Hi everyone,
I'm trying to help out my brother and get some advice so he can decide if this is worth pursuing. Here's the issue:
Back in 2002 my brother and his (ex)girlfriend agreed that their daughter could move to Louisiana. His girlfriend agreed that as long as she lived in Louisiana with their daughter, he wouldn't have to pay child support. My brother's daughter along with her mother returned to Illinois after hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. His daughter is now almost 19, and the agreement that was made about "waiving the child support" while she was gone is now all of a sudden "not true" according to the mother (she hasn't had a job in years, and is lazy to the point where she'll never have one again). She was granted state aid, and according to my brother, the state noticed approximately 3 years of back child support (which the mother agreed she wouldn't take while out of state), and the state told my brother he still owes her somewhere in the range of 30k, that's mainly why the mother took back her promise. But, from what I have read, if they both had joint custody at the time, regardless if they agreed, the mother would have had to get the court's permission, and they would both have to have it in writing. My brother said he never signed any documents allowing his daughter to leave, and that the mother never told the court recently or ever for that matter that she took their daughter out of state for 3 years. So my question is, is the courts permission absolutely necessary if a parent moves their child out of state, even if both parents at the time had joint custody? And if so, what penalties would the mom face, and would that child support potentially be dismissed if the state did notice that the child was out of state for 3 years, and possibly illegally as well?
Thanks so much for your help,
-Chris
I'm trying to help out my brother and get some advice so he can decide if this is worth pursuing. Here's the issue:
Back in 2002 my brother and his (ex)girlfriend agreed that their daughter could move to Louisiana. His girlfriend agreed that as long as she lived in Louisiana with their daughter, he wouldn't have to pay child support. My brother's daughter along with her mother returned to Illinois after hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. His daughter is now almost 19, and the agreement that was made about "waiving the child support" while she was gone is now all of a sudden "not true" according to the mother (she hasn't had a job in years, and is lazy to the point where she'll never have one again). She was granted state aid, and according to my brother, the state noticed approximately 3 years of back child support (which the mother agreed she wouldn't take while out of state), and the state told my brother he still owes her somewhere in the range of 30k, that's mainly why the mother took back her promise. But, from what I have read, if they both had joint custody at the time, regardless if they agreed, the mother would have had to get the court's permission, and they would both have to have it in writing. My brother said he never signed any documents allowing his daughter to leave, and that the mother never told the court recently or ever for that matter that she took their daughter out of state for 3 years. So my question is, is the courts permission absolutely necessary if a parent moves their child out of state, even if both parents at the time had joint custody? And if so, what penalties would the mom face, and would that child support potentially be dismissed if the state did notice that the child was out of state for 3 years, and possibly illegally as well?
Thanks so much for your help,
-Chris