[breadboxartstudio]

Frustrating. I have full custody. My daughter does not reside with me, she has been residing with my sister for the last few years to finish out her schooling where she started. I bought a home 37 miles away- my daughter did not adjust and my sister offered for her to live with her to finish school .
My exhusband had the child support recently stopped due to the fact the original order stated it be paid to me for her support. I have the same account the deposit always went into- I just gave my sister the debit card to remove the child support and take care of it on her end. I have also contributed finances by cash and occasional checks from my second personal account that I use as well as cash deposits on the first account for my daughter.
My exhusband is demanding my daughter live with me to be entitled to the support. My daughter is 4 months from graduating. My exhusband is trying to tell the court my daughter is emancipated (she is not). She goes to school full time, is not employed and is just not ready for being out on her own. My daughter has a boyfriend- my exhusband is trying to say that they are engaged (they are not). He and his lawyer are driving me to tears. I hired an attorney who is not familiar with family law and has not represented me well. The attorney did not state that he was not familiar with family law until the day of the court and obviously we lost the child support. My daughter is a week away from turning 18. I cannot make up the difference of child support as I have 5 children to support (4 with me) including my oldest daughter residing at my sister's house.
We decided to petition the court to transfer custody to my sister due to the fact she has my daughter living with her, but my daughter is only going to be there for another 4 months and I seriously do not think this wise at this point. The court was adjourned due to we attended without an attorney as my attorney said we should be able to handle it ourselves as he saw it as a cut and dry case?
Can I just have a court appointed guardian for my daughter or can we get the support paid directly to my daughter? She is applying to local colleges right now and I do not want to have to go through the child support getting cut off every few months due to her residence changing?
Also my exhusband is taking me to court for the "overpayments" of child support that was paid to my account- but it was used for my daughter by my sister- after the filing date and actual court date it was ruled on.
My exhusband is harassing myself and my daughter stating he will go bancrupt and even sell his own blood to make sure we do not get any of his money. He is even making accusations that our daughter is not his. He sent my daughter a text message stating she is "not going to get any more brain cells on her 18th birthday" and she had better do something to support herself as the free ride is over.
Frustrating and confused?

[macksmom]

Well I agree that child support should not be sent to you since you are not caring for you daughter. Child support should be sent to the child (since she is older) or your sister. You seem to be in quite a tangled mess. I would suggest getting a better attorney and goind back to court. The father ultimately is responsible for supporting his daughter... but if you don't have a good attorney he is able to get around it.

So that is what I would concentrate on... getting a good attorney.

[cdad]

1) realize that this is of your own making.
2) try to correct what really is wrong and let the other stuff go.
3) Fire the lawyer you now have as he has no experience in family law.
4) decide what you really want and see if it even sounds remotely correct.
Having said that you need to start fresh. Hire one that knows and is familiar with the laws of your area. In effect his claim for emancipation may be valid because she doesn't reside in your home and its with your total consent. Again consult a competent lawyer. As far as getting back overpayments he might get it since she isn't living with you. You should have made everything legal and dotted I's and crossed every T. You have a hard road ahead but not an impossible one.
Plan of attatck. Make sure you documented everything you have done since she was living with your sister, reciepts and all. Also you will maybe need a custody change of some sort and he will be there for it too. You must remember that going to court and having a lawyer with no experience isn't a good thing and if your not getting what you need from one you hire fire them right away.