Physical custody change, change support?

[GrandmaOH]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

I currently have court ordered physical custody of my grandson. My son and his ex-wife share legal custody. My son had full physical custody until Feb of 2005 and his ex-wife was ordered to pay support of $100/month.

When physical custody was transferred to me we did nothing about a support order. My son sends support without going through the court. He left the existing support order on his ex-wife because it would have cost more to contact the courts than he ever collected from her.

Now, after 20 months of the child residing with me the mother has filed to terminate the support order because the child does not reside with my son. I guess legally she can do that but we think she should help support her son.

My questions:

Do I need to file a separate support order or can my son get the current order changed to my name as the guardian?

If the current order is terminated will the mother still owe the arrearages to my son?

What's involved with filing for support? Do I call the Child support agency in my county in Ohio, or the adjacent county in Ohio in which the mother lives? Currently that is where the support order is(my son is out of state, sometimes out of country).

Does the child support agency determine the child support amount, or does it go through the court system?

 

[JETX]

Do I need to file a separate support order or can my son get the current order changed to my name as the guardian?

You might very well have far more serious problems than support. Simply, YOU have no legal right to custody at all.... and the mother can request that custody be ordered to her. Children are not PROPERTY that can be handed off to someone else when it is no longer convenient. I would think it fairly likely, absent some reason otherwise, that the court will order custody to the mother since the father clearly doesn't want the child any more.

If the current order is terminated will the mother still owe the arrearages to my son?

Yes. It won't affect any VALID arrearages... however, the court will likely waive them since your son hasn't had physical custody during that time.

[qutoe]What's involved with filing for support? Do I call the Child support agency in my county in Ohio, or the adjacent county in Ohio in which the mother lives? Currently that is where the support order is(my son is out of state, sometimes out of country). [/quote]
As noted above, that is likely the LEAST of your concerns at this point.

Does the child support agency determine the child support amount, or does it go through the court system?

The court.

 

[GrandmaOH]

You might very well have far more serious problems than support. Simply, YOU have no legal right to custody at all.... and the mother can request that custody be ordered to her. Children are not PROPERTY that can be handed off to someone else when it is no longer convenient. I would think it fairly likely, absent some reason otherwise, that the court will order custody to the mother since the father clearly doesn't want the child any more.


Yes. It won't affect any VALID arrearages... however, the court will likely waive them since your son hasn't had physical custody during that time.

[qutoe]What's involved with filing for support? Do I call the Child support agency in my county in Ohio, or the adjacent county in Ohio in which the mother lives? Currently that is where the support order is(my son is out of state, sometimes out of country).

As noted above, that is likely the LEAST of your concerns at this point.


The court.[/QUOTE]

My very first statement was, "I currently have court ordered physical custody of my grandson. ", so yes, I do have a legal right to physical custody and it is not a concern at this time.

As for your snap judgement about my son not wanting his son any more, you are clearly wrong and offensive. My son is active duty Air Force and has been since before he was married and our grandson was conceived. His job makes it impossible to care for him at this time and it's not like a civilian job where he can just quit.

It's unlikely the mother would ever get custody. She's expressed little interest in him. She signed over rights to 2 other children to her father, those children are not my son's.

Unless someone gives advice to the contrary I'll wait for my son to contact the support agency and get more information from them.

 

[Ohiogal]

You will have to get custody support order against both parents as they are both absent. One parent alone is not responsible for supporting their child but both are. If mom had her rights terminated (which is highly unlikely) then she has no legal obligation to support the child. Take your order to the county support agency and file for child support on the absent parents (BOTH OF THEM INCLUDING YOUR SON).

 

[GrandmaOH]

You will have to get custody support order against both parents as they are both absent. One parent alone is not responsible for supporting their child but both are. If mom had her rights terminated (which is highly unlikely) then she has no legal obligation to support the child. Take your order to the county support agency and file for child support on the absent parents (BOTH OF THEM INCLUDING YOUR SON).

Thanks, our son, I and my husband agree that both parents are responsible for supporting their child. Our son willingly provides monetary support, all clothing, all medical. Our son gets home often enough to purchase all his clothing and assorted things, we feel that helps keep a connection when our son isn't here. When he can't get home he ships stuff. We feel a support order makes it lose that personal touch of taking care of your child. Yes, I know, lots of 'feelings' addressed in that paragraph.

If required, we'll get our sons support filed officially when we file from our grandsons mother. Does the amount of his support affect the amount the mother would pay?

Is there anything that would restrict us from depositing any support from his mother into a bank account that would be accessible by our grandson when his is 18?

 

[TheShortEnd]

Is there anything that would restrict us from depositing any support from his mother into a bank account that would be accessible by our grandson when his is 18?

No, there is nothing that would restrict you from starting a savings account for your grandson with the money his mother pays in support.

 

[Ohiogal]

Thanks, our son, I and my husband agree that both parents are responsible for supporting their child. Our son willingly provides monetary support, all clothing, all medical. Our son gets home often enough to purchase all his clothing and assorted things, we feel that helps keep a connection when our son isn't here. When he can't get home he ships stuff. We feel a support order makes it lose that personal touch of taking care of your child. Yes, I know, lots of 'feelings' addressed in that paragraph.

If required, we'll get our sons support filed officially when we file from our grandsons mother. Does the amount of his support affect the amount the mother would pay?

Is there anything that would restrict us from depositing any support from his mother into a bank account that would be accessible by our grandson when his is 18?

Ohio determines support by taking into consideration BOTH parents's income. There is a long worksheet used. The simple gist of it is the parents are both responsible together for 100% of the child's support. If dad and mom each earn 50% of the income then each pay 50% of the support.

And nothing stops you from sticking the support check into an account for your grandson. You can't just decide you are going to let your son off the hook because of his "gifts" to the child and have mom be the only parent required to pay support.