I have two children in cobb county, never have been married to their mother and They are 7 & 9 and she has just now filed child support because I got married to another woman & had a baby. She now has taking a warrant out for me for child abandonment. I have to go for a jurry trail because I pleded not quilty I have proof I have been maiking my child support payments regulary, but the DA said child support has nothing to do with this warrant?? Please Help I AM LOST? How can this be done & when she ask to have me locked up when I went to enter my plea he said he couldn't but she could go file another warrant. So she has now went and done it again BUT I HAVE BEEN PAYING!! But they have let her do it twice in 2 months??

I am sorry janddslo and good luck. I hope everything works out for you. A woman scorned can make your life Hell... I've seen it happen firsthand and I am sure its not a pleasurable experience. Do you have a female family member who can reason with her and maybe calm her down? I think that would be your best bet...

Here's a sticky from Scottgem maybe this is your case?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ScottGem

Child Abandonment is an often misused term in Family Law situations. Under Criminal law, Child Abandonment refers to leaving a child without adult supervision for a period of time. So a child left in a car while the mother runs into a store, could get the mother charged with child abandonment.

But under Family Law there is no charge for Child Abandonment nor can one "file" for Child Abandonment (except in a very few states, more on that below). Most often Child Abandonment MAY be used as grounds for something else. If you are seeking to modify custody or visitation you may be able to use Child Abandonment as grounds for the modifications.

So please don't ask how you can file or charge the other parent with abandonment. Please describe your ultimate goal so we can give you the best answer.

Note: A very few states do use Child Abandonment as the charge against a "deadbeat" parent who doesn't support their child. If such a parent is not providing support, either court ordered or voluntary, they could be charged with Child Abandonment. But even in those cases your ultimate goal is to get or collect child support payments. And that's what your question should be about.

---

LexisNexis® Custom Solution: Georgia Code Research Tool


§ 19-10-1. Abandonment of dependent child; criminal penalties; continuing offense; venue; blood tests or other comparisons as evidence; payment of expenses of birth of child born out of wedlock; agreement for support of child born out of wedlock

(a) A child abandoned by its father or mother shall be considered to be in a dependent condition when the father or mother does not furnish sufficient food, clothing, or shelter for the needs of the child.

(b) If any father or mother willfully and voluntarily abandons his or her child, either legitimate or born out of wedlock, leaving it in a dependent condition, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Moreover, if any father or mother willfully and voluntarily abandons his or her child, either legitimate or born out of wedlock, leaving it in a dependent condition, and leaves this state or if any father or mother willfully and voluntarily abandons his or her child, either legitimate or born out of wedlock, leaving it in a dependent condition, after leaving this state, he or she shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years. The felony shall be reducible to a misdemeanor. Any person, upon conviction of the third offense for violating this Code section, shall be guilty of a felony and shall be imprisoned for not less than one nor more than three years, which felony shall not be reducible to a misdemeanor. The husband and wife shall be competent witnesses in such cases to testify for or against the other.

(c) The offense of abandonment is a continuing offense. Except as provided in subsection (I) of this Code section, former acquittal or conviction of the offense shall not be a bar to further prosecution therefor under this Code section, if it is made to appear that the child in question was in a dependent condition, as defined in this Code section, for a period of 30 days prior to the commencement of prosecution.

(d) In prosecutions under this Code section when the child is born out of wedlock, the venue of the offense shall be in the county in which the child and the mother are domiciled at the time of the swearing out of the arrest warrant; but, if the child and the mother are domiciled in different counties, venue shall be in the county in which the child is domiciled.

(e) Upon the trial of an accused father or mother under this Code section, it shall be no defense that the accused father or mother has never supported the child.

(f) In the trial of any abandonment proceeding in which the question of parentage arises, regardless of any presumptions with respect to parentage, the accused father may request a paternity blood test and agree and arrange to pay for same; and in such cases the court before which the matter is brought, upon pretrial motion of the defendant, shall order that the alleged parent, the known natural parent, and the child submit to any blood tests and comparisons which have been developed and adapted for purposes of establishing or disproving parentage and which are reasonably accessible to the alleged parent, the known natural parent, and the child. The results of those blood tests and comparisons, including the statistical likelihood of the alleged parent's parentage, if available, shall be admitted in evidence when offered by a duly qualified, licensed practicing physician, duly qualified immunologist, duly qualified geneticist, or other duly qualified person. Upon receipt of a motion and the entry of an order under this subsection, the court shall proceed as follows:

(1) Where the issue of parentage is to be decided by a jury, where the results of those blood tests and comparisons are not shown to be inconsistent with the results of any other blood tests and comparisons, and where the results of those blood tests and comparisons indicate that the alleged parent cannot be the natural parent of the child, the jury shall be instructed that if they believe that the witness presenting the results testified truthfully as to those results and if they believe that the tests and comparisons were conducted properly, then it will be their duty to decide that the alleged parent is not the natural parent;

(2) The court shall require the defendant requesting the blood tests and comparisons pursuant to this subsection to be initially responsible for any of the expenses thereof. Upon the entry of a verdict incorporating a finding of parentage or nonparentage, the court shall tax the expenses for blood tests and comparisons, in addition to any fees for expert witnesses whose testimonies supported the admissibility thereof, as costs.

(g) In prosecutions under this Code section, when the child is born out of wedlock and the accused father is convicted, the father may be required by the court to pay the reasonable medical expenses paid by or incurred on behalf of the mother due to the birth of the child.

(h) The accused father and the mother of a child born out of wedlock may enter into a written agreement providing for future support of the child by regular periodic payments to the mother until the child reaches the age of 18 years, marries, or becomes self-supporting; provided, however, that the agreement shall not be binding on either party until it has been approved by the court having jurisdiction to try the pending case.

(I) If, during the trial of any person charged with the offense of abandonment as defined in this Code section, the person contends that he or she is not the father or mother of the child alleged to have been abandoned, in a jury trial the trial judge shall charge the jury that if its verdict is for the acquittal of the person and its reason for so finding is that the person is not the father or mother of the child alleged to have been abandoned, then its verdict shall so state. In a trial before the court without the intervention of the jury, if the court renders a verdict of acquittal based on the contention of the person that he or she is not the father or mother of the child alleged to have been abandoned, the trial judge shall so state this fact in his verdict of acquittal. Where the verdict of the jury or the court is for acquittal of a person on the grounds that the person is not the father or mother of the child alleged to have been abandoned, the person cannot thereafter again be tried for the offense of abandoning the child, and the verdict of acquittal shall be a bar to all civil and criminal proceedings attempting to compel the person to support the child.
(j)(1) In a prosecution for and conviction of the offense of abandonment, the trial court may suspend the service of the sentence imposed in the case, upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe for the support, by the defendant, of the child or children abandoned during the minority of the child or children. Service of the sentence, when so suspended, shall not begin unless and until ordered by the court having jurisdiction thereof, after a hearing as in cases of revocation or probated sentences, because of the failure or refusal of the defendant to comply with the terms and conditions upon which service of a sentence was suspended.

(2) Service of any sentence suspended in abandonment cases may be ordered by the court having jurisdiction thereof at any time before the child or children reach the age of 18 or become emancipated, after a hearing as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection and a finding by the court that the defendant has failed or refused to comply with the terms and conditions upon which service of the sentence was suspended by the court having jurisdiction thereof.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, in abandonment cases where the suspension of sentence has been revoked and the defendant is serving the sentence, the court may thereafter again suspend the service of sentence under the same terms and conditions as the original suspension. The sentence shall not be considered probated and the defendant shall not be on probation, but the defendant shall again be under a suspended sentence. However, the combined time of incarceration of the defendant during the periods of revocation of suspended sentences shall not exceed the maximum period of punishment for the offense.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the terms and conditions prescribed by the court as to support by the defendant shall be subject to review and modification by the court, upon notice and hearing to the defendant, as to the ability of the defendant to furnish support and as to the adequacy of the present support payments to the child's or children's needs. The review provided for in this paragraph as to the ability of the defendant to furnish support and as to the adequacy of the present support payments to the child's or children's needs shall not be had in less than two-year intervals and shall authorize the court to increase as well as to decrease the amount of child support to be paid as a term and condition of the suspended sentence. The review as to ability to support and adequacy of support shall not be equivalent to a hearing held in cases of revocation of probated sentences for purposes of service of the suspended sentence; nor shall a modification, if any, be deemed a change in sentence; nor shall a modification, if any, be deemed to change the suspended sentence to a probated sentence.

In Georgia it is all about the child support, you need a good lawyer, cobb county is really bad if you try and talk to them yourself, hire an attoreny.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by beautifulskin

Here's a sticky from Scottgem maybe this is your case?

---

I have been paying my child support though & the DA said this has nothing to do with child support

1. the DA is not your friend, don't dare talk to them without your attorney there. They want to convict you, not find any truth and certainly not any justice, he has a conviction ratio to keep up.

Since the DA is going though with this, and assuming you were paying the child support that the court ordered and you are not more than a month behind in any payments, she has either lied to the DA about the facts or there is more to the story.

Has the children been neglected in any way, what has your relationship been with the children, did you ever visit, did you remain living near them and so on.

Were you and the mother ever living together ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

1. the DA is not your friend, don't dare talk to them without your attorney there. they want to convict you, not find any truth and certainly not any justice, he has a conviction ratio to keep up.

---

Ups... ERROR: You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Fr_Chuck again.

A few words there... but the best analysis and advice!

I am a mother that filed a child abandonment order against my sons father. This is how my story played out. My sons father and I were never married. The first few years were okay, he paid some money on occasion. Unfortunately, he just stopped paying all together and was a complete jerk to my son. I am not a mean or vengeful person - but things were getting really hard as a single working mother trying to raise a child. So I filed a child support order - which had to be done in gwinnett county because that's where he resides - even though we live in cobb county. Of course... the system failed us and child support enforcement was doing absolutely nothing to get him to pay. And throughout the course of these events, my sons father quit his job and started working with a friend getting paid "under the table" - which means that child support office couldn't even garnish his wages. I was getting so frustrated with this system that was supposed to be helping us so I finally raised a LOT of hell... and got a call from their office. They told me they would get on the case immediately but in the meantime, I could go to the courthouse of the county the child resides in, cobb, and file an abandonment order. So I did. We were both notified of a "court date" which was really more of a warrant hearing. We went in front of a judge for her to decide if there was enough cause for her to issue a warrant for the abandonment. He pretty much was his same old ridiculous self and told the judge things like "well, times are tough for me" and whatever. I was very honest about the little money he did pay me and about the child support order in gwinnett. She basically told him that times are really tough for a single mom trying to raise a child with no monetary support what so ever from the child's father. So she saw cause to issue the abandonment warrant and he was arrested on the spot. He got out a few hours later though - not a long stay. Then he received a real court date and was given the option to have a jury or no jury. He picked jury to delay the hearing. When we went to court, I talked to the prosecutor and I had a great case. However, the judge came in (a different one from the first time) and pretty much made me feel like the biggest piece of crap ever. She said that if I decided to continue with this case, and she pulled the jury in there and they found him guilty, that she would just throw him in jail and "that wouldnt do me a whole heck of a lot of good in getting any money, would it?" I was mortified. I am not one of those vengeful ex's that wants to be mean and hateful. I was just trying to get what was right for my son. But at this time, my son was 5 and how could I live with myself if I told him he couldn't go see his dad because I put him in jail. After talking to the prosecutor, who was equally as mortified as I was, I decided to drop the case and just leave. I mean, what could I do? He won again. The system failed us... yet again. I ended up closing the child support case as well because when I would call, extremely furious, they would threaten to close my case saying that they weren't my therapist. At one point - a week before christmas - my sons father gave me $200 cash. He gave it straight to me instead of going through child support because I needed it for christmas for my son. I did what I thought was the right thing and reported it to the child support office, so that he would get credit for the money he gave me. I could have not said anything... he gave me cash, had no proof, and that could have been an extra $200 added to his arrears. But by doing the right thing, I was scolded by child support and once again they threatened to close my case. That's when I threw in the towel. I closed the case. I haven't seen a dime in over 3 years. His behavior with my son has gotten worse - actually coming to an all time record high of awfulness this weekend. So now, I am considering filing another order... and this time letting them put him in jail. Not all moms do these things to be mean or hateful or to get revenge because they are a woman scorned. Some of us really do just want what's right for our kids. Even though I was not married to his dad when I got pregnant, we had been together for 5 years before that and 6 months after. I work hard to get by and support my son. His dad helped create him too... and should also do something to help. Hell, id settle for $20 a week - or just covering health insurance or something. So guys out there that DO support your kids... that have vengeful ex's... you are appreciated. Hang in there and always get receipts and proof of payment every time and then you should be okay.. I got screwed over - and there is NO reason that a real dad should.