Q: My wife passed away I have her child in my care dad is still alive but somehow had child support stopped can he do that?

A: The old order for child support was written payable to your wife. Since she is no longer here, that order can be stopped. She is not available to cash the checks. If there was direct deposit, the checks would have to be returned because the order was payable to her, not you. The checks were FOR the child, but payable to her. If you want to continue to care for the child, the next step for you is to petition for a guardianship. Then in the guardianship you could ask for a new child support order payable to you as the guardian.

Here is a link to guardianships from the California Courts:

https://www.courts.ca.gov/1211.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en.

When you ask a question online, like here, the answers you get are only going to be basic information, a starting point. Attorneys are trained to talk to you to find out all the important details of your story. Getting all the details is very important because it will make a big difference in the legal information given to you. It is strongly recommended that even if you get a response here on Justia, that you also talk to an attorney. Some have free first interviews. Even if you have to pay, it is worth it because you talking to a professional who is going to focus on you.

Also there is no requirement that you talk to an attorney in your area. Any attorney licensed in California can help you no matter where you live as long as the issue is in California. The interview would be done by phone, Zoom, Skype, Facetime or some other type online method. Even if the attorney is in your area, many attorneys are only talking to people this way due to the Covid pandemic, so you couldn’t have an interview in their office anyway. Give one of us a call. We are here to help.

All 58 counties in California have some type of Self-Help Center. The people at the Self-Help Center help you fill out family law forms for free. They can’t do everything in family law, but they will help you with all the basics. The downside is that they don’t have a lot of time to spend with you, and often there is a line to get in to see them. The upside is that it is free. So if you have more time than money, go to the Self-Help Center for divorce, custody, visitation, paternity and domestic violence paperwork. But if you want a more thorough in-depth help, it is recommended that you see a family law attorney.