The ex-husband can't unilaterally make changes to child support, no matter the reason. It can only be done via a court order. That court order could be the result of a written agreement by the parties to make changes or from a judge after a hearing, but the ex would be in contempt if he just... View More

Usually, a retroactive order can only go back as far as the date the opposing party was served with the complaint for child support. If there has never been an order previously, you may have the ability to argue for retroactive support back to the child's date of birth, but it would depend if... View More

You should have the police do a wellness check at the grandmother's home and they would document that the child wasn't there. And/or you could also have them do a wellness check at the girlfriend's house to confirm the child is there and who is present. You should also take... View More

I would just add that if you do return to court, you should ask for child support to be ordered. Even if there is no realistic hope of him ever paying, it may be enough of a deterrent to keep him at a distance. There is no connection between custody and child support, so even if he is ordered to... View More

You should first contact the Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division and have them review your account. Sometimes if there is an arrears balance the amount changes. If you have no arrears, it is possible that the timing of the payments got off track somewhere and they needed to... View More

If you haven't heard anything from the court yet, I would recommend contacting the Register's office and trying to find out if there is a reason it hasn't been processed.

If you have already served the other party, make sure you have returned the summons to the court and... View More

You should contact MA DOR - Child Support Enforcement Division to confirm, but your ongoing payments should not be impacted by any overpayments if there is an arrears balance. Any overpayment should be applied to the oldest outstanding payment. It is possible he received a tax return that was... View More

If there was a prior order for child support that the dad isn't following, you could file a Complaint for Contempt. If there was no prior order, you would need to file a Complaint to Establish Paternity or a Complaint for Custody Support and Parenting Time.

You can contact the... View More

If by legally you mean that your husband adopted your son and your husband's name is on the birth certificate, I don't think the biological father can do anything because he would have been notified about the adoption. If your husband isn't on the birth certificate then the... View More

That is a tough one without looking at the actual order. I would recommend talking to an attorney in Florida if there is an order out of Florida that your child support is based on. It could be that it is enforcing a Massachusetts order, but I think Florida is the right place to start.

If you have no history of drug abuse you should just take the hair follicle and then you eliminate that as an issue that can be used in your case. If you are trying to avoid the hair follicle because of what it will show, then there isn't really much you can do if it was already ordered. If... View More

There is nothing in Probate and Family Court that you absolutely need an attorney for, many people represent themselves. In your situation, you may want to speak with an attorney or even DCF (depending on why there are no visits currently) to understand what you can do to get you closer to having... View More

In my experience, judges don't have a lot of patience for things that aren't a good use of their time, like having a hearing that doesn't accomplish anything because one party hasn't provided info they were supposed to provide. Judges have a lot of discretion in how they handle... View More

If he doesn't appear for court the judge can issue a capias (basically a warrant) to have him brought before the Court by a sheriff. There are a lot of things that could happen as a remedy for the person that was supposed to receive the alimony, like the assignment of wages. Civil contempt... View More

Even though dogs are part of the family, this actually isn't a family law issue, it is a property issue. In divorces, pets are handled in the same way as property and divided between the parties in some way. Sometimes there is an every-other-week arrangement like you agreed to previously. When... View More

It is really hard to say how a judge would decide, but as long as you are making an effort in good faith and the child doesn't want to, there isn't much you can do. It does sound like your daughter has outgrown the way that section of your agreement is worded. You may want to start the... View More

The pretrial order you received from the court should explain exactly what you need to do and when. Some judges require the parties to meet at least a week or two before the hearing. If you decline to meet the other party's attorney will likely bring that to the court's attention. This... View More

Having another child isn't something you need to have approved by your ex. It never hurts to let them if you have a good relationship, but definitely not required. It sounds like you and your ex share legal custody, which means you have to work together on medical and education decisions, but... View More

Good question. It really depends on the agreement that you came to with your ex when you moved away. If there is any restriction about moving to any state other than TN, then obviously it would be an issue.

Realistically, there should be no impact on your ex if you are paying for the... View More

If the case where this happened was in NH originally and the kids still live in NH, this would be a NH case and the laws may be slightly different. In general, unless there was something in the written agreement he probably doesn't have much of an argument, unfortunately. Obviously, every case... View More