Is deadbeat dad required to pay past due support?

[Swthomps413]

Jurisdiction

California

My step daughter's father did not pay any child support until she was almost six. He has been out of the picture since she was six months. He finally showed up for court, and a payment arrangement was finally made. However, he has not been required to pay back any of the five plus years he never paid. Is this correct? Should he not have to pay those back payments?

Also, he owns his own business, and makes plenty of money, but claims he only makes $1000/mo (and so he only has to pay the minimum payment). How can we have his actual income determined and reported? He puts everything, including the business in other peoples names, so none of the money or property is tied to him.

I've been pulling my hair out over him getting away with this for so long. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[KatDini]

If there was not a court order for support after Step-Daughter was born, then Dad does not owe squat until the court makes the declaration.

 

[army judge]

My step daughter's father did not pay any child support until she was almost six. He has been out of the picture since she was six months. He finally showed up for court, and a payment arrangement was finally made. However, he has not been required to pay back any of the five plus years he never paid. Is this correct? Should he not have to pay those back payments?

Also, he owns his own business, and makes plenty of money, but claims he only makes $1000/mo (and so he only has to pay the minimum payment). How can we have his actual income determined and reported? He puts everything, including the business in other peoples names, so none of the money or property is tied to him.

I've been pulling my hair out over him getting away with this for so long. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Stepparents aren't normally required to pay child support for the biological children of others absent a legal adoption.

Is this alleged deadbeat the legal parent of this child?

Did you legally adopt the child you refer to as a stepdaughter?

Just who are you, insofar as the law is concerned, in this saga?

 

[Swthomps413]

Stepparents aren't normally required to pay child support for the biological children of others absent a legal adoption.

Is this alleged deadbeat the legal parent of this child?

Did you legally adopt the child you refer to as a stepdaughter?

Just who are you, insofar as the law is concerned, in this saga?

Thank you for your response army judge.

I am the step-father, by marriage. I have not legally adopted yet. I have raised her since she was 11 months old.

The legal father has been absent since she was 6 months old.

Child services had been trying to track him down for five years, across several states and even internationally. Every time they claimed to have his address, he would move again. Does this mean that for all those years he evaded being served papers, he is not responsible for the support that he wasn't paying?

 

[army judge]

Thank you for your response army judge.

I am the step-father, by marriage. I have not legally adopted yet. I have raised her since she was 11 months old.

The legal father has been absent since she was 6 months old.

Child services had been trying to track him down for five years, across several states and even internationally. Every time they claimed to have his address, he would move again. Does this mean that for all those years he evaded being served papers, he is not responsible for the support that he wasn't paying?

Thanks for clarifying things for me, SWT.


Here on this official CA state link are some informative pamphlets about many aspects of child support laws in your state:


Publications


Unfortunately, hundreds of deadbeat parents never pay a dime of court ordered child support.

There are many ways, most of them illegal, for these critters to avoid their court ordered obligations.

I advise the caretaker parent to live life as if the deadbeat will never get caught.
You see, SWT, some of these sleazy critters would rather go to jail thn pay up.

Others choose to leave the USA, others simply go underground working off the books, or engaging in criminal enterprises to avoid the watchful eye of the government.

In all fairness to caretaker parents, government, courts, and law enforcement have teir hands full tacking down child molesters, rapists, terrorists, murderers, scammers, and all manner of felons running rampant across the land and in our over crowded prisons.

I get it, these payments are important to a single parent. This is why the best thing you can do is work within the system, but don't ever count on seeing a dollar of the past due amount. If it comes, it comes.

Common sense tells me that honest people don't need to be persuaded, arrested, or hounded to honor their obligations. On the other hand, these deadbeats don't operate like most of us. Deadbeats spend their lives wrecking the lives of decent people, conning, scamming, stealing, and leaving wrecked lives of innocent people in their wake.

In the end, if the deadbeat admit paid up in all these years, he's probably never going to step up like you did and do the right thing.

I hope your wife knows what a great guy she's found.