Tennessee Child Support Legal Questions

Who is she?  Why was she drawing a check if she lost custody of your son, as well?  Have you seen the formal adoption file?  Has an attorney reviewed that file to determine whether the child was lawfully adopted?  Did the mother claim or have actual physical custody of the child?   Your's is a good question, but we need clarification.  Perhaps, this is something that needs to be discussed with the State of Tennessee if she lacked custody of the child.  However, this is unclear without a careful review of the adoption and child support law in Tennessee.... Read More

Hello. Your post is not a question and so I cannot answer it. I will tell you that the child support worksheet was updated in March 2020, so you need to Google "Tennessee 2020 child support worksheet," and you need to carefully fill that in, and that will yield the proper child support number. If there are numbers you need to fill into that sheet that you don't know the correct number, you will need to find a way to get the correct number. Sometimes that means filing a case and sending subpoenas, sometimes it's easier.... Read More

Short answer is he cannot. If he is the biological father, he cannot terminate his own rights. If the mother were to bring an action for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) against him, the Court can grant that if certain circumstances exist, but he cannot terminate his own rights.  To zoom out a bit, the law gives parents rights, and imposes obligations. The most common example is that a fit parent has the right to parenting time, but an obligation to pay child support. If I have a right, I can waive it. No court can force a parent to spend time with their children. An obligation is different. That parent who does not want any parenting time can still be forced to pay support, and if they have no parenting time, that support will be even higher. So, your husband cannot be forced to see these children. I don't know what that does to kids for a father to say he doesn't want them because of mom's drama, but legally, he does not have to exercise his rights. To the extent he has obligations, child support, payment of medical bills, exchanging yearly income information, etc., he can't lift those from himself. ... Read More

As of today, the State has not answered your question. If you have not already, apply for unemployment and make sure you've taken the necessary steps to receive your stimulus payment. The courts are technically open, but very limited in what they will hear. Again, as of today I don't think you could get a support reduction hearing, but I don't think they would schedule a contempt hearing for non-payment, either. I wish there was a clear answer to your question but there just isn't. Your obligation exists, even if you can't meet it. If that conflict puts you in court down the road, you'll want evidence that you did all you could (see first sentence.)... Read More

If you have an order for child support for those ten years, the court should have taken the court-ordered arrearage into account. If you are saying there wasn't an order, but he just never paid, then you have to get an order for that back support. That should have been done during the hearing(s) on your current support, but it's not automatic. You would have had to file and serve your own petition for that to happen.... Read More

If you can prove you were not served with proper process, you may have a chance to reopen the case, but if you were served initially, then just didn't receive the letter with notice of hearing, that may not be enough. You'd have to carefully look at the Court's file, and see what it says about how and when you were served, and with what. You may find a huge error, you may not.   In addition to service, there's no way for any lawyer on here to have any idea if the $22k is appropriate. It could be the right number, but a lot goes into that calculation.... Read More

It depends on whether the Texas Court can exercise personal jurisdiction over you, likely pursuant to the Uniform  Interstate Financial Support Act (UIFSA). A lawyer will need more information to determine if that jurisdiction exists. If it does, the Texas court will proceed, whether you appear or not. You may be able to retain an attorney to appear for you.... Read More

 The short answer, which to be honest is about the best you can expect from an Internet question bored, is that if she had the child from 2015 and you were not paying support, the court can order her support back to 2015. The issues you’ve raised about insurance or financial contributions might very well be relevant to the amount of back support. I can tell from your questions that the process was frustrating. What judges will usually say if you focus on how long it may have taken her to go to court is that you also knew how to find the courthouse. In my experience that kind of comment from judges is also frustrating, I’m just giving you a bit of a heads up what to expect if you choose to argue that route  ... Read More

No. A parent cannot sign away his legal obligation to support a child. The only exception is when there is a pending adoption; a parent can agree to the adoption and have their rights terminated as part of that. If mother would owe father support for previous years, it may be he could get a credit for that amount.... Read More

Grandmother needs to get a custody order, and file for support against both parents. If the parents were not married, she may be able to do that without an attorney in juvenile court, though I don’t recommend that. If she gets legal custody, TN Child Support Services may then assist her with the child support part of that. If dad is paying mom by a court order, it takes a court order to change it. ... Read More

To recoup your missed earnings from ex will depend entirely on your relationship with him. If you guys are cooperative parents than yes your ex should be able to compensate you for your off days or at least 50% of the off days as you are both parents. If you guys don't have a good working relationship then you need to go based on the court order if it states that parents should compensate for missed work days. If it is not present you might want to get it added for the next time. If there is anything my office can assist you with than don't hesitate to contact us. Above answer and comments to questions are for general purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or establishes an attorney-client relationship without a signed retainer. Please reach out to an attorney you are comfortable with working and discussing your case in more details. If you can not afford a private attorney, you may be eligible for a Pro Bono lawyer provided by some courts and if not, feel free to ask about our affordable payment plans.... Read More