[dsb55]

Hello, thanks for looking.

I just received an notice in the mail that my wife has filed for an abandoned minor child warrant and I have a court date in 12 days. I am unemployed as is the mother and we both live with our respective parents, she has our child. I was on child support for awhile but then we tried to reconcile and she cancelled the support order. Although I have nothing that states this. On the DHS website it has the case as active from a different date than the original date but I have no arrears balance and my license is still valid. The last time I saw my child was in December, I still have Christmas gifts that I have yet to give her because the mother has all but cut off contact with me. My question is how do these trials usually go? How do I go about making a defense for this? What is the likely hood I will go to prison?
Also, it appears to be a Criminal charge not something to do with Family law?

[dsb55]

Also, this is in Gwinnett County, GA.

[ScottGem]

GA has an unusual child abandonment law. There is a criminal charge of abandonment if you fail to support your child.

However, if you can prove that no support order has ever been issued, you should be able to to get that dismissed.

Are there any custody/visitation orders in place?

[Fr_Chuck]

A support order is only dropped if it is done in court, so I doubt it was ever actually dropped.

But you prove you were paying the support, to your child.

Not seeing the child is not a defense, that merely shows poor parenting and will actually hurt you in court, if you were trying to see the child and refused that is different.

But you go very sorry, show your income and show you have made arrangements to start paying support.
The amount should be based on current income, GA has a min amount to be paid, based on several factors.