Too late to seek a judgement for past due support after an adoption?

[confusedwhattod]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma


My daughter was adopted by my current husband this month. I had child support ordered in my divorce decree from her father but he never paid me for almost two years. However, I never filed contempt against him for the support so I do not have any judgment against him for a past due amount of support. Even though my daughter has been adopted and I can no longer seek to enforce support from my ex since he is no longer the legal father, can I now go back and file contempt in court to seek support for the money that I did miss when he was still the legal father?

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma


My daughter was adopted by my current husband this month. I had child support ordered in my divorce decree from her father but he never paid me for almost two years. However, I never filed contempt against him for the support so I do not have any judgment against him for a past due amount of support. Even though my daughter has been adopted and I can no longer seek to enforce support from my ex since he is no longer the legal father, can I now go back and file contempt in court to seek support for the money that I did miss when he was still the legal father?

Legal response: You can try. I doubt you will succeed.

Non-legal response: Good grief woman.

 

[I'mTheFather]

Did DHS handle the child support?

 

[CSO286]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma


My daughter was adopted by my current husband this month. I had child support ordered in my divorce decree from her father but he never paid me for almost two years. However, I never filed contempt against him for the support so I do not have any judgment against him for a past due amount of support. Even though my daughter has been adopted and I can no longer seek to enforce support from my ex since he is no longer the legal father, can I now go back and file contempt in court to seek support for the money that I did miss when he was still the legal father?

You can attempt to enforce the support that was owed during the period the order was in effect.

However, as a former CS enforcement worker, CSED will most likely not take any contempt or other legal action to enforce those arrears since the child is now adopted.

 

[confusedwhattod]

Did DHS handle the child support?

After not receiving anything for the first two years, I then had DHS enforce the order. However, they told me they could only collect money from the time that I signed up for their services and they could not certify the past due amount that I had calculated on my own. I was told I would have to get a private attorney to do so but never did b/c I could not afford it at the time. Even though years have now passed and my current husband adopted my child, what are my chances in succeeding in court to now seek to recover the past due support that I feel is owed? DHS had terminated my order once the adoption was finalized so I understand I cannot get any help there. Would it be worth the money to hire an attorney to help me now? While I did have my divorce decree all this time with a support order contained in it, I never had an actual judgment for the amount of past due support for the first two years since I never filed contempt and DHS could not certify the amount that I had calculated. Could I still get a judge to make a judgment now, despite the adoption? Or am I wasting my time?

 

[Proserpina]

After not receiving anything for the first two years, I then had DHS enforce the order. However, they told me they could only collect money from the time that I signed up for their services and they could not certify the past due amount that I had calculated on my own. I was told I would have to get a private attorney to do so but never did b/c I could not afford it at the time. Even though years have now passed and my current husband adopted my child, what are my chances in succeeding in court to now seek to recover the past due support that I feel is owed? DHS had terminated my order once the adoption was finalized so I understand I cannot get any help there. Would it be worth the money to hire an attorney to help me now? While I did have my divorce decree all this time with a support order contained in it, I never had an actual judgment for the amount of past due support for the first two years since I never filed contempt and DHS could not certify the amount that I had calculated. Could I still get a judge to make a judgment now, despite the adoption? Or am I wasting my time?

I can't see you getting far with this at all. Without a judgment, you can't enforce it...and if you can't enforce it, you've just wasted your own time and money.

But knock yourself out.

 

[confusedwhattod]

I can't see you getting far with this at all. Without a judgment, you can't enforce it...and if you can't enforce it, you've just wasted your own time and money.

But knock yourself out.

Even though I did not have a judgment for the arrears because I did not file contempt for it at the time, I still did have a support order in place, I just could not get the state to help collect it nor had the money at the time for an attorney to help me. Is it at all possible that, despite the finalized adoption and passed years, that I can get a judge to make an arrears judgment for the amount that I had calculated that is owed, or has the adoption now barred me from seeking an arrears judgment?

 

[I'mTheFather]

Even though I did not have a judgment for the arrears because I did not file contempt for it at the time, I still did have a support order in place, I just could not get the state to help collect it nor had the money at the time for an attorney to help me. Is it at all possible that, despite the finalized adoption and passed years, that I can get a judge to make an arrears judgment for the amount that I had calculated that is owed, or has the adoption now barred me from seeking an arrears judgment?

Are you sure you don't have a son who was adopted about 6 months ago?

At any rate, when you applied for services with DHS, you signed a statement that no arrearages were owed.

If you had told DHS that your ex hadn't paid for the previous 2 (or is it really 1?) years, it would have been simple enough to prove that to be true at that time. DHS would have helped with that. Ten years later? Sorry...

 

[Zigner]

Wait a second, folks...why is everyone so negative about this woman collecting what is rightfully due? There doesn't need to be a contempt finding in order to state that the man owes. There is already a court order in effect for the man to pay. A contempt finding simply goes further in the collection efforts.

 

[Ohiogal]

Wait a second, folks...why is everyone so negative about this woman collecting what is rightfully due? There doesn't need to be a contempt finding in order to state that the man owes. There is already a court order in effect for the man to pay. A contempt finding simply goes further in the collection efforts.

I agree. She can file for contempt on the prior court order for past due amounts. Whether she will collect is a different story since the state will not be involved. But she can definitely attempt to get what is due her.

 

[I'mTheFather]

I checked this out yesterday when a poster on the other side of the coin posted. (They may be unrelated threads, but are very similar.)

OK DHS advises on their website and on their forms that they will work to recover arrearages owed when someone signs up for services. They do not require a contempt order to do so. On the form requesting services, the applicant signs a "sworn" (per DHS) statement that no arrearages are owed.

Sure, she can still file, but I doubt she'll be successful in convincing a judge that DHS refused to help recover arrears.

 

[single317dad]

This site's SEO (search engine optimization) is incredible. For many Google searches, the top result is an FA thread (and the top several in some cases). Threads are crawled very quickly after they're posted. I'm not the least bit surprised to see similar threads, days or even hours apart.

 

[Proserpina]

Wait a second, folks...why is everyone so negative about this woman collecting what is rightfully due? There doesn't need to be a contempt finding in order to state that the man owes. There is already a court order in effect for the man to pay. A contempt finding simply goes further in the collection efforts.

There is a court order, that's true. But nothing was done until after the adoption was signed, sealed and delivered.

That's how it came across to me.

YMMV.

 

[Zigner]

There is a court order, that's true. But nothing was done until after the adoption was signed, sealed and delivered.

That's how it came across to me.

YMMV.

Well...except for the court order. Arrearages accrued based on that order.

 

[Ladyback1]

Wait a second, folks...why is everyone so negative about this woman collecting what is rightfully due? There doesn't need to be a contempt finding in order to state that the man owes. There is already a court order in effect for the man to pay. A contempt finding simply goes further in the collection efforts.

In principle, I agree that the court order should have been enforced--it wasn't.
And while it would GREAT if the arrears could be collected this late in the game, it probably won't be.

One needs to ask themselves: Is this worth all the trouble, work, and whatnot? Is this a hill to die on?

Furthermore: is their a statute of limitations for filing for contempt for not payment of support as ordered?
(I know in my state, you can only go back 3 years) So that may be something the OP investigates in order to make a decision.

*shrug* I'd say let it go. Since the kiddo has been adopted, and there are no ties to bind the kiddo or mom to dad, what's done is done.