College Age German child of a former US Army (father) and a German Citizen(mother)

[David Gavit]

Jurisdiction

Other

My daughter is a German citizen and she finished high school last year. I paid child support for her up to the day she graduated at age 19. She came to live with us for 6 months after graduating. She then moved back to Germany where her mother made her apply for college so that she (the mother) would be able to continue to get government assistance. Now she is asking me to restart child support and threatening to take me back to court. My daughter is now 20. I am a former US Army Veteran. She is a German cictizen. We were married in Texas in 1995 and divorced in 2003. I later returned to Germany in 2004 and she took me to court to change the Texas divorce decree because I was under the SOFA agreement. I am also remarried with 4 young children. I have since retired from the Army and I am wondering what my rights are.

 

[ElleMD]

If you are served with notice that your ex wife has filed to extend child support, you have the right to explain to the court why you believe you should not be ordered to pay. That you have more children and remarried are not a factor, though the existence of a second family can be used to determine how much should be paid, if child support is in fact ordered.

 

[David Gavit]

If you are served with notice that your ex wife has filed to extend child support, you have the right to explain to the court why you believe you should not be ordered to pay. That you have more children and remarried are not a factor, though the existence of a second family can be used to determine how much should be paid, if child support is in fact ordered.

How does that work if I am now living in the US and she is in Germany?

 

[David Gavit]

I am no longer in the military and no longer under the SOFA agreement.

 

[zddoodah]

Now she is asking me to restart child support and threatening to take me back to court.

Who is asking? Your 20 year old child who lives in Germany? Or your ex-wife/child's mother (who also apparently lives in Germany)?

I am wondering what my rights are.

Like every other person, you have dozens of rights, and it would serve no useful purpose to try and compile a list of rights.

I assume your real question is something like the following: "If my ex-wife files something to reinstate child support, is there any chance that she will succeed?" Right?

I know nothing about German law, so I can only address this from a general U.S. law perspective.

Under Texas law, child support general ends when the child turns 18 or has graduated high school (whichever occurs later). You indicated that both of those things have happened and that, as a result, your child support obligation terminated.

Is there any provision under Texas law under which child support could be reinstated for an adult child? Probably, but it probably only applies if the child is physically or mentally disabled to the point where she cannot care for herself.

As a practical matter, do you really see your German resident ex-wife hiring a lawyer in Texas to try reinstating child support? It would be easier if she filed in Germany. However, assuming that's even possible under German law, enforcing a German child support order in Texas would be difficult and expensive.

I think you're probably best off telling the money grubbing b**** to pound sand and, instead, and if you are so inclined, to provide financial support directly to your adult daughter.

 

[David Gavit]

Who is asking? Your 20 year old child who lives in Germany? Or your ex-wife/child's mother (who also apparently lives in Germany)?



Like every other person, you have dozens of rights, and it would serve no useful purpose to try and compile a list of rights.

I assume your real question is something like the following: "If my ex-wife files something to reinstate child support, is there any chance that she will succeed?" Right?

I know nothing about German law, so I can only address this from a general U.S. law perspective.

Under Texas law, child support general ends when the child turns 18 or has graduated high school (whichever occurs later). You indicated that both of those things have happened and that, as a result, your child support obligation terminated.

Is there any provision under Texas law under which child support could be reinstated for an adult child? Probably, but it probably only applies if the child is physically or mentally disabled to the point where she cannot care for herself.

As a practical matter, do you really see your German resident ex-wife hiring a lawyer in Texas to try reinstating child support? It would be easier if she filed in Germany. However, assuming that's even possible under German law, enforcing a German child support order in Texas would be difficult and expensive.

I think you're probably best off telling the money grubbing b**** to pound sand and, instead, and if you are so inclined, to provide financial support directly to your adult daughter.

That is what I was wondering. My ex-wife is trying to scare me and threatening to take me to court. She would file in Germany. and that's what I was wondering, Can she enforce a child support order in the US(I retired in MN)?

 

[army judge]

That is what I was wondering. My ex-wife is trying to scare me and threatening to take me to court. She would file in Germany. and that's what I was wondering, Can she enforce a child support order in the US(I retired in MN)?

There are many reasons why one should avoid communicating DIRECTLY in any fashion with a former spouse.

Some people direct such communications through a personal attorney, or trusted third party.

 

[zddoodah]

Can she enforce a child support order in the US(I retired in MN)?

In the abstract, a German court's child support order certainly can be enforced in the U.S.