Sticky Situation

Clodfobble · 07-07-2004, 02:23 PM

Not that I condone what your friend is doing, but... if all she's worried about is the backlogged child support stacking up until she gets back to America and gets a job--they won't put her in jail for a few months of missed child support. We don't have debtor's prison in this country. If he's really active in seeking it, they might start putting liens on property she owns, etc. but chances are good it'll just add up until she's able to start paying it.

Secondly, getting legal joint guardianship is damned unlikely for her now, but she can always try to go back and get that in the future. Frankly, it's not going to be worth anything to her anyway... all it gets her is the right to attend school functions (hell of a commute from another state,) the right to instruct him in her religion when he's in her physical custody (never,) the right to consent to marriage (obsolete in this day and age,) the right to file a lawsuit on the child's behalf, and a few other silly little things. About the only one she might care about is the right to have access to medical records.

My advice: tell your friend not to panic. File the paperwork she needs to file to get the divorce finalized, try to get legal representation in absentia so she doesn't somehow get saddled with child support that's more than she can pay (the $100-something figure sounds reasonable, assuming he sticks with it,) then get over here and start paying her child support ASAP.

07-07-2004, 02:23 PM	#22
Clodfobble UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 20,012	Not that I condone what your friend is doing, but... if all she's worried about is the backlogged child support stacking up until she gets back to America and gets a job--they won't put her in jail for a few months of missed child support. We don't have debtor's prison in this country. If he's really active in seeking it, they might start putting liens on property she owns, etc. but chances are good it'll just add up until she's able to start paying it. Secondly, getting legal joint guardianship is damned unlikely for her now, but she can always try to go back and get that in the future. Frankly, it's not going to be worth anything to her anyway... all it gets her is the right to attend school functions (hell of a commute from another state,) the right to instruct him in her religion when he's in her physical custody (never,) the right to consent to marriage (obsolete in this day and age,) the right to file a lawsuit on the child's behalf, and a few other silly little things. About the only one she might care about is the right to have access to medical records. My advice: tell your friend not to panic. File the paperwork she needs to file to get the divorce finalized, try to get legal representation in absentia so she doesn't somehow get saddled with child support that's more than she can pay (the $100-something figure sounds reasonable, assuming he sticks with it,) then get over here and start paying her child support ASAP.

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