Rhode Island Divorce and Family Law Coaching Tips from the Founder of Rhode Island Divorce and Family Law Coaching Attorney, Christopher A. Pearsall!: RI Childcare Payments Termination Archives

Question: I just got served child support paperwork for a child I haven't seen in 10 years. I paid about $50/week between 2001 and 2002 and then she just up and moved without letting me know. I had no idea where she went and she left no forwarding address. Can she legally ask me for back child support when she left town? I will pay child support going forward (a paternity test will be established first), but I don't think I should pay 10 years worth from the past when she took him away from me.

Reply: If you had an existing child support order through the Rhode Island Family Court you had an obligation to keep paying it. There is virtually always a way to find the mother and the child if you do some investigation. In the very least you should have paid it to the Rhode Island Family Court Child Support Enforcement Department so you would not be in contempt of the court's order to pay continuing support for your child.

If there was, in fact, a child support Order from the Rhode Island Family Court in effect then your child support debt would accumulate interest at a rate of 12%. If you did not have a child support Order issued by the Rhode Island Family Court then the mother of the child is only legally entitled to ask for the court to award her child support retroactive to the date she filed the Motion to Adjudge You In Contempt or to otherwise require you to pay your Rhode Island Child Support Order from the date her Motion for Payment of Child Support was filed. The retroactive part of the court's award, with or without the 12% interest per annum is in the discretion of the judge. Ultimately the obligation to insure you pay court ordered child support is on you and not the mother of the child.

It does not matter if the mother took off with the child or not. Your Rhode Island visitation rights and your obligation to pay child support for the support of your child are completely separate and distinct. A parent does not pay money for child support in order to have the right to see their child. Also, the money for child support is to support the child, it does not entitle you to see your child. In other words, child support payments and visitation are completely separate.

If there was no Rhode Island Child Support Order that says you have to pay a certain amount of money each week, month, etc . . . then the mother of the child may only ask the judge to award her Rhode Island child support retroactive to the date her motion was filed and that should be specifically requested in her Motion if she is requesting retroactive child support when no Child Support Order was ever established by the Court. If there was an actual Child Support Order in place and you have not paid child support in 10 years then you should get a lawyer. If a judge were to find you in contempt of an existing Child Support Order it is always possible that you could be sentenced to the Adult Correctional Institution for failure to abide by the court's order among other things.

Unfortunately, whether the woman left with your child or not, if there is Rhode Island Child Support in place then it is your job to protect yourself by, in the least, paying the child support that was ordered to the Rhode Island Child Support Enforcement Division of the Rhode Island Family Court.

If you need further assistance and/or advice, I offer legal advice and coaching sessions relating to each person's specific facts and situation for an affordable rate. Whatever you decide to do,

I wish you the very best in this difficult situation no matter what you decide to do.

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Christopher A. Pearsall, Attorney-at-Law

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Note: If this article contains a case scenario with names, dates or amounts, any resemblance any connection to any person or situation now or previously existing is purely accidental, unintentional, and is merely a mistaken creation in the mind of the reader.

* The Rhode Island Supreme Court licenses all attorneys in the general practice of law. The court does not license or certify any lawyer as an expert or specialist in any particular field of practice.

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I'm a divorce lawyer in RI who focuses my law practice exclusively on family law. Believe it or not, some people just need a little coaching when it comes to how to properly go about terminating their child support in the Rhode Island family court.

- PATRICK'S CHILD SUPPORT TERMINATION -

Patrick's Rhode Island child support case is a good example. Patrick has been paying on a Rhode Island child support order for the past nine (9) years for his daughter, Constance. Constance is not disabled and she has no mental health illnesses justifying any extended child support.

Constance graduated from high school. She was going to turn 18 years of age in about three (3) months. Patrick already knows that his child support should end sometime around the time that Constance turns age 18.

- FREE CONSULTATION INFORMATION -

Patrick doesn't want to spend money on a lawyer so he calls a around and gets two (2) free consultations set up and then a RI Family Law coaching and Advice session with me for a full hour for only $135. By the end of the second consultation Patrick believes he has figured it out. He knows Constance needs to be 18 which he learned from his first free consultation. From the second free consultation Constance also needs to have graduated from high school before his child support can end.

- PATRICK'S EFFORT TO SAVE MONEY -

Patrick cancels his Rhode Island Family Law Coaching and Advice Session to save himself $135.00.

Patricks feels that the free consultations were enough because one lawyer gave a little bit of information and the other lawyer gave another little tidbit of information. Together Patrick feels he has his answer and he can avoid spending any money.

As soon as Constance graduates from high school, Patrick stops making his child support payments.

- THE CALL FROM THE MOTHER -

Patrick gets a call from his ex-girlfriend, Judy, who is Constance's mother. She asks Patrick if he is short on money and needs more time to pay his child support. Patrick tells her that since Constance is 18 now and has graduated from high school that his child support payments have ended.

Judy said she knew it was coming sometime but that she thought she would get some kind of notice. Patrick says that he spoke with a lawyer and he doesn't have to make any more payments.

Judy calls a lawyer about Rhode Island child support and explains what has happened. The lawyer advises that Patrick is wrong.

- RI FAMILY COURT -

Judy hires the lawyer to file papers against Patrick for Contempt, the Rhode Island Child Support, Interest, Costs for taking time out of work and her attorney's fees.

Patrick is served with the papers and is shocked. However, he continues to be adamant that since the two lawyers confirmed the two conditions had to be met, that he doesn't have anything to worry about.

- A HARD LESSON FROM THE JUDGE -

When they get to court eight weeks later, Patrick finds out that he made a costly mistake. Patrick is is given only ten days per the Court's Order to pay (1) the last ten weeks of child support plus interest in a lump sum which is $1,170; (2) Judy's lost time from work which is $127.00; (3) Judy's attorney's fees of $750.00; and (4) that he is to continue paying his weekly child support until his RI Child Support is properly terminated by a Rhode Island Family Court Judge.

- RI CHILD SUPPORT TERMINATION COACHING -

Patrick calls me back and after a detailed one (1) hour coaching session about the procedure for the proper termination of his child support, Patrick is ready to prepare the documents he needs to file to have his child support terminated. The one hour of legal coaching was just what Patrick needed to get the answers he needed. Sadly he realized only too late that the $135.00 for some solid coaching on his Rhode Island Child Support issue was exactly what he needed to avoid all this cost and aggravation.

- RI FAMILY LAW COACHING -

Rhode Island Divorce and Family Law Coaching is the wave of the future and it's here to stay. People need affordable experienced help when free help isn't available and Coaching provides the answer.

Do you need a little bit of help like Patrick? Do you need some direction?

Do you have proper legal information you need to make the important decisions you need to make? Most people don't!

In my humble opinion, a RI Divorce and Family Law Lawyer providing experienced Coaching is the answer.

Rhode Island Divorce and Family Law Coaching saves you money.

It saves you time.

It provides you with understanding and knowledge you wouldn't otherwise get elsewhere.

It provides you with the experienced legal help you need, when you need it, at a price you can afford.

Don't go into any matter legally blind.

Many times you can't afford to be without a lawyer because in the end it will cost you much more than a single coaching session because you've overlooked something or weren't told something crucial like Patrick's case.

Don't be a victim. It isn't necessary.

At a cost of only $135 for a one hour family law coaching session with an experienced divorce and family law lawyer, it's something you can't afford to be without.

If Patrick hadn't canceled his appointment, he would have paid $135. Instead, he paid over $2,000.