Child Support

[Sum1Uno]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

I had paid my wife child support for the first year of "our" child's life. Until after my wife fled the state with the baby. The courts down here did not know where she was living. Now after 4 years, she had finally came back to VA. After her return she took me to court for child support. And I requested by the courts to have a DNA test. After the test results came back showing that I AM NOT the father. I wanted to know if there would be a case if I took her to small claims court and tried to sue her for the child support that I paid to her for a child that is not even mine.

I just don't want to try to fight for something that I am going to get turned down for any ways. Have you heard of anybody fighting for back child support that they have paid somebody and winning?

 

[racer72]

Forget about it. At the time it was your legal obligation, you can't go back into the past and change the future.

 

[fairisfair]

Forget about it. At the time it was your legal obligation, you can't go back into the past and change the future.

Actually, if he just now went to court and had a paternity test, chances are that it was not his legal obligation as there most likely was not a court order.


Poster, you chose to pay without a court order, that is a risk that you accepted.

 

[racer72]

Actually, if he just now went to court and had a paternity test, chances are that it was not his legal obligation as there most likely was not a court order.

Court orders are not required for a non custodial parent to be legally obligated to support a child. This was a question brought up by Neil Chayet during one of his radio pieces a few months ago. If you have never heard of Mr. Chayet, he has a daily radio feature called "Looking at the Law". He presents a legal situation then after a commercial, provides the answer using actual legal decisions. In the case presented on the radio, some guy volutarily paid child support for over 5 years before the child's mother told him he was not the paternal father. He sued for the support paid and won the case, it was appealed and a state appelate court basically what I stated in my first post.

In another line of thought, could the OP go after the paternal father for the support paid? Someone out there is getting off scott free, maybe that person could be held liable for the support paid.

 

[fairisfair]

Court orders are not required for a non custodial parent to be legally obligated to support a child. This was a question brought up by Neil Chayet during one of his radio pieces a few months ago. If you have never heard of Mr. Chayet, he has a daily radio feature called "Looking at the Law". He presents a legal situation then after a commercial, provides the answer using actual legal decisions. In the case presented on the radio, some guy volutarily paid child support for over 5 years before the child's mother told him he was not the paternal father. He sued for the support paid and won the case, it was appealed and a state appelate court basically what I stated in my first post.

In another line of thought, could the OP go after the paternal father for the support paid? Someone out there is getting off scott free, maybe that person could be held liable for the support paid.

Really??? So you are saying that this person, not the biological parent of this child, had the legal responsibility to pay child support for a child who was not his?? Sorry, not buying that one, what would be the difference between that non parent, and you, or I, for that matter??

I agree that he (the non parent in the case) may well have won the lawsuit for reimbursement of the support paid. However, that was not the point made.

Sans a court order, there is no LEGAL obligation to pay support.

Based on fraud, the poster might indeed prevail in a lawsuit. However; not based on the idea that he was somehow "legally" required to pay child support.

 

[racer72]

Really??? So you are saying that this person, not the biological parent of this child, had the legal responsibility to pay child support for a child who was not his?? Sorry, not buying that one, what would be the difference between that non parent, and you, or I, for that matter??

You did read the part about him being the child's "father" did you not? For all intents and purpose, he was the child's legal father at the time the support was paid. That does make a big difference between him and us.

Sans a court order, there is no LEGAL obligation to pay support.

Then please provide a current statute that supports this. As the "father" of the child, it is his legal, morale, and fatherly duty to support his child. No court order required. It is this same reasoning that allows courts to demand non custodial parents to pay child support for the time when there was no court order in place. If it was determined he was the bioligical father, he would have been legally obligated to provide support for the period in which he did not pay.

Also, the OP has never stated that there was not a support order in place. That's making 99% of your argument irrelevent anyway.

 

[fairisfair]

You did read the part about him being the child's "father" did you not? For all intents and purpose, he was the child's legal father at the time the support was paid. That does make a big difference between him and us.


Then please provide a current statute that supports this. As the "father" of the child, it is his legal, morale, and fatherly duty to support his child. No court order required. C
Also, the OP has never stated that there was not a support order in place. That's making 99% of your argument irrelevent anyway.

perhaps you might consider the phrase "after she returned she took me to court for child support" does this somehow indicate to you that there was an order in place???

and, while a parent may have the legal and moral obligation to support their child, without a court order, they do not have to pay child support.

this portion of your arguement makes no sense whatsoever, as this is NOT his biological child, nor therefore is he the noncustodial parent.

"It is this same reasoning that allows courts to demand non custodial parents to pay child support for the time when there was no court order in place. If it was determined he was the bioligical father, he would have been legally obligated to provide support for the period in which he did not pay. "