[ladybugz]

Hi Everyone
I was hoping someone could shed some light on this situation for me.
On Dec. 30 we received a child support enforcemnet order from the family responsibility office (we live in Ontario, Canada). It stated that a woman living in North Carolina wanted my husband to pay child support/medical support for her 7 year old daughter. My husband and this woman had a brief relationship for about 1 month in 2002 in which she claims she became pregnant. There was never any paternity testing, she didn't name my husband on the borth document and my husband claims this is not his child.
Where do we go from here? Are we entitles to paternity testing first? If it does turn out to be his child does he have to pay for medical(medicaid) since if the child was living here she would have free medical coverage from his insurance... What is the law about child support between two different countries... is it still the same "ontario" child support table...
And does the family responsibity office only help people who are after support not the paying party?

[Fr_Chuck]

First yes if it is his child, he will have to pay what ever the oourt of jurisdiction orders, If his insurance would cover a child living in the US,
( not sure it will cover outside of Canada) he could agree in a child custody agreement to provide insurance for the child.

He should ask for a DNA test and if it is his child get a custody and child visit agreement so that he can also see and visit his child.

[cdad]

First off your husband needs to find out what the orders really are. So he needs to find out what happened to originate the orders and if they are by default. Which I would believe they are since he just got them. Also if there are arrears involved. Once he finds out then he can go from there as far as where to go etc.

[ScottGem]

Good advice so far. A few additional points. How can your husband claim the child is not his? If he had a sexual relationship with this woman, then the possibility exists that the child is his.
He can't know the child isn't his until testing is done.

For the Ontario agency to process this enforcement order, there must be a reciprocal arrangement between Canada and the US over support orders.

So, as califdad said, the first order of business is to get documentation of the support order, find out when it was filed and what efforts were made to contact your husband about it.

I would strongly suggest contacting a Family Law attorney in your area to see what your options are to fight it.

You should be given the opportunity to have a DNA test done. If that comes back negative, you may be able to get the order dismissed against him. I say "may" because it depends on how long the order has existed.

[ladybugz]

Thank you very much for responding. Yes.. I know that he could in deed be the father since there was a sexual relationship but since she only came down about 4 times and lived in the US he was not sure.
I will consult a family law lawyer over here.. just was hard over the holidays!

[ScottGem]

Good luck and keep us posted. Let us know if we can help further.

[stinawords]

I'm out of greenies but I agree with all the above advice. Did he actually receive an order to pay or was it just a summons to appear in court for it to be ordered?

[ladybugz]

I don't really know exactly what it was.. It is not an order yet I don't think because it says that we have 30 days to file a response and if we do not then the judge may make a decision without us... I think it is the step before... just don't know much about this so it is all so confusing to me!
But I appreciate you all for getting back to me! Will try and contact someone today...

[ScottGem]

It sounds like NC passed the order to the local agency, but the local agency is giving him the chance to challenge it. Either that, or the NC order is also the first step.

Either way, respond as soon as you consult an attorney.

[ladybugz]

Yes I think that is what is going on. The package has all of her financial and personal info plus 2 letters she wrote on behalf of her daughter asking to support and trying to say what a horrible man my husband is... It says it is to establish a support order. It was delievered to us by our local Family Responsibility Office who works to get payments for child support...
Have an appointment tonight with a lawyer... crossing my fingers this all turn out OK!

[ScottGem]

The good news is that this appears to be the first step. So the support order may not have been filed too long ago. So there shouldn't be too much back support if he turns out to be the father.

I'd like to see how she can justify stating what a horrible man he is if she never informed him she was pregnant!

The bad news, is that he may have to travel to NC to get this resolved.

[cdad]

The good news is that this appears to be the first step. So the support order may not have been filed too long ago. so there shouldn't be too much back support if he turns out to be the father.

I'd like to see how she can justify stating what a horrible man he is if she never informed him she was pregnant!

The bad news, is that he may have to travel to NC to get this resolved.

Actually it depends on how its being treated. It could be that NC is locked into collection of support but if no order exists then it falls upon Canada to collect and remit that support. So any fighting can be done on a local level. All they need is a release and to chase him over the boarder could get very expensive for their "free" service. They may have released it to Canadian ruling. It happens between the states a lot too because by technicality they have no jurisdiction to assert. They only can assert within their own state.