I have a 4 year old son and his father and I split up almost a year ago. We were never married. He hardly ever calls and has only sent two payments of 50.00 the past year for supporting his son. Can I legally file for child abandoment? Not to mention, he has another child out there that he is court ordered to pay child support for and he is backed up 13,000 on child support.

Hello Jamie:

What do you think you will accomplish by winning a child abandoment claim?

excon

First thing you need to do is get a child support set up through the court system. Anything that has been given to this point will be considered a gift. With that - will come visitation, whether he chooses to see the child, who knows.
He maybe in jail for non-payment of his other child support.
Do you just not want him to have rights to the child?

NowWhat is right! You DO need to get a court order for him to start paying child support. Cause trust me, he won't volunteer to help out if he's only paid $100 in the past year. But unfortunately, that isn't so easy. My daughters' biological father has only been around her 3 times in the past 9 years. He is court ordered to pay child support, but he doesn't. We went to court in January (he didn't show) and found out he's almost $27,000 behind in child support. The judge sent a bench warrant out for his arrest w/no bond once he's caught, but my atty told me that could take up to as long as 3 years. So, he's out running around doing whatever the heck he wants while I'm supporting his daughter w/o his help. But that's definitely what I would do first, get it court ordered!

I don't know if this helps anyone - or maybe make you feel a little better - but...
My husband's father and mother divorced when he was 15. He was the oldest of 4. The dad did not pay child support. The youngest was very young - he graduated H.S. after I married into the family.
Years and Years of no support from this man. My MIL contacted a child support recovery program to collect all the back support. They found him and made him pay - they garnished his wages. Although, by the time he was paid up - all the kids were out of the house. But, she put the money in savings for the kids.
Does this help? I don't know - the moral of the story - eventually she got paid and all the kids reaped the benefits. They can't run forever.

I still find this all bull****... if someone is in a 2 person home and one parent leaves the other, this is not criminal. However, if the remaining parent does the same, it is?? What a broken ****ing system...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by papachophchop

I still find this all bull****... if someone is in a 2 person home and one parent leaves the other, this is not criminal. However, if the remaining parent does the same, it is??!!?! What a broken ****ing system...

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What are you blithering about? Not the OP's situation that I can see.

"Blithering"? I LOVE it.

At any rate the (obscene) rant is apparently triggered by a 2007 thread.

Too bad no one has had any questions on this same subject in 4 years.