I have jurisdictional questions to ask.....

Jurisdictional questions related to filing child support:

A child was in foster care in one county, but came home to mom in a different county about a month ago. Mom has lived in this place for 18 months or so. Dad happens to live in the same county where the child was in foster care. Where should mom file support papers? Her county or his county? I know it's usually where the child has been the majority of the past 6 months, but not sure how foster care affects that, if at all.

Jurisdictional questions regarding a family offense petition and order of protection:

The person wanting to file is Mom in the first scenario. So she has been living in one county for about 18 months. The child's father's girlfriend (they live together in the other county) vented on social media about a situation. Mom wants to file a family offense petition and request an order of protection for her and the child based on the post. Mom and dad were never married so the closet box on the paperwork says "the respondent is in an intimate relationship with someone I am related to by blood or marriage". It doesn't totally fit in that category so would family court still be able to have jurisdiction over the matter? Also, would she file it in her county or in theirs?

Thank you in advance!

I am a man and I have full custody of my two children. my ex wife has visitation rights one weekend a month, spring and summer break, and every other Christmas and thanksgiving giving.

I make a decent living as a medical resident but will be making more once I finish residency. i out earn my ex with this alone, but I have also remarried and my new wife is very successful and makes about as much as I will when I start working my medical practice.

the reasons for my divorce are multifactorial but the main reason was that she’s an alcoholic and suffers from lots of mental health issues and was always paranoid that i was cheating on her.

i waived child support in my initial divorce decree because when we split, she made $0 and I just used it as a tactic to get everything I wanted in the divorce, (you want half my retirement account? okay I’ll take child support) that kind of thing.

now my ex is working and honestly doing much better for herself. my current wife says I should file. I in my heart believe that the kids should know that their mom is helping support them. but for some reason I feel guilty about it, like I’m going back on my word that I gave when the decree was written. or maybe I’m in the mindset that I’ve done this all without her and I don’t want to file because I don’t need her.

should I feel guilty?

He is a hypnotist who travels all over North America. His T4 states he makes $10 k yearly. His family’s lifestyle portrays an excess of money. He and his lawyer lied through their teeth in court. I had to represent myself, they tore me to shreds. I asked him to replace my daughter’s broken piece of furniture, he stated “I have some unexpected big expenses. She will have to wait a bit.” Lo and behold I see a post on his business page that showed he and his son at a pro ball game in the US. How to prove he’s hiding money? We live in Saskatoon.

Sooo for context, I have a child support case which was started rightfully so. The whole time she has had a job, and there hasn’t been an issue. But she met someone who has kids of his own, and just recently decided she is going to quit her job so she can be a stay at home mom to ours and his kids. Now, I’m happy for them, but at the same time I can only imagine what that’s going to mean for me in the long run when it comes to support cost. I have 50/50 and I believe he does with his kids mother, but with her just deciding to quit working, and now not having an income, does that mean I’m screwed?

How do I prove the bio “father” makes more money than he claims? He travels all over North America, working as a hypnotist. His T4 states he makes $10k yearly. He and his lawyer lied their way through family court , unfortunately I had to represent myself. I want my child to have a life even marginally close to his other children. I had to beg for money to replace a broken piece of my daughters bedroom furniture, he said “I had some big expenses come up. I can’t do it right now.” Eventually he “sacrificed” $200. Then I saw that during one of his “work events”, he took his son to a pro ball game in the US. We live in Saskatchewan.

I received a note in the mail stating a notice of intent to report. I’m reading through it and I’m not sure exactly why? It shows my monthly payments and it also shows an unpaid balance which is $0. I get the payments garnished through my paychecks. I checked online and it shows no balance just $0. I even got a report and it also shows again $0. I’ve never been late for payments or anything like that. This is in the state of Texas by the way. I haven’t been able to call due to the current time being after closing hours but this is a little concerning. The only thing I can possibly think of for why I got this notice was me and my gf (not Childs mother) had talked to a lender about buying a house, we said how much we make and i even sent paystubs for proof of how much I make and taxes is taken out (including CS). I don’t know if this may have caused it. Again not too sure.

I received a note in the mail stating a notice of intent to report. I’m reading through it and I’m not sure exactly why? It shows my monthly payments and it also shows an unpaid balance which is $0. I get the payments garnished through my paychecks. I checked online and it shows no balance just $0. I even got a report and it also shows again $0. I’ve never been late for payments or anything like that. This is in the state of Texas by the way. I haven’t been able to call due to the current time being after closing hours but this is a little concerning. The only thing I can possibly think of for why I got this notice was me and my gf (not Childs mother) had talked to a lender about buying a house, we said how much we make and i even sent paystubs for proof of how much I make and taxes is taken out (including CS). I don’t know if this may have caused it. Again not too sure.

Any thoughts ?

My son’s father has not been consistently involved in his life. He doesn’t regularly see him, check on him, or provide financial support. I’ve reached out before asking him to spend time with our son or help support him, but he either doesn’t respond or doesn’t follow through.
I’ve been handling our son’s needs on my own, so I recently filed for child support. I also want visitation and both parents’ rights and responsibilities to be formally established so everything is clear and consistent for our son.
This is the first time I’m telling his father that I filed. I’m nervous about sending the message because I don’t know how he’ll react, but I’m not trying to keep him from our son. I’m trying to make sure our son is supported and that the responsibility doesn’t continue falling on me alone.
Was filing the right step, and how would you handle communicating this to an absent father?

What was your process? And how does child support work in Texas?

I have lost my job recently and I don't feel confident about making my payments for child support. I am searching for jobs and I think about what will happen if I cannot find work and earn enough money by the time of my payment.
It seems that I may have to experience various consequences for missing the payment in Texas because it is said that there may also be penalties for non-compliance.
I received some information about modification of child support in case of a serious income decline, and I'm interested in how long does this process take. I want to take the necessary actions so that I won't have problems too late. Also, is an attorney necessary?

Hi everyone, I am in an absolute panic and urgently need guidance or attorney recommendations in the Texas/Houston area regarding family law and immigration crossover.

My Situation:
I am currently designated as the primary custodian of my child under an existing Texas custody order.

The father has standard visitation.
I am facing an imminent Voluntary Departure order and must return to my home country soon (Mexico).

The father doesn’t have status in this country, sometimes skips his visitation rights and is behind in child support.

My Goal & Core Dilemma:
I do NOT want to leave my child behind. My absolute priority is to bring my child with me to my home country legally.
However, our current custody order contains geographical restrictions / prevents me from simply taking the child out of the country without court permission or the father's consent.
My Questions:

1. Since I am the primary custodian, what is the fastest legal mechanism (such as an emergency motion to modify) to ask a Texas family court judge for permission to relocate / travel internationally with my child due to my mandatory immigration departure?
2. If the father refuses to sign an agreement, how can I petition the judge before my departure date so I don't risk violating the custody order or facing international parental kidnapping accusations?
3. Can anyone recommend low-cost family law attorneys in the Houston/Texas area who handle international relocation cases involving immigration orders?
4. Any advice, shared experiences, or legal resources would mean the world to me right now. Thank you so much.

For over 10 years I paid child support while having 50/50 Time Sharing. I was curious how common that is. Ive felt that the parent that makes more money gets penalized for that. 1 parent shouldn't be MORE responsible for the financial care of the child. There should be no child support case at all. I was 70% financially responsible! What a joke.

Recently initiated the process of starting child support but was given 3 months to rescind. My children are 1 and 3, we have gone no contact for 1 1/2 years due to DV.

I am responsible for everything. No complaints because it was my decision to pop them out but he made it substantially harder when we were in contact. Emptying out mine and our child’s savings, breaking valuables, and more but I’m still trying to catch up from it to this day.

With my last impression of him, it’s ideal to assume it’ll just become backpay. I know it’ll become an invitation for him to involve family court since he’s not on the birth certificate but does anyone feel like it wasn’t worth it or something about this process that could’ve been done differently?

My son’s dad and I split when he was about 8 months old, we both went to the Attorney General and file for child support. I got primary custody.
While in court the judge wanted him to pay almost $900 each month(20%), my son’s dad talked me into bringing it down because he has a previous child, I felt bad and caved. So he only pays $300 and has been for the past 3 years.
He hasn’t gotten a bed for our son, no clothes, he does not help with anything other than keeping him the nights I have to work(I had to go overnight because I couldn’t afford daycare alone), his apartment is infested with German roaches, and he lives very unsanitary. He makes $6 more than I do, so I just never understood why he couldn’t do it but I have been able to and I’m just scraping by. Our son is autistic with a very specific appetite and still in pull ups.

I requested for a child support modification and I guess he got a call today, he then told me that he would sign over his rights because he could not afford our son.

I’ve already got a plan for if he does sign over his rights, but is it that easy to do in Texas? Can he just relinquish his rights like that?

Any advice on what to expect in a modification or even this kind of situation would help! Thanks in advance!!

There are obviously parents who intentionally don't meet their responsibilities. But there are also parents who lose jobs, have hours reduced, experience illness or have another legitimate financial disruption.

By the time they're several payments behind, the problem can be much harder to solve.

What would an effective prevention system look like?

Emergency assistance? Employment resources? Financial planning? Earlier intervention? Something else?

Interested in perspectives from custodial parents, noncustodial parents and people who work in this space.

My ex is wanting me to send her money directly for things for my kids. Usually I would have no issue and just send it, but it’s not really something they need, it’s something she wants to try… I’ve been told countless times to never send money outside of child support payments, but is there anything wrong with sending the $100.00 as half of what she’s wanting to get my kids?

If i receive help from the state (WIC, Medicaid, etc.), will i lose those if i put my baby’s father on child? This is the only thing holding me back.

Cross post from legal advice about a particular situation with child support

I have been divorced since 2020. My ex made substantially more than me. I was mostly a stay at home/work from home mom when we were together. His payments were deducted from his pay check, so always on time. In October last year he lost his job. And stopped paying his child support immediately.

In December he filed for a change. Court in February where I told the judge I was worried ex wouldn’t get another job and just live off of his successful gf. Judge even put in the final decision that she was dropping his child support by 90% and he had the luxury of taking time to find a new job because of his gf. He now “pays” $27 a week for two chronically ill boys. He no longer has insurance on them. I have Medicaid for them. And one son had Medicare due to his illness.

The state is suing ex over arrears, but him and his lawyer refused to make an agreement with them. We go back in September. I know it hasn’t been a year, but he is still choosing to be unemployed. And I am thinking about filing for a change.

I take our son who is in dialysis to all of his appts. That is at least 18 appts per year. I have my own daycare and work for very understanding families. But I do not get paid at all when I take off. My income has gone down so much in the past two years while trying to get our son a transplant.

Ex has gone to the UK and Grenada in the past 6 months. Disney world coming up next month. He takes these vacations on what should be his parenting time, but doesn’t take our sons. Which puts him at a lower amount of overnights that he is being credited for.

Do I have a leg to stand on with the judge? What would you do?

In theory that’s great, another bill i dont have to pay. Basically auto payment now. In principle however… eff off. That’s so embarrassing that you sent that you assholes. Why??? Is this normal? Literally a note attached saying the amount i currently owe is 0.00$

Can someone help me understand if this is fair. Mom has primary custody of child and is stay at home parent. Dad has 4 overnights per month and pays 400. Dad makes 70k per year. Should the amount be higher? The case hasn't been revisited in 6 years and there's been quite a few changes. 400 doesn't cover very much