooperation. The only reason they are trying to request child support from her is because within the past two years he has filed for state assistance, so they did their leg work and are now asking her for support as well as back-dated support.

the FIRST thing she needs to do is to find out how a court order for CS was issued without her being served.

The letter from the DOR should have the county listed on it, that's a strating point. She can contact the court clerk's office in that county to find the court file. Then she'll need to get copies of everything in the file. (at $1.00 per page, it might be cheaper for her to fly there).

Then she should take those copies to a Florida attorney to see what her best options are.

IF the CS order is an administrative order done by the DOR CSE, she has the right to demand copies of the order and everything in her file, and then she can see an attorney with those papers.

She'll also need at some point to be able to prove what steps she took through the years to locate her son.

 

[Zephyr]

was the child addressed at all in the divorce papers? if he had absconded with the child it makes sense that mom would have gotten a default judgment for custody, ???

 

[CourtClerk]

was the child addressed at all in the divorce papers? if he had absconded with the child it makes sense that mom would have gotten a default judgment for custody, ???

That's what I'm thinking... if she asked for it. I'm going to hold my other thoughts to myself until I figure out..

Did mom address the child and custody in the divorce???

I'm thinking that Florida may have something in one of their statutues that would allow the back child support to be waived if mom can prove that the child was "kidnapped" as you put it and she has been actively searching for the child. Did she file missing person's reports? List the child with Missing and Exploited children? Or did she just kind of - sort of look for him every once in a while and it became an issue when there was 10 years of support to pay?

 

[Timothyjack]

the FIRST thing she needs to do is to find out how a court order for CS was issued without her being served.

The letter from the DOR should have the county listed on it, that's a strating point. She can contact the court clerk's office in that county to find the court file. Then she'll need to get copies of everything in the file. (at $1.00 per page, it might be cheaper for her to fly there).

Then she should take those copies to a Florida attorney to see what her best options are.

IF the CS order is an administrative order done by the DOR CSE, she has the right to demand copies of the order and everything in her file, and then she can see an attorney with those papers.

She'll also need at some point to be able to prove what steps she took through the years to locate her son.

Very good information. Thanks. At this point, she knows that the only way to get anything reolved is to take a flight to Florida and get counsel to look over her case. That will happen once money becomes available.

 

[Timothyjack]

was the child addressed at all in the divorce papers? if he had absconded with the child it makes sense that mom would have gotten a default judgment for custody, ???

I am unsure at this time, but will find out shortly. I never got that impression from our discussion, but I will follow-up. I do recall when she tried to sue for custody while he was still missing, she had a problem because she had prior to the case moved to California and California law had no jurisdiction over the son since he was never a residence of California. She would have had to go back to Texas and at that time was not feasible unfortunately. So that is why she only received the divorce in California.

 

[StampGirl]

I am unsure at this time, but will find out shortly. I never got that impression from our discussion, but I will follow-up. I do recall when she tried to sue for custody while he was still missing, she had a problem because she had prior to the case moved to California and California law had no jurisdiction over the son since he was never a residence of California. She would have had to go back to Texas and at that time was not feasible unfortunately. So that is why she only received the divorce in California.

I am sorry but I am having a really hard time with the bolded statement above. Personally, I would have hitchhiked, stole, done whatever I could to get my child back.

Nothing would have stopped me. Nothing. Not feasible??? What the heck was sooo much more important than taking the necessary steps to ensure she received custody and got her son back??????????????

 

[Timothyjack]

That's what I'm thinking... if she asked for it. I'm going to hold my other thoughts to myself until I figure out..

Did mom address the child and custody in the divorce???

I'm thinking that Florida may have something in one of their statutues that would allow the back child support to be waived if mom can prove that the child was "kidnapped" as you put it and she has been actively searching for the child. Did she file missing person's reports? List the child with Missing and Exploited children? Or did she just kind of - sort of look for him every once in a while and it became an issue when there was 10 years of support to pay?

I will look into that. If back child support can be waived if we can prove an abduction had occured, that may be the route that we will go in. I will also discuss again what all actions she took to find her son at the time. Not sure about missing persons report or missing and exploited childrens.

Or did she just kind of - sort of look for him every once in a while and it became an issue when there was 10 years of support to pay?

No, she has been paying child support for several years. 2-3 from what I know.I just don't think its fair for him to put her through so much and then make a claim with the state when he made a malicious decision to run with the child. I would like to find a resolution to the situation. I am just getting involved now because this is unfinished business and she is a bit overwhelmed with a few other things at the moment.

So my question again just to reiterate is Do you know if there is there any litigation that we can take against the father if we ever find him? Or is the only thing we can do is pay the child support?

 

[fairisfair]

Very good information. Thanks. At this point, she knows that the only way to get anything reolved is to take a flight to Florida and get counsel to look over her case. That will happen once money becomes available.

This needs to happen NOW. She already has a default judgement against her, god knows how old it is. Time is of the essence.

 

[CourtClerk]

I will look into that. If back child support can be waived if we can prove an abduction had occured,...

... not just that an adbuction occurred, but that she didn't just sit on her hands and watch time just pass idly by (which is starting to sound like what happened).

 

[Timothyjack]

I am sorry but I am having a really hard time with the bolded statement above. Personally, I would have hitchhiked, stole, done whatever I could to get my child back.

Nothing would have stopped me. Nothing. Not feasible??? What the heck was sooo much more important than taking the necessary steps to ensure she received custody and got her son back??????????????

Thats an easy statement to disbelieve. And thats your opinion. Not all women handle the pain of having a son kidnapped the same way you do. After not knowing where her son was for the past 5 years, she moved to LA to become an actress and you know most actors and actresses don't have much stability. So flying to Texas wasn't feasable at the time. But I will tell you that this is the most financially stable she has been in a very long time. She is just starting to get things back to normal.

And she did borrow money from her Grandmother to track her son down and retain a lawyer when all this first happened. All with little or no success. In total around $5,000 from Grandmother.

All, I appreciate the help, but can we please keep to the legal aspects, not personal ones. I shouldn't have had to explain that.

Thanks

 

[Timothyjack]

This needs to happen NOW. She already has a default judgement against her, god knows how old it is. Time is of the essence.

I will agree with that statement. Thats one reason I am pushing so hard right now to be informed of the situation and what can be done so that we can get some sort of resolution. I agree that she did sit just a little too long on this, but hindsight is 20/20. Now all we can do is move forward with the past bad decisions behind us.

 

[Isis1]

i don't mean to be rude here, and granted the OP isn't the actual legal parent, but wouldn't her main concern NOT be the child support but in fact the knowledge of where her son was first and foremost?? the first thing i would want to know is what address my son is at and how can i obtain it through the court files.