Q: My son was born in NJ but moved to FL w his mom at 3. He is now 18 & the mother wants child support, no court order

A: In Florida, emancipation occurs as a matter of law. In other words it automatically occurs at 18 years of age or at marriage. This is drastically different from New Jersey, where emancipation of an "adult child" even in their 20's requires a court order declaring him or her emancipated. And, even though your son was born in New Jersey and not Florida, you were unmarried and there is no New Jersey court order under which you could become liable for child support arrears. This means that even at the Federal level you should be free from prosecution or liability since 18 U.S.C. § 228, the law which covers failure to pay legal child support obligations, only applies where a person "willfully fails to pay child support that has been ordered by a court for a child who lives in another state." This requirement of a court order also vitiates the Federal "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996" (PRWORA) and the "The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act" (UIFSA) which gives a state "long-arm" jurisdiction over child support debtors. Further, in New Jersey, N.J.S.A. 2A:4-30.65 defines a child's "Home State" as "the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing of a complaint." In your case, no complaint was ever filed, no order was ever issued, and no obligation was ever established. Moreover, besides the lack of a New Jersey court order, it sounds like you faithfully paid child support until just 2-years ago. Since you were also both unmarried, it sounds like you have some big pluses in your bonnet. Hence, at this point, it seems unlikely that she could succeed in enforcing any action against you, especially from Florida where there would be a lack of jurisdiction. However, given the extreme importance of knowing ALL the facts before providing legal advice, you should not consider any of this "legal advice." If you want legal advice, feel free to call or email me. I would be happy to help you.