I live in Texas but have lived elsewhere. My son, conceived in France but born in Florida, is 14 years old. His father was going to claim paternity but was discouraged by a French doctor. He has never paid any child support, nor has he ever contacted me since I was three months pregnant.

When I have looked into getting child support in various states, the clerks typically told me I couldn't get much if anything and it would only go back so far. My understanding is that in Ohio you can go back 18 years and that they have an agreement with France to facilitate child support agreements.

I called the Texas Atty Generals office, but they would not even tell me what the law was or direct me to an official copy of the law.

Do to my son's special needs that could not be properly met in the public schools or through other publicly funded means, I as a teacher quit my high tech job and homeschooled him until age 12.5. I used up all my retirement, savings and energy doing this, and it paid off. But, I got cancer and destroyed my career and financial well-being in doing it. We were in fact very poor for many years, though my son was well cared for and extremely well educated. He is now a top honor student and doesn't display signs of special needs.

I'm forty-seven and need to think about how I can retire one day. I have very little equity in my home, which was obtained with much effort, blood, sweat and tears. I have had to declare bankruptcy to keep the house after all the medical expenses of the cancer. My son wants to go to an Ivy League school and already has the scores to qualify.

How can I 1) locate his father since I don't speak French, and 2) get him to pay me past child support? Also, confirming paternity is important because under French law, my son is entitled to an equal share of any inheritance along with any other children, though I realize that his dad could simply give property to his children before he died.

So, I need to do this. How do I do it in Texas, and do I have to move to Ohio or someplace with similar laws to get the whole thing? The Texas Atty General's office told me to get an attorney, but I don't have money for that. And, I don't want to give that attorney a huge chunk of what I'm entitled to either.

Thanks in advance for any information that you can provide.

You will need an attorney, I personally don't think it can be done, and if there was a award it would most likely go to the child, not to you anyway at this point.

But even if a court in Ohio would award you there is basically no way to inforce it in another state.

Your son can file a claim on the estate if the father dies and DNA would be easy to prove it.

Thanks for your quick response. Why don't you think it can be done? Ohio has a pretty strong law and agreement from the looks of it, but I haven't talked to anyone there. I have heard that France won't force parents to return kids they take there when they aren't supposed to have done that. And, I admit that the doctor and the police (after he beat me up to try to force a miscarriage) pretty much protected him from responsibility. Still, I'm interested in hearing more about why you feel it's unlikely to be successful.

While the award should go to me since I used my retirement and savings to compensate for no child support and was unable to fund additional retirement due to having to homeschool him, even taking a heavy hit on career development... still, I'd much rather my child have this award than it not be paid. By using it for his living, medical and education expenses, it would free me to fund my retirement rather than trying to help with an Ivy League education, plane fare, clothing, etc.

Just curious about why you said that. Thanks.

I just called the Ohio Child Support hotline. They said that if I lived in Ohio and provided the father's address, they could enforce it. They were very confident and said that they have countries all over the world that they work with successfully. I asked them if it was a longshot and they quickly said "No, it's not a long shot. We can work with France to get it paid."

Anyone out there done this?