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Conference quokka::non_custodial_parents

Title:	Welcome to the Non-Custodial Parents Conference
Notice:	Please read 1.* before writing anything
Moderator:	MIASYS::HETRICK

Created:	Sun Feb 25 1990
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	420
Total number of notes:	4370

143.0. "Emancipated Minor Questions" by COOKIE::BADOVINAC () Thu Jul 11 1991 16:36

I am a NCP residing in Colorado.  I have two daughters that live in
California.  The oldest is 22 years old and married.  The youngest has just
turned 16 and moved out from her mother.  My ex and I have not had a good
relationship since our divorce in 1975 and she has systematically kept the
girls whereabouts hidden from me for years at a time but that's another
story.  The 16 year old (Lisa) moved out from her mother four months ago
but doesn't want to live with me because all her friends and in California,
she likes the ocean, and has a job there.  I have been paying my child
support through the D.A. here in Colorado for the last four years.  My ex
refuses to send my daughter any money so I have been sending her money at
the same time I'm paying my ex-wife child support.  Needless to say I'm not
too happy about this situation.  The D.A. here tells me that they cannot
send the support payments directly to my daughter unless:

1.  They see proof that her legal guardian has changed to someone other
than her mother.  (I tried to get Lisa to make her older sister her legal
guardian but she doesn't want to do that.)

2.  She goes on AFDC.  (In this case her mother would have to pay also.  I
liked the sound of this one a lot but Lisa didn't.)

3.  She becomes an emancipated minor.  In this case no one would have to
pay her child support but I have told Lisa I would pay her directly until
she at least finished high school.

QUESTION:

I owe my ex ~ $2200 on arrears.  If Lisa becomes an emancipated minor could
I pay the $2200 to her or would I have to pay her mother?

Patrick

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
143.1	What happens in my case	TROOA::AKERMANIS		`Fri Jul 12 1991 12:57`	11
	Interesting question, in Ontario, Canada, if the child reaches 16 and leaves the CP to live on his/her own, then the NCP is off the hook for the child support. Now if the child runs into problems, then that would be another story which I am not sure what happens in these cases. But being a responsible parent, you would help the child independantly to avoid further potential problems and obligations to your ex. Any arrears however would not be exempt and would have to be paid from what I understand to the ex. John
143.2	Just a thought	PARZVL::GRAY	Follow the hawk, when it circles, ...	`Fri Jul 12 1991 14:38`	19
	If you decide to take it to court, you may want to: - Put the $2,200 arrears in a separate savings account - Start making regular child support payments/deposits to the account - Ask the judge to leave the money there until Lisa "becomes an emancipated minor" or goes back to her mother's home. Then the money would go to Lisa's use either on her own or at her mother's home. Richard PS I would use caution, when giving large sums of money to a teenager. I think, at that age, they still need to use a good sounding board before they spend a big chunk of money.
143.3	child should be living with CP	CSC32::HADDOCK	All Irk and No Pay	`Thu Jul 18 1991 15:19`	9
	There is precedence in the Colorado court that the child must be living with the CP in order for the CP to collect support. See your lawyer, and have him/her check Brown v. Brown, 183 Colo. 356, 516 p.2d 1129 (1972) (Reference to Colorado Supreme Court decisions). The DA is not a good source of information, and should not be giving out legal advice in the first place. fred();
143.4		AIMHI::RAUH	Home of The Cruel Spa	`Fri Jul 19 1991 09:58`	14
	If the child is not living with mom, has a place of residence, could you get some piece of mail from her. Postage could be proof if she has been living there for some time and the ex does nothing about it. Did the divorce happen in Colorado or Cal? Reason is that if the divorce happend local to you and she lives some distance from you. It is to your advantave to open the case up and discuss the issue locally and having her travel some distance to show for aperances and hire an attorney. An aquantice of mine is doing this very thing, he lives in New Hampshire and she has moved to Florida. She has done somethings far worse than whats going on here in this note. I am shure that his ex is going to be getting 'Frequient Flyer Points' on this.:)