Hello,
I just found out that OW is on wealthfare. I know that there is no child support case open. I know that she only knows my H names and that is it. I know that there are couple of people out here with the same name as my H. His first and last name. If she want on welfare when she was pregnant. I was just anyone had any thoughts on this matter. I do not want my H owing lots of money to the state.<p>Dawn

My thoughts, just off the top of my head: Chances are the state, once they locate your H, WILL take him to court to establish CS and they WILL request back CS from the date they assumed financial responsibility for OC. It may be handled one of two ways. <p>1) H will have to pay CS plus and additional amount every month until the arrears are caught up.
2) H can pay the arrears in full, once an amount is determined, and then only have to pay the monthly CS.<p>Unfortunately, any way you look at it, with the state involved, H will have to pay CS. They want their money and are very aggressive in getting it. They will require OW to cooperate in locating H or they will cut off her benefits.<p>Sorry.<p>OB1

Ob1,
My H's friend told me that when she was pregnant she was recieving food stamps. But I know for a fact that child support services does not have a case opened. The way I understand it that when you file for assistance they ask you who the father is and if you have to give a name otherwise they will not give you assistance. And from there on a case will autmatic opened with child support services. My his friend is mistaking because otherwise she would have a case. Right?<p>Dawn

Not necessarily. Child Support Services is pretty backed up. Depending on how much information the OW gave social services, they may not have &#8220;located&#8221; your H yet. They will have to locate him and serve him with a summons to appear in court. Paternity needs to be established legally before a CS order can be entered. <p>OB1

One other thing, I have worked for DHS and received help from them, and know that just getting food stamps does not require you open a cs case. If she applies for Medicaid she will be required to sign an Absent Parent Statement giving his name and whatever she knows, but they will still not seek out cs from him. Butif she applies for TEA (Transitional Employment Assistance, formerly known as AFDC) then the state will definately find him and get their money back.<p>HTH
Bridgette

Hi Dawn,
My situation is a little different (details
below) but had some info on paternity and
child support that I thought might be helpful
to you.<p>Prior to my husband and I getting together, he
had briefly dated a girl in another state
(where he lived at the time). After they broke
up she discovered that she was pregnant, but
never told him.
In the meantime, he moved to the state where we
now live and he and I began dating.
Two years later we married.
A few months later, the former girlfriend applied for welfare assistance in her state.
Before her state will pay any public assistance
they require that paternity be established and
child support be set up, so she was required
to give the information to the state about
the father of her child. (I dont know what she
had put on the birth certificate as far as the
father).
She didn't have much info, as she and my H
had only briefly dated and had not kept in
touch, so I don't think she even knew he had
moved to another state, but the Social Services
Dept. of her state did track down my H and
had him served with papers , requiring that he
submit a paternity test.
He did the paternity test and it was positive.
My husband had to provide paperwork and give
info as far as his income, employer, etc.
and the social services dept. calculated child
support based on his income and her income.
It was then entered into a court order,
requiring that he pay the support effective
that date, and until further notice or change.
He also is required to carry her on his medical
insurance and to pay a percentage of any medical
expenses not covered by the insurance.<p>We did not have to pay any back support , so
have just paid the required payment monthly
ever since. Since we are in a different state,
it is paid through our state family support
registry, and has been a pretty simple process.<p>My husband initially contacted an attorney, but
was advised that it wasn't really necessary since
paternity and child support are pretty "cut and
dry".
He did not want or ask for custody or visitation,
so that was not an issue. If you will have
either it will be included in the court order
as well.
We have no contact at all with the former GF
or child, other than sending the insurance card
and information.
Hope this helps- I think there is some variance
depending on the state you are in.
(We are in Colorado, but the child lives in
Nebraska).
Anne

Hi,
I guess I am wondering if my H should do anything? Like I said before she does not make that much money. I do not know if she is receiving anything else.<p>Dawn

Hi,
I just read that if she is getting anytime of assistance he is supoose to provide the father's name. I think that maybe my H should file. What do you think?<p>Dawn

I guess that would be up to your husband. You might want to check and see if your state or her state or whichever takes precedent will require payment of arrears from you if they do not get the case going right away. If they do in fact require you to pay, it might be best to seek them out so you won't owe so much. I don' know much about c/s so I can't really help you but that's my thought. <p>Bridgette

Dawn, I have to say that I agree with Slammed's post. This is similar to what happened to my h. However, our situation was also similiar to what Ohbratti posted, we had to pay back cs, from the date the case was first filed with social services by the xow to the date that paternity test results came back and cs was set. This took almost a year and he did owe and had to pay back arrears. You should check out if you can if the cs is retro from date services began in your state, if so and they serve your h then you guys would have arrears. Good luck, Peace, Gabi1116

hello,
When I talked to child support services they said that a case would be automatically opened if she is getting food stamps. So I guess since there is no case open that she is not on food stamps. There is really no way to find out if she is really on food stamps or not.<p>Dawn

Hey Dawn, <p>I am still in the same position as you....not knowing. Not knowing, but playing sleuth and trying to figure out if this child is really our husband's or not. I feel for you, it's not easy to let go of. Even though we've read the bad stories on this board, it's hard to back off or to learn from someone else's experiences. I bet there are some out there who wish that they didn't know for sure because then they wouldn't be dealing with cs and or visitation (which always includes ow as well!) But, they don't know what it's like to live in uncertainty. I suppose this is a time when people might think that the grass is greener on the other side....<p>I pray that you find peace with not knowing and if you can't, then you guys have the courage and strength to go ahead and find out. I know that I'm not the kind of person to sit around and wait for the bomb to drop, so I don't know how long this 'living in the dark' is going to last!<p>peace to you and your family!<p>tinlizzy

tinlizzy
Thanks. I want to let go but boy is it hard. My H's friend and I were talking and she thought OW was on welfare. I did not ask it just sort of came up. I just had this feeling she is, but there is no case open and my H does not want to do anything. <p>Dawn

There's actually no legal way you can find out if she has a case open, not even your H can find this out, it is confidential information.
If she does have a case open it will only be a matter of time beffore your H is notified if he owes cs and I'm assumming if this is his child he does owe.
If you all know for certain that this is hhis child I certainly hope that your H is taking responsibility and providing some kind of assistance for the child.
Only knowing his name might not be helpful to her tracking your H down but it will help. Every employer is required by law to add an employees name to a registry, they have 30 days to do this, so every person who has a job has his or her name in this registry which is nation wide and used by all departments of welfare to track people down.
But the system stinks, it took me over 7 yrs to get my child support enforced and yes, he owes me 7 years of arrears which will be now enforced through a garnishment of his wages. So, even though he moved out of state I was still able to have him and his employer tracked down and get all arrears and current support enforced.

Hi,
Actually for child support he can find out by saying that he might be the father and wanted to know if the mother has filed for child support. They will give him that much information. <p>Dawn

Maybe then it depends on what state because my XH wasn't even told that much. He was told it was strictly confidential and that if there was a case open with his name on it that he would eventually be notified. They flat refused to answer any of his questions.

Why would your H owe $ to the state if the child support case is not open?

Be VERY CAREFUL with this one. My BF got body slammed by something like this.<p>He had a baby with his high school girlfriend. She disappeared for many years. When she resurfaced she never mentioned that she'd received public assistance.<p>I think it was like 5 year later his checking + saving accounts were seized. They froze the account and took ALL of the money in both. Because she was on welfare during her "lost" time, and she named him as the father (which he is) he now owes an amount = 1/3 of his annual salary. They have garnished his check plus they are taking his income tax refunds until the debt is satisfied.

Katie,
Why did they not come after him when she filed for state aid? I thought once they do this they will automatically go after the father and open a child support case. At least that is what I have been told.<p>Dawn<p>[ March 08, 2002: Message edited by: Dawn71 ]</p>

As someone here said they were backed up. WAY backed up apparently.<p>They had no address for him. Then the address that they had was wrong. His mom got a letter while he was living upstate that she never forwarded to him. <p>It just took them that long to find him. It's like taxes, there's no statue of limitations. In 1998 I got a letter about my 1992 income tax return.<p>That's what you call government effeciency.