Establishing child support, visitation, custody etc question

Erin - posted on 03/10/2009

I have also gone the florida route but from a little differnt aspect in my case was a state to state. We are in RI and he was in FL. I have to say everything was done by the FL court and it went pretty smooth. They do have a website, I dont know it off hand but i would google it and then you will get all the info you need. My daughters father had to pay for everything down to the DNA test. I would contact child support enforcement as soon as possible because it does take a while and be patient...make sure you get your workers name and phone number so if you dont hear anything in a certain amount of time ( they will tell you how long it will take) then you can contact them. Good Luck and your baby is beautiful...

Deanna - posted on 03/10/2009

Done the Florida route... It's a hard road but it can be done. You don't have to spend a dime if you go through your local Child Support Enforcement (CSE). I did it that way and the sperm donor is the one who ended up paying through the nose for everything from being served papers to DNA testing to child support. I never laid out a dime.



Let me tell you how I did it. Went to CSE and did all the paper work ( I wasn't married to sperm donor either). Waited till they tracked him down and he was served papers stating that he was being asked to do DNA testing.... Went to court (he never came to court so that went in my favor as well) so I could make him do a DNA test (course he said he wasn't the "father".) He finally gave in after being served 3 times and did DNA...DNA came back that he was indeed the "father". Then we waited for the second court date to establish child support. Went to court the second time and got child support plus back support as well. Also got a lien on ANY income tax returns he gets until his back child support is caught up on. We get a certain dollar amount per month until the back support is caught up after that then it drops a little bit. He has never seen his daughter so therefore I didn't have to worry about visitation rights.



I don't think you have to modify the orginial child support order (although I know you can modify the child support order for certain reasons) everytime he changes jobs. The court will determine a set amount of money and your ex will have to pay it or take the risk of the penalities that Florida can impose on him.



You've just got to be a little bit patient if you go the state route. Hope that helps you. You have anymore questions please feel free to ask cause I've been there.. Done that.

Sterling - posted on 03/10/2009

have you googled any of this info from your state? Also calling a lawyer or at least finding a lawyer through the state that can help low income people. Also I would get into the single parents on yahoogroups because there is lots of people on that and you would get lots of info/advice. good luck!