Can you take legal action for accepting child support without raising the child?

VictoriaR

New Member
Jurisdiction
Georgia
The child was with her step aunt and uncle for almost three years, during which time the mother accepted and used child support money for herself. She lived with them and they fed, clothed, and raised her. The mother did NOT offer any of the child support money to the relatives to help raise her, and in fact they had to pay out of pocket for expensive things for the child like warm coats for the winter, exam fees for her education, and veterinary fees for her much needed companion animal.

Meanwhile the mother used the child support for herself, using it to pay for things that in no way affected or had to do with the child, including a trip to Costa Rica. The child even made numerous attempts to persuade her mother to at least put away the money for her education, but her mother consistently flew into a rage and refused.

The girl is now 19 and in college, she's paid her own way 100%, but her mother entered her taxes incorrectly and as a result the daughter was removed from enrollment for the current semester. She went back to live with her mother after turning 18, but her mother flies into violent rages over the mildest of things. The daughter has almost been kicked out for reasons no more serious than "she's not grateful enough", "she's depressed", and "her cat sheds too much" and I'm not exaggerating that's the full extent of the mother's reasons for throwing her out. The girl is a star student who hasn't been left off the dean's list once in her college career, she's in an honor's society, and she even got a job on the side. She has no criminal record, doesn't smoke, drink, or do drugs, and never even invites people to her mother's house.

I understand that it's within the woman's rights to throw her out, but is it possible that the child could take legal action to receive compensation for the support that wasn't given to her for those years? It could help her get on her feet seeing as neither I nor any of her relatives are in positions of being able to support her any longer. I truly don't believe that she's safe emotionally or physically where she is right now and I'm fairly certain her mother has made up her mind.
 
Short answer: No.

Aunt and Uncle could have filed for child support from both parents while they had the child, but did not. Now, that the child is an adult, it is too late to do anything. The adult is not bound to stay at her mother's house. She can leave anytime she wants.
 
is it possible that the child could take legal action to receive compensation for the support that wasn't given to her for those years?

No. No money was due to the child.
 
Agree with the others that your paying parent OR your aunt/uncle should have gone after the child support at the time and there is not much you can do now.

As a result of your mom's taxes, you weren't unenrolled, however I do see how it could affect financial aid and student loans. Have you spoken at all with the financial aid department at the college? Have you filed your own taxes and claimed yourself as a dependent (which can possibly set off an audit on your mom claiming you)? Can you prove you supported yourself more than 50% of the year? That might be hard though if you actually lived with her and she paid your housing/food/etc. and if your only support was financial aid.

Have you looked into the military and serving to get them to help pay for college expenses? How about the state (Nat'l) Guard? Can you take classes online or at a local college/university which can be cheaper? My DD found an online program that transfers basic classes to her college and was able to take a 3 hour class for about $350 (as compared to the cost of a 3 hour higher level class that was about $2400)

Many kids have parents who refuse to pay for college and whose income counts against them, but where there is a will, there is generally a way.
 
The child was with her step aunt and uncle for almost three years, during which time the mother accepted and used child support money for herself. She lived with them and they fed, clothed, and raised her. The mother did NOT offer any of the child support money to the relatives to help raise her, and in fact they had to pay out of pocket for expensive things for the child like warm coats for the winter, exam fees for her education, and veterinary fees for her much needed companion animal.

Meanwhile the mother used the child support for herself, using it to pay for things that in no way affected or had to do with the child, including a trip to Costa Rica. The child even made numerous attempts to persuade her mother to at least put away the money for her education, but her mother consistently flew into a rage and refused.

The girl is now 19 and in college, she's paid her own way 100%, but her mother entered her taxes incorrectly and as a result the daughter was removed from enrollment for the current semester. She went back to live with her mother after turning 18, but her mother flies into violent rages over the mildest of things. The daughter has almost been kicked out for reasons no more serious than "she's not grateful enough", "she's depressed", and "her cat sheds too much" and I'm not exaggerating that's the full extent of the mother's reasons for throwing her out. The girl is a star student who hasn't been left off the dean's list once in her college career, she's in an honor's society, and she even got a job on the side. She has no criminal record, doesn't smoke, drink, or do drugs, and never even invites people to her mother's house.

I understand that it's within the woman's rights to throw her out, but is it possible that the child could take legal action to receive compensation for the support that wasn't given to her for those years? It could help her get on her feet seeing as neither I nor any of her relatives are in positions of being able to support her any longer. I truly don't believe that she's safe emotionally or physically where she is right now and I'm fairly certain her mother has made up her mind.

Child support is paid to the parent - not the child. So adult children can't go back and file anything to get unpaid child support. The parent who was to receive the support is the only one who can do it.

She's an adult - why is she there still?

Parents who get child support can actually spend it on anything they want. There's nothing to monitor what it is spent on. You and the aunt and uncle let the mom get away with not taking care of her child and you let her blow your money on stupid stuff. Hindsight is 20/20.

If your daughter isn't safe with her mother she needs to leave. End of story.
 
Agree with the others that your paying parent OR your aunt/uncle should have gone after the child support at the time and there is not much you can do now.

As a result of your mom's taxes, you weren't unenrolled, however I do see how it could affect financial aid and student loans. Have you spoken at all with the financial aid department at the college? Have you filed your own taxes and claimed yourself as a dependent (which can possibly set off an audit on your mom claiming you)? Can you prove you supported yourself more than 50% of the year? That might be hard though if you actually lived with her and she paid your housing/food/etc. and if your only support was financial aid.

Have you looked into the military and serving to get them to help pay for college expenses? How about the state (Nat'l) Guard? Can you take classes online or at a local college/university which can be cheaper? My DD found an online program that transfers basic classes to her college and was able to take a 3 hour class for about $350 (as compared to the cost of a 3 hour higher level class that was about $2400)

Many kids have parents who refuse to pay for college and whose income counts against them, but where there is a will, there is generally a way.

The dad is the OP not the child.
 
Missed that since the poster's name was VictoriaR and he never stated who the writer was...I do have to wonder where he was when all this was happening then. And why he isn't stepping in even now to help her?

If the description of the mother is accurate, I suspect she suffers from a mental illness, or significant drug abuse.
 
Missed that since the poster's name was VictoriaR and he never stated who the writer was...I do have to wonder where he was when all this was happening then. And why he isn't stepping in even now to help her?

Maybe not the dad then but someone else not the child. I didn't look at the user name. I assumed it was the dad honestly. My bad. But it's not the daughter unless she talks about herself in the third person.
 
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