Moving to Another State

[Patrick Robertson]

My question involves child support in the State of: Wisconsin

So my wife did everything right she send a letter to her ex husband telling him that she was moving to Hawaii with their two daughters. He hasn't seen his kids for 4 years, hasn't called, hasn't sent a letter, hasn't contacted for birthdays nothing. My wife has lived in the same house for 8 years, had the same phone number everything but no contact nothing. His child support has been spotty some months here and other months not but he has been getting more consistent.

So she sent him a letter saying that she was moving and 60 days later she moved to Hawaii. He contacted her saying that if she didn't waive child support then he was going to tie her up in court so she couldn't leave. He text her saying that he didn't care if she left but he wanted her to waive support from $500 to $50.

So she moved to Hawaii and now he is saying he wants to take her to court to prevent her from leaving. He isn't very smart the paperwork had her movement date but he apparently doesn't know that she was leaving on the day that she said she was.

The children are 15 and 17. Does he have any legal ground to stand on? Can he make her move her and the kids back to Wisconsin if he hasn't seen them in 4 years completely on the grounds that he doesn't want to have to pay support anymore?

I am not worried we did everything legally the way we were supposed to do but my wife is stressed because she is going to school out here and if the worst happened then she would be out and we would be in a bad financial situation.

[Dogmatique]

As long as she did everything legally (for example did she also need to notify the court?), he really doesn't have a case to have the kids returned to Wisconsin. The kids are also old enough that their wishes would likely carry considerable weight.

If Mom does get served with something, come back and let us know. Until then? Try and reassure her.

[Patrick Robertson]

Its strange because the Wisconsin bar association only said that she needed to send him a certified letter but the Wisconsin court had a blurb saying that it needed to be sent to both the other parent and the court. So we are sending a copy to the court with the proof of certified delivery and proof that it was received so they have everything and keep our fingers crossed that they say it is enough.
The kids are enrolled in school and we are thinking that even if he goes to court and tries something that he is going to focus on him not wanting to pay support anymore which is fine with us but we want him to waive his parental rights which he says he won't do.

I am becomeing more confused about things like he says the kids aren't his and he doesn't want to pay for them, even through he is their dad he wrote them off when he got divorced from their mom, but refuses to sign off his parental rights.

[Dogmatique]

His actions are, unfortunately, not uncommon.

Your wife's children are absolutely entitled to be supported by BOTH of their parents, and your wife should have no qualms keeping child support as it has been ordered. He hasn't seen the kids in 4 years - the chances of a Wisconsin court handing over custody to Dad (that's their only other alternative - they either allow the relocation or switch custody) is virtually nil.

Your wife needs to keep that little text message, btw. Some courts don't allow text messages to be submitted into evidence, but many will. It's obvious that any noise he makes about Mom moving is based purely on his desire to no longer support his children.

The court will see right through that.