Father had custody in Tx. Mother in Pa. Does either party have a legal obligation to pay child support.?

Question

It has been 25-30 years ago dad had custody in Tx. Mom moved taking kids to Pa. She got custody there. Now wants back child support. The kids are grown.

Dad had custody In Tx. She went to Pa. where she got custody. Pa tried to file on dad for child support. Tx court said to bad that he had the child custody here. So you have two states giving the other custody. He had it first in Tx. He chose not to hurt kids with stealing kids back and fouth. He never lost custody in Tx.

Answer 1

Why weren't the parents more concerned about getting the child support worked out before the children were 18 years old? That would have been the time that the children would have benefitted from the support... Now it seems to me like she is just trying to settle a score. Stepping away from the moral debate about it, let's investigate the legality of it.

Here is a website with links, by state, for the statute of limitations on enforcing a pre-existing child support order: http://www.child-support-collections.com/statute-of-limitations.html

Looking at the link for Pennsylvania, it says that Pennsylvania is one of the states with no statute of limitations for enforcing a support order.

(((Note that it says enforcement, not filing for child support. So if there was never a child support order, she would need to file for a retroactive order of child support. However, judges don't tend to be generous with granting retroactive orders, and when judges do grant retroactive orders, they're usually the size of a few months to cover a reasonable amount of time between having the baby or separating and then filing for child support. More time would be considered, if it took a long time to locate the father. Decades afterward is neither a reasonable amount of time, nor do I believe she would be able to show that she could not find the father for that long. The judge will consider this, and with almost absolute certainty, he will reject the call for retroactive child support.)))

Ok, I won't delete my post in case somebody else could use the information, but forget what I said about retroactive orders. It sounds like, from your additional details, a child support order was established, and the Mom is trying to get back payments.

You said that the dad filed for custody in Texas, and then later the mom filed for custody/child support in PA. You said that the dad did not lose custody in Texas. Do you mean to say that the state of Texas never relinquished its jurisdiction in the case? This would have been a mistake in the part of the judicial system, because the state of Pennsylvania should not have heard the case, unless Texas relinquished its jurisdictional authority over the case. Look up the "Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act." I do not know if this could possibly nullify the whole case in Pennsylvania. Only a lawyer with some knowledge of past precedents could tell you this. It's up to the dad if he wants to hire a lawyer to investigate this.

In addition to the possibility of a jurisdictional error being made by the courts, another possibility is that you are misunderstanding what happened.... especially if you're getting this information second-hand, perhaps you were given some incorrect information. If it is a misunderstanding on your part, then what actually happened is that the court in Texas gave up its jurisdiction, the custody/child support hearing was then done in Pennsylvania, and the state awarded custody and child support to the mother. In this case, the later decision and award for child support to the Mother stands.

Since Pennyslvania has no statute of limitations for enforcing a child support order, then it is possible that the Mom will get the heretofore unpaid child support.

No statute of limitations means that very, very late, long after the children are gone, is still better than never. Perhaps it's meant to discourage dads from disappearing until the child is 18. Since the child support order could be enforced at any time, there's no point in hiding.

Still, though, if I were the one writing the law, I would say that when the child is of the age of majority is when it's time to let it go... The child support won't benefit the child beyond that age, anyway... Sadly, I'm not the one writing the law, so we'll have to stick with whatever everybody else came up with beforehand.

Answer 2

Where they grown when she got custody of them in Pa? If they weren't, then he has to pay back child support up until they turned 18. Unless they went to college, then it is up until the age of 24. Not only that, they charge interest to back child support, so he could be paying more than he anticipated. Oh, and the child support order wouldn't have started until she was given custody, not when she took them with her.

Answer 3

if there was ever a support order in effect then whoever is supposed to pay must still pay.it does not matter if the children are grown the parent who had custody is entitled.it doesnt matter if it comes out of a parents social security it can be enforced and paid.being a deadbeat parent for all your kids lives is sad.the courts will decide.you may think she is wrong but as i said if there was a support order ever in effect he will pay,if not she can forget it.good luck.

Answer 4

So, basically she wants to file for retroactive child support? That’s a totally different thing than enforcing an order that is/was already in place.

She should talk to a local attorney, but I’d say the chances of her now receiving retroactive support are pretty slim, because it was her responsibility to petition for child support *in a timely manner* and she failed to do that.

Answer 5

Statute of limitations has run out. Besides child support isn't for either spouse it is for the CHILDREN, and since they are grown there are no grounds to file for back support.

Answer 6

Below link might help you. Its a great help on child custody.

Answer 7

hell no women are such evil bitches, all they ever want is money. She should have been paying him child support if he had custody. Thats crap!

Answer 8

Let a judge sort it out... he'll make sure everyone paid their equal share!

Answer 9

no its over