Q: Cohabitation and Child Support/Custody My fiance and his kids' mom were never married and have been apart for 6 years.
My fiance and I have been together for 1.5 years. We moved in together and have lived together on and off for a little over a year. He has 6yo twins and has 'Schedule A' visitation. Their mom has violated the visitation by weaseling her way around the agreement and 9/10 times stays at his M-I-L's apt with the kids. She has been a dictator over the kids since they were born. She has lied and argued multiple times that in the paperwork it states I was not allowed to stay over night. For the first few months we didnt argue and I would just visit during the day. We got a copy of the agreement and found out there is 0 mention about cohabitation. We recently got engaged and are moving into our new place very soon. She found out tonight and is now threatening to file on us for cohabitation since she can not stay anymore. Any merit to the threat? Also not sure if it affects outcome, for reasons that don't matter, he stopped paying child support and plans to fight why. No answers found so far.
A: Hello. I do not practice in or around Gulf Shores, so your reference to "Schedule A" visitation may be something that is local to Baldwin/Mobile counties. Without having the exact language of the visitation, it's impossible to say whether or not there is merit to her concerns. It is not uncommon to have "no cohabitation" provisions in agreements, but they are not standard and are not required by any case law or statute. That said, it's never a good idea to co-habitate unless both parents of the child(ren) are ok with it. The mother has a right to be concerned about who is around her children and unless you are the new wife, then you open yourself up to these types of arguments by the Mother. As long as he is under an order to pay child support, he should be paying. It does not matter why he is not paying until he goes to court to change it and gives his reasons for modifying his amount to the judge. Best of luck!
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