Q: My ex lives in TX & filed for child support. I'm in PA. I received mail from Domestics.

A: There are numerous and serious misunderstandings about what child support is and isn't. This response will be too brief to fully explain this conjecture. We will try as much as we can.

The first major misconception is that joblessness is no defense against child support. A prisoner serving life in prison can be ordered to pay child support and any attempt to reduce the payment because of imprisonment will be denied. The fact that this asker was jobless is irrelevant to the mother's petition for child support.

The second major misconception is that child support is a creature of the law. It is not. It is a creature of feminist politics that no matter the circumstances, every non-custodial parent (meaning "father") will pay every custodial parent (the "mother") a sum of money which will be derived from income whether calculated from actual earned income, or imputed using hypotheticals based on the father's profession.

Yet another misconception is that the procedural gimmick known as service of process can somehow stop a child support petition from creating a proceeding. Even in multi state situations, the support court will easily say that service is complete and that means the court can enter an order of support. Arrearages can become enormous and the process can lead to a warrant for the father's arrest. A simple traffic stop will bring to court the father.

This means the answer to this asker's question is that disaster happens. He should retain counsel and determine whether there is active order of support in either state. We assume he actually had a child with a woman and that woman has papers that show filiation such as a birth certificate though in some cases, even that documentation is optional.