I was Googling for a child support forum and came across this site.

I'm not sure if there's any Canadians in this particular forum [I sure hope so!] because I can't get any straight answers from anywhere I call for help.

My husband and I need to pay support for my son. Past that, we don't fall into ANY type of category as we don't fit the criteria. We're NOT separated, we're NOT divorced and we don't plan on doing either.

This is our situation:
My teenage son no longer lives at home, he's living with non-relatives. We are required to pay support to this family - there is NO court order and he's already receiving monies from social assistance and support from CAS.

I tried calling the Attorney General's office to clear up info for me, but there's no person there, just a recording. Only applies to separated or divorced parents.

I tried calling somewhere else, but he gave me the number for above. I explained that we're NOT separated or divorced and the info did not apply to us. I told him my son is living with another family and he said we were divorced. I said I'm NOT divorced so the info doesn't apply. He kept insisting it did... and no, neither my husband nor I were separated or divorced from either person in the family that my son is staying with. We never even met them till last year. Buddy on the phone said he was glad he helped and ended the conversation... helped with WHAT??? I STILL don't know anything!!

A friend I was talking to about this said that unless there's a court order, we're not expected to pay any support. There is no court order, but it's because our lawyers said if we could come to an agreement on our own, we wouldn't need to go to court. She was confused as to why we're required to pay support since he's already on assistance and getting support from CAS. This was why I was making phone calls all morning, to try to clear this up. I got nowhere.

We're expected to start support payments at the end of this month and I don't know how the heck we're going to do it. We're already way behind in our bills and can't even pay rent or buy groceries. We've cut back on everything that we can and stopped as many services as we could to minimize our payments, but that's not really saving us much. Certainly not the extra $500 that the family is expecting per month for support.

I've no idea what to do. And it's not that we're trying to get out of paying support for my son, we just can't afford that much.

Can anyone here give me any advice or even somewhere to call that'll actually give me some REAL info that applies to us?

Thanks
Teesa

Hi teesa nice to meet you. Welcome.

I can only guess at some of this.
There are so many things we don't know.
Who told you you have to pay that specific amount?
Is there any documentation?
Did CAS place your son with this other family?
Have you spoken to his CAS case worker?

How long has your child been living with this other family?

Hi Teesa & Welcome to the forum. I'm not a Canadian ;-) but I wish you luck... and I'm sure you will find some excellent support here from Miss Harmony & others.

Teesa:

Once your child is receiving cash-aid from the county, you and the father are on the hook for child support and the state is entitled to get it as partial reimbursement for what they are paying to support your child.

Why did the child move out of your home? Why did the people at the place he lives have to apply for welfare? Does not make sense.

One important thing for you to understand is... why should tax payors pay monetary support for your children when you are not? Get the relatives off cash-aid immediately. If they cannot afford to raise your child, maybe he should not be there. You will still owe the county child support for the time period he was on aid.

I'm puzzled about how they could get a child support order against you without you knowing it. Sounds like you need to open dialogue with the county and find out how that happened. You will be entitled to set it aside if you were not properly served. They will just refile, however. But, don't know if your state can go retroactive or not. If not, you will not owe past support after you set it aside, just current and future.

Ronn (ChildSupportEnforcers.com)