You can get a court order establishing child support in one of two ways. One: You can file a petition with the juvenile court for custody, visitation, and/or child support, go to court, and ask the court to establish child support (as well as, potentially, custody and visitation). This can be either an initial...
Nonpayment of Child Support
It didn’t work out with your child’s father but you’ve found love – and stability – and you’re hoping this means that things will change for your child(ren), too. You wonder, “Can my new partner adopt my child? What would that look like?” Assuming, of course, that your new partner is on board with this...
It’s okay. You can be honest. I know there are a million things you can think of that you would rather do than hire – and pay for – a family law attorney. You are likely desperate to discover that you do not, in fact, need one at all and that, on balance, handling your...
Men delay the inevitable – divorce – for a million different reasons, but one of the most classic reasons is the most obvious one. As long as he’s delaying, he’s not paying. It’s kind of kin to the old adage “it’s cheaper to keep her,” which I admit – I loathe. He’s not paying in...
I’ve heard so many different versions of the same story – a deadbeat dad, an abusive dad, a homeless dad, a narcissistic dad, an addicted dad – and desperate, terrified moms wanting to know what their options are. For one reason or another, many have asked me whether they’d get sole custody, whether they could...
As soon as your child’s father realizes the connection between parenting time and child support – basically, the more time he takes, the less he’ll pay – he’ll probably start asking for more time, whether he actually wants more time or not. So, the immediate, and natural, reaction most moms have is, “Well, what if...
Because of the tie to child support, it’s pretty common that dads will ask for more parenting time than they intend to exercise. Sometimes, they just won’t show up at all. In other cases, though, they’ll take their parenting time, only to ask someone else (usually, their mother or a new girlfriend) to watch the...
For most moms going through a divorce or separation, their kids are their first, last, and pretty much only concern. Especially in the early days, they wonder how to talk to their kids about their divorce or separation (particularly when they don’t know and don’t have all of the answers themselves), how to help them...