My husband goes back and forth between being civil and making things nasty. He has recently had me reported as fraud and in return, his bank took the most recent child support payment. I haven’t received any support since then. We have only ever verbally agreed on child support payments when he was in one of his civil states of mind. Our two children live with me the whole year and I support them completely. He doesn’t try to see or talk to them. I have the divorce papers ready to file but my question is, can I turn in a Separation Agreement with those papers so that he has to legally pay child support?
If you have a fully executed separation agreement (both of you have signed the separation agreement and both signatures were notarized) and the agreement sets forth child support terms, then he would be in violation of the separation agreement if he has not paid what he is supposed to according to the terms and you could file a breach of contract lawsuit against him.
You can also include a request in your complaint for absolute divorce that you want the separation agreement to be incorporated into the divorce judgment. You would need to attach a copy of the separation agreement to the complaint. Incorporation transforms the separation agreement into a court order so that if either of you do not follow the terms, then you could be held in contempt of court.
You can also file a child support action against your husband, or go see your county’s child support enforcement agency. Nothing in a separation agreement can stop you from initiating a new child support action.
Anna Ayscue
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest
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