Newark, NJ asked in Child Custody, Child Support and Family Law for New Jersey

Q: Are most judges willing to approve changing a childs last name if the father is absent from their life

Also with a lawyers help is there anything that can be done to collect back child support? Bench warrants keep getting issued and he then gets out with no jail time or without paying any money to me. Over $20,000 is owed in back child support in just over 2 years.

1 Lawyer Answer

A: Every situation is different and your case like all the others is fact sensitive. Trying to represent yourself in Court is a bad idea. Not only are you emotionally involved, but you are not a trained attorney. You do not know the Court Rules, Rules of Evidence, case law, nor are you trained how to handle a legal case, especially if litigation is involved. However, if you do not retain counsel, and the opposing party does have counsel, you will could get slaughtered (figuratively speaking). Do not let geographic restrictions get in the way of retaining the best attorney. Pick the best attorney you can find and remember one rule: a good attorney is generally never cheap, and a cheap attorney is generally never good so don't choose based on price.

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