Hey all! I just had a few questions for anyone who has gone through the whole applying for child support thing before. I just sent in my application about a week ago for child support and have yet to hear anything back from the enforcement agency. How long does this usually take to start setting things up? What can I expect? I am pretty sure he will fight it (which is ridiculous), so do we go to court then? Will I actually have to talk to him (which I am dreading because he isn't worth talking to)? I guess I just needed some insight on what is to come in the process. I know it takes a while but I havent heard anything yet and am anticipating it. I am a single mom with a good job but a child is expensive.. any little bit can help. Thanks!!

quote:

Originally posted by linmaeski:
Hey all! I just had a few questions for anyone who has gone through the whole applying for child support thing before. I just sent in my application about a week ago for child support and have yet to hear anything back from the enforcement agency. How long does this usually take to start setting things up? What can I expect? I am pretty sure he will fight it (which is ridiculous), so do we go to court then? Will I actually have to talk to him (which I am dreading because he isn't worth talking to)? I guess I just needed some insight on what is to come in the process. I know it takes a while but I havent heard anything yet and am anticipating it. I am a single mom with a good job but a child is expensive.. any little bit can help. Thanks!!

It takes time depending on a lot of things. They have to verify his address and contact information which in my case took 6 months! Tey told me they had to do it through the post master so that was why.

As for fatherhood, he can try to dispute that but he can not fight the actual paying of child support. The money owed will be based on your states figures (Pa had a list of figures for different situations, but you don't need to memorize them as the child support office usually has a lawyer that will represent your case for free. I lost that option when she counter sued for spouse support and was a defendant.

With that said fatherhood can not be questioned unless he submits a special form if he is legally married to you. If not they have to prove he is te father by forcing a paternity test on him. I don't know who pays for it because each state if different (Delaware will test as many men as it takes and only the real father pays for the test, where as in Pa they order the mother).

Personally, I think the price should be 50/50 unless the mother doesn't know who the father is, then she should pay for the ones that are not the father and go 50/50 with the ones that are. I know I will get yelled at for this comment but my reasoning for this is that you really can't hold it against a man who is not the father to pay for a test, specially since she was sleeping with other men at the time. Men are often told they need to take responsibility for their actions but the same hold true for women, they do too. I believe all should be treated equally.

I would look into the laws for your state, go online and there is a lot of free information out there.

Why would the people from DE pay for a paternity test just because the mother doesn't know who the father is? weird.
If I was a judge I tell the mother to be responsible for her own actions, this is the result of her sleeping around, if she doesn't who the father is it means she was acting recklessly with everyone that came her ways, don't blame the nerd with the penis.

They will set up a court date in which he could deny paternity, or accept paternity. If he denies it they will order a DNA test, if he accepts it they will simply move on to support amount. If paternity is established through testing, it will lengthen the time it takes before the support order is established, depending on that particular jurisdiction/support agency it could take several months/6 months. But in the end he will then still owe for back support from the time the case is started.

You really don't have to talk to him during that, the CS agency will represent you in court and again depending on how they handle it in your location they will often not even require you to be at all hearings.