Child Support - Marco Island,FL

Why in the world is he going tosign anything or agree to anything when he is getting a free ride. FIle a legal seperation or get an attorney. He needs to be accountable.

In order to get anything, you have to FILE. No court has any jurisdiction until there is a CASE. You must FILE one to HAVE one.

ONCE it is filed, and he is served.... then you can petition for temporary support while the rest drags on for however long it takes. There are emergency hearings for things like that (you're about to lose your house? because he hasn't paid anything in 3 years?).... but you have to have a case and he has to be served with papers so that the court has jurisdiction over him.

File. Fill out the paper work and file on your own.

Just file the papers. He will have to respond to them. If he doesn't, he is in default and you will get what you ask for. Now, since you have children, you can get help from the department of child support in your county after you have filed. They will contact him to provide his financial information, but you can help them by providing as much of it as you know.

The only time two people sign the papers before filing is if the divorce is non-contested. If he won't sign, you don't have that situation.
You don't have to wait for him. Don't.

Most courts have family law workshops to help you with your paperwork. Check into it.
You don't really need to retain an attorney to at least get the ball rolling and services provided by the county child support office are free.
You cannot get an order for support until you file for dissolution of marriage or legal separation. Every day that goes by is a day you can't get back.

Best wishes.

I live in Florida & I am going through a similar situation. For us, we have filed for divorce but he has been dragging it out for the past year as a way to not pay support. I finally filed for "Temporary child support" which is where they set an amount that he MUST pay every month in support until your divorce is finalized. I went through a lawyer to do this BUT you can file the paperwork yourself. It may take a couple of months to get on the court docket if you do it yourself but what's a few more months compared to the 3 years you've already been waiting. Anyway, you will meet with a magistrate instead of a judge since you don't have a lawyer yet and if you meet the requirements, you may even only have to pay a small fee (like $50 or something) in court cost. They go by the Florida guidelines when determining the amount of support owed. This is only a temporary measure until you are divorced & any money owed in arrears won't be addressed at this time (only in the finalization of your divorce) but at least you will be getting money every month. On a side note, I saw that in one of the responses they mentioned something about filing for legal separation - the state of Florida does not recognize legal separation and you cannot file for it. Hope some of this helps & I wish you the best of luck.

P.S. I don't know how it is in your part of Florida but where I'm at you can go to a legal aid office (for free) and get help with filling out any paper work pertaining to a divorce or temporary support. They help YOU fill it out and explain in detail where to file and what steps you take next. You must meet certain financial requirements to be accepted but I'm sure you fall into that catagory being a single mom with 2 children.

in florida he doesn't have to sign anything. you would have to get the paperwork for a contested divorce. then have him served by the police or sheriff's office or send it to him priority mail. that way you have proof that he received it. he should have (i think) 20 days to respond to it, either agreeing or not agreeing. if he doesn't respond within the time frame then a default judgement would be issued and everything you asked for would be given to you (unless he comes back later and tries to modify). in this paperwork there should be some paperwork for child support. also in florida there is a guided worksheet. it goes off of what you both make. you can have that served to him also along with the divorce papers. there is also a department in florida (i think if i remember right) it's called Department of Children services? anyway they are probably in the blue pages of the phone book. you can file paperwork with them and they will go after him (for free) on your behalf (they have a lawyer) to get child support. they will take him to court and court order him to pay and if he doesn't or doesnt' show up they will issue a writ for his arrest. you DO NOT need an attorney, but they are much easier to have obviously. it's been about 6yrs but i used to work in the family law department which dealt with these issues in fl.

edited-you can also file for indigency(sp) if you don't have the money to file then the judge will declare you indigent and everything will be done for free for you (all the filing the serving, etc.)

Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do as single moms. My ex doesn't pay either. I've brought him to court and they ordered a job search. He's still unemployed. So they can't deduct from his paycheck. Plus he doesn't have a license, so they can't suspend it.

Here's my advice... move forward with the divorce. If he does not respond to your petition, you pretty much get what you ask for. Whether or not he pays is another story. But if he is working, they can automatically deduct it from his paycheck if he fails to pay (you'd need to file a motion of contempt once he's a couple of months behind). If it continues, they can suspend his license.

I didn't use an attorney and did it all on my own.

Without the divorce, unless you have an agreement with him in place, he isn't "required" by law to pay you - or at least there's nothing on record. So submit the papers and make sure that you request that his payments go through the state and not directly to you so that they see he is in contempt and you have nothing to prove.

Regarding the suggestion for a legal separation, unfortunately, there is no such thing in the state of Florida. Just divorce him!

You don't have to have an attorney to get a divorce. And it doesn't cost that much if you do it right. To start with he doesn't have to fill anyting out or sign anything. Fill out your paperwork and go to the court house and file it with them and tell them you need a free attorney. They will assign you one. Go to Children and Family Services and apply for help. Tell them he is a alcoholic. If you go to the Spring they will also help you. There are a lot of places you can go for help. I am not sure who you have been talking to but they are giving you bad advice. There is no reason that your divorce isn't final by now. I got a divorce without my husbands signature or without him signing any paperwork. Go and apply for child support right away. Also file a restraining order against him. That will help your case. There is no reason to lose the house. Go and file those papers and ask for help. I wish you well.

File and in the meantime speak to your mortgage company about a loan modification. Since you have suffered a hardship, perhaps they can lower it.
I would phone his mother and let her know that he isn't supporting his children.
He sounds like a piece of work, but your MIL is not the problem so try and not lay blame on her. All mother's would help their children if they are worth their weight, and you have no idea what he's told her to gain her sympathy.

Hi,
Sorry that you are having to go through all of this. :( This is always difficult, and dealing with an alcoholic is a very complicated thing. I truly understand the heartache you are going through. He still does have to pay to support his children, regardless if you have filed for the actual divorce or not, and he is going to owe child support to you in arreears from the date that he moved out of your home and you were no longer a "couple" parenting together. You are in Florida, so you need to contact the department of revenue, child support enforcement office. They will have you come in and fill out all of the paperwork to give them jurisdiction on the case, and then will take it from there. (you will need to fill out paperwork on your income and expenses as well) They will ask you if you are gettting or have gotten any type of public assistance in the last 3 years, since he moved out. If you have, with the exception of Medicaide, your ex will be responsible for paying that back as arrears he will owe the state. If you have not he will only owe you the arrears. Once they determine an amount per month, they will also tack on an amount to go toward his arrears as well each month. If he is working "on the books", you can have the support payments deducted from his pay automatically, and not even have to count on him to pay you which is what I reccomend. If he is not working, the judge you see when you go for the actual child support court order will tell him he needs to find work, and that the state of Florida has a minimum amount a parent has to pay in support for each child they have , job or not. It really isn't anyone's problem how he gets the money to pay this. (If he was still with you and had no job, he would have to figure out a way to help support his kids, right?) If he gets unemployment you can still have a percentage of that deducted for support payments, but it won't be anywhere near your correct amount. I hope he has a job so tha he has the ability to pay! If he doesn't pay after 30 days (in Florida anyway) the Dept of revenue will begin the enforcement process. This can include taking his driver's liscence, issuing a warrent for his arrest and actually arresting him. He only gets out when he pays up. It can take them a while (a couple months ) to get to the point that they really get serious about the enforcement, but once they do, it's a serious business! He will have no choice but to pay. Look at it this way, you have gone what... 3 years without any financial help from him, so if you need to hold on for a couple more months until the state can get him paying, it's worth it! Your kids deserve it, as do you! Ending a marrige does NOT in any way mean that one parent is ending their parental responsibilities. Wish you the best! It's a frustrating road, but the child support paperwork and filing, court, etc will not cost you a dime. No need for a lawyer. Best to you!
PS- as soon as he starts paying and you can manage it, I would file for that divorce. He doesn't have to agree. Like another post stated, just have him served and go from there. Kind of a little justice to use your child support money to help pay for your divorce papers, huh?! LOL! (I mean as long as your kids needs have been met obviously)

File for child support (you don't have to be divorced to this).

You are able to file for child support in the meantime. You need to go to your local child support office and get the paper work. An income deduction order will be established for his employer to start deducting the money directly from his paycheck. Is he employed?
Have you tried all the programs that are supposed to be available for homeowners in distress? Have you thought about selling the house? Will you be able to make a profit or at least pay off the mortgage if you do? What about renting the house through a program like Section 8 or HUD that way you will be guaranteed the rent money every month.
I did my own divorce also but I filed for child support 2 years before I filed for divorce. To this day, I am still having a hard time collecting child support money because my ex is self employed. If your ex is self employed, I hate to tell you but you will also have a hard time collecting child support. Right now my ex owes $19,000 in child support payments and the State of FL hardly does anything to try to enforce the support order. All the state has ever done is suspend his driver's license, that's it. I finally got a court date in 2009. I thought I was going to get some money finally. My ex didnt bother to even show up to the hearing and the state did absolutely nothing about it and to top it all off, I didnt get any money.
I am just trying to tell you to get ready for a long journey and try to find other ways to support you and your family. Dont expect money and that way if you dont get any, you wont be too disappointed but then if you do get money, it will be a pleasant surprise.

Of course you can get support. Contact the Attorney General office in your state. They are generally the ones which have a department dealing with support payments.

YES! As long as you don't live together you can collect support. It should be pretty simple (easier if he cooperates, but very doable even if he doesn't). You typically have to provide income documentation and a declaration of expenses (although expenses don't change your support amount). The mortgage is a separate issue. If you think he owes you alimony, you can ask for that too.

Child support will be based on a calculation of his income, your income, the number of kids you have, and the % of time they spend with each of you.

Good luck.

T.