HOW DO I COLLECT BACK SUPPORT FOR MY SUPPORT?

QUESTION: I'm about to turn 18 and my child support is about to stop. My mom has had a case open for my biological dad since I was born but, they barley found him in 2010 to order the payments. How do I get all the back pay he owes me since I was born? ___________ MY RESPONSE: You don't. Support payments go to the other supporting parent, i.e., your mother, for the cost to support you during your minority. Also, unless there was a support order issued by a court many years ago, there will not be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for your mother to collect. The Court won't order child support ordered retroactive to a date before the child support order was sought, which you indicated was in 2010.

WHAT DO I DO IF MY HUSBAND HIDES FROM THE SHERIFF'S SERVICE ATTEMPTS?

QUESTION: I filed for divorce on May 1, 2012 and I gave the documents to the sheriff to serve my husband but every time they try, my husband hides and the sheriff cannot serve him. What should I do? My husband thinks that if he keeps hiding, the petition will be dismissed. I do not want my petition to be dismissed, so, what else can I do? I have 4 minor daughters and there is no chance that we can fix our marriage.

MY RESPONSE: Hire a private process server to serve your husband.

IS MY FIANCE' DIVORCED?

QUESTION: My Fiance' filed for a divorce from his wife while he was in jail. He mailed the papers to me and I mailed them to the sheriff's office in her county so they could serve her with them. If she wasn't home and didn't sign- is their marriage still legal? Or did the divorce go through because she did not contesr it?

MY RESPONSE: They aren't divorced, if those are all the facts. Merely filing and serving divorce papers doesn't automatically result in a divorce. There are other documents which need to be exchanged, and still other documents which need to be filed, before the Court will issue a Judgment dissolving the parties' marriage. It sounds like his wife wasn't even served with the divorce case, although the party who is served does not need to sign anything to be served. Your fiance' would best retain an experienced Family Law Attorney to represent him in proceedings to divorce his wife.

HOW CAN I GET CHILD SUPPORT FROM SOMEONE WHO HIDES HIS INCOME?

QUESTION: I want my child to receive financial support, however I am hesitant to go about doing so because the father is self-employed and has no proof of income. He does not keep money in the bank for his personal reasons. Would this even be worth bringing to the court? Can he not easily lie about assets and income, anyway?

MY RESPONSE: Contact your local public Child Support Agency (in Los Angeles, that would be the Child Support Services Dept.) and request that they obtain Child Support from the father. That way, you don't incur attorney's fees that you would incur if you hired a private Family Law Attorney to file and prosecute a Paternity case to seek Child Support from the father.

CAN I SUE MY EX HUSBAND FOR BACK SUPPORT?

QUESTION: Back in 1993 I had a court order for my ex husband to pay child support until my son turned 18. I only received a handfull of payments over the years. Although my son is 20 now, is it possible to take him back to court and sue him for the back support I never received ?

MY RESPONSE: Most likely. There used to be a statute of limitations for collection of Child Support Arrearages. That statute of limitations was subsequently eliminated by the legislature. However, it is unlikely that the elimination is retroactively applicable. For all amounts which were due after the effective date of the legislature's elimination of the statute of limitations on Child Support Arrearages which your ex-husband failed to pay, he owes you those amounts plus 10% per annum interest until those amounts are fully paid.

CAN A PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT WORK IN MY FAVOR?

QUESTION: If I want the marriage to work but she doesn't and just wants to take 50% of everything or more including alimony, will a prenuptial agreement work in my favor and up to what percentage? If before she married me she signed that if she divorced me she would not take anything, not even alimony, will that work?

MY RESPONSE: If you had a well-drafted Prenuptial Agreement, prepared, reviewed and signed in accordance with Californa's Prenuptial Agreement statutes, where both parties reviewed it with his and her respective attorney at least a month, if not more, prior to the wedding, it may be upheld by the Divorce Court. But if it was an informal document prepared shortly before the wedding without the benefit of consultation with independent counsel and without the required Disclosures and appropriate waivers, it is unlikely that the Court would uphold the agreement. The Prenuptial Agreement can provide whatever the parties agree that it will provide, in terms of property ownership, Spousal Support, etc. However, in a divorce, the Court could disallow unconscionable terms in a Prenuptial Agreement or even an entire unconscionable Prenuptial Agreement.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON'T HAVE THE CURRENT ADDRESS TO SERVE SOMEBODY?

QUESTION: I need to serve someone and don't have a current address for them. Do I go to the last known address and serve whoever is there or do I not try to serve the papers at all?

MY RESPONSE: You need to serve the person who is to be served. I assume that you are referring to a spouse to be served in a divorce case. If you can't locate your spouse for purposes of service, you would best retain an experienced Family Law Attorney, who would have the resources available to have a due diligence search performed in an effort to locate your spouse, and if unable to locate your spouse, who would be able to apply for an obtain an Order for Publication of Summons, to enable your spouse to be served by Publication.

DO I HAVE TO TELL MY EX-HUSBAND THAT I HAVE REMARRIED?

QUESTION: I am divorced and remarried and still receiving alimony checks, I'm I legally required to my ex-husband that I am married?

MY RESPONSE: Yes, you are required to tell your ex-husband that you have remarried. The Judgment provides that you receive Spousal Support payments until your death or remarriage. You should refund all Spousal Support payments that your ex-husband paid after you remarried. If you don't notify your ex-husband, and continue to receive and cash his Spousal Support payments, you will be committing fraud and deceit, subjecting you to a potential civil lawsuit and/or criminal prosecution.

HOW CAN I LEGALLY DISOWN MY CHILD?

QUESTION: How can I legally disown my child to make it where I am no longer her mother and my husband makes her no longer her father. Can I hand her to a relative or to adoption? How would i go about either one?

MY RESPONSE: Parents can't just "disown" their children. If your daughter is a problem child, she probably would not be a good candidate for an adoption, but you and your husband can contact adoption agencies to investigate the possibility. If your daughter is 12 years old or older, her consent would be required for her to be adopted. You can't legally give her away to a relative, although a relative could seek to become her legal guardian through the Court.

HOW SOON CAN I SEEK SOLE CUSTODY OF MY UNBORN CHILD?

QUESTION: I'm currently 7 months pregnant & my babys father has just been in & out of our lives. He currently found a new gf & is now completely not interested in our childs life. He will not cooperate with me to get things settled custody wise & says he refuses to take a dna test. I just found out he had a kid he signed his rights over. He has two kids already & I'm not sure if to just get him to sign his rights over to me or get sole custody of the child. His interest isnt there for our baby. He has not helped out with any of the things the baby needs like his crib. His only intentions are to try & control me & I know its not for him wanting to be there for our son... If he signs his rights over to me would he still be responsible for child support? Could I get sole custody of my child? Should I just have him sign his rights away & how soon can & should start the process? Thank you for your time!

MY RESPONSE: File a Paternity case without further delay, and have the father served. Under the circumstances that you relate, you likely will receive full custody of your child, and based on the father's income, you may receive a child support order plus orders requiring him to pay some and/or all of the birth-related expenses. You would best retain an experienced Family Law Attorney to represent you, or at least have a face-to-face consultation with an experienced Family Law Attorney. If you can't afford an attorney, you may qualify for an attorney fee order if the father is employed, but you would have to apply for an attorney fee order, in that event. Also, if you can't afford an attorney, you can go to your local Superior Court's self-help clinic for advice and assistance from a volunteer lawyer. You can start the process now, before the child is born. A father can't sign his "rights" to a child away (other than for an adoption), although he can agree that he won't have any child custody or visitation. If the father has no child custody or visitation, his Child Support obligation would be the highest, because Child Support is based on the parties' respective incomes and the percentage of the Father's custodial timeshare.

HOW DO I GET THE BEST LEGAL HELP TO DIVORCE MY WIFE?

QUESTION: I want a divorce from my wife as rapidly as possible. I also want her removed from the only house in this country I have ever felt at home in. My wife has done everything to make me suffer since April 3, 2012, in very concrete ways. She is doing all possible to deny me ANY rights to my son with her. My wife is an ethnic Russian who originally was born in the Ukraine. I can prove she is being coached on how to ruin my life. Right now, my wife has full custody of my child. Currently, I do have a pending child custody/restraining order case with a good attorney, but his specialty is criminal defense. At times, I also find him insensitive to my situation, and I feel my case is not important to him. This pending case will be heard at the beginning of August after an expert will assess both my wife and me for "custodial/psychological" evaluation. On April 3, I was arrested and spent 24 hours in jail because my wife accused me of domestic violence. The night before I was arrested, I sent my wife a text message that stated, "If you mistreat him, I'm calling the cops." I heard my wife yelling at my son, and I heard lots of physical commotion coming from his bedroom where they were located. I assume she was not treating him as a mother should. All criminal charges were recently dismissed (I believe on May 9) . I met my wife when I was teaching in Russia for the United State Information Service (now, this service falls under the Department of State through US Embassies around the world). I brought my wife to this country and married her. She obtained US Citizenship.

MY RESPONSE: The best help for your divorce would be from a Certified Family Law Specialist who knows the Family Law field, not a criminal attorney.

CAN MY EX-WIFE GET A RETROACTIVE CHILD SUPPORT MODIFICATION?

QUESTION: My ex wife waived payment of child support to her during a hearing granting her a move away order from California to Washington. Once she moved to Washington, she asked me to pay her support. I agreed to pay support but was only paying the original court ordered amount when we had 50-50 custody in California. This was mutually agreed upon and a modification of support was not filed. My son is now graduated from high school, 18 years old and lives on his own in Washington(she has moved back to California). She is now saying she will be taking me to court and suing me for back child support based on the actual 75-25 physical custody she had while living in Washington. Can she do this?

MY RESPONSE: It depends on what the Order required. If you were paying what the Order required, she can't come back for more, even though she had a larger percentage of physical custody. Child Support can't be modified retroactively to a date prior to the date she files an Order to Show Cause, Motion, or Request for Order seeking a modification.

HOW CAN I GET SOLE CUSTODY OF MY INFANT?

QUESTION: My ex is very abusive, deals drugs, drinks underage and I am only speaking to him for supervised visitation....I don't believe he'd hurt our son but I can't be sure so I want supervised visitation. He is trying to get my son for four days at a time; my son is only 8 weeks old, and is breastfeeding exclusively. I just wonder if he will be allowed that time?

MY RESPONSE: You would best retain an experienced Family Law Attorney to represent you in the child custody litigation. An attorney would know how to question witnesses and how to get evidence admitted, and your chances of succeeding would be significantly enhanced if you hire a good Family Law Attorney to handle your case.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO FINALIZE A DIVORCE?

QUESTION: I am the respondent to the petition my husband served on me. He has been paying the rent and bills since I am unemployed. There was only one case hearing due to him stopping to pay the rent for a month and there was a court order. So based on that hearing and another one scheduled I want to have an estimate on how long more this divorce might take to be finalized.

MY RESPONSE: Your divorce case doesn't get finalized by itself. You would best retain an experienced Family Law Attorney to represent you, and if you haven't yet filed your Response, to do that and move your case before your husband has your default entered. Otherwise, your husband could just sit on the case and do nothing. If you can't afford an attorney, you should go to your Superior Court's self-help clinic for assistande by a volunteer lawyer