I have a special-needs child and would have to hire a nurse to be with him in order for me to be away from him. His father and I were never married. We all lived together in a house owned by his father until his father moved out of state. This month, his father has decided to withdraw financial support, citing that since he is paying for the house we live in that he should not have to give us any money. I have zero income. I have been asking my child’s father to establish a voluntary child-support agreement for months and he has failed to agree to do this (however, he was paying voluntarily). I needed the agreement in order to have documentation of income so that I could rent a smaller place for me and my child to live once my child’s father moved away. Since we still live in his house and I am not able to get someone else to rent to me since I can’t prove income, does he have the right to withhold all financial support and put it toward his mortgage payment? I never agreed to accept housing in lieu of financial support for our child, and we’ve never negotiated a rental rate and signed a lease. I would never rent a place that took all of the child support to cover the rent! Again, I have a special-needs child so this situation is getting dire for us very quickly. As far as custody, I filed for custody when his father moved out of state, so that matter is pending. I will have to go back to work full time but will have to hire nurses to care for my child just so I can attend job interviews. Any legal matters I have to attend will also require leaving my child with a nurse. But I can’t hire nurses until I can pay for them. And it looks like hiring nurses to care for my child while I work full time is going to cost more than I will make. Please advise.
You are entitled to child support. I suggest you contact child support enforcement, they will direct you to the agency in the state where your ex lives who can help you establish support.
As for your child’s needs, perhaps there is a state agency that can help you with care during the pendancy of the action.
So I should not file for child support here? Even though I filed for custody here?
Yes, the support action is proper in the state where the obligor resides, and custody actions lie in the child’s home state.