Q: My husband abandoned me and my two children seven years ago, can I file for spousal support and child support? How?
A: If your husband has been gone that long you need to file for divorce and in that petition seek alimony and child support. If your children are under the age of 19 and in your care you can still get child support. Depending on the jurisdiction some judges will let you reach back up to 2 years for past child support others will only allow child support from the date of filing forward (this is in the discretion of the trial court). Your alimony claim may also be weakened by the fact that your husband has not supported you in 7 years. Whatever attorney you retain can better discuss these issues with you but you need to seek child support now. If for some reason you do not want a divorce set up a meeting with DHR to discuss getting child support. Every day you wait is another day you will not likely ever get chid support.
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