Collecting Unpaid Child Support

My question involves child support in the State of: New Jersey

Can an CP sue and NCP for unpaid child support with the following facts:

1) NCP paid first 16 years of support
2) Did not pay 17th year
3) Went thru the NJ system, took paternity test and then was ordered to pay x amount per month
4) CP had the case close when the child dropped out of college at age 21.
5) Immediately after dropping out child move out of CP home and get an part-time job and lives with some friends and pays a share of the rent.
6) CP drops Child from medical plan
7) At age 22 child get a better part-time job and moves in to another apartment with one friend sharing the living expenses
8) Child is now 23 years old

Now Cp parent want to take NCP to court for the unpaid year. Is that possible? If the answer is "No", how far can they get? Other words can the NCP still receive a court date or would it be stopped before it comes to that?

Thanks in advance...

Yeap, the CP can sue for unpaid support.

Assuming there was a support order in place, anyway.

Would it be at the rate I was paying prior to the support order being created or at the rate when the support order was closed?

It would be at the rate set in the support order at the time the support wasn't paid.

Was there a court order prior to year 17? Or was the NCP paying without an order?

If NCP was paying without an order, When the order was established shat did it say about back child support?

No there was no court order prior to year 17. Once the court order was created all payments were made through payroll deductions.

The court order had no mention of back child support, on my copy of the closed court order papers I received when the payroll deduction stopped. BUT the CP told me last night that at her court appearance to close the court order the judge wrote on her copy of the case that she can file for the unpaid child support at anytime.

I don't know why I was never given a copy of that memo. I am in the process of trying to find out if I can get a copy it.

Seeing I didn't know about this until now, is it possible to have the amount of money I have given to my adult child after my court order has been closed. It just happen to be about the same amount of the unpaid amount not paid prior to year 17. Could I have it applied to the balance? If I had known about this memo, I would have given the CP the money to decide what to do with it, so it would have applied to the unpaid debt.

:o

You were voluntarily paying for 16 years?!

(Sorry, I'm jaded and we rarely experience an NCP who is supporting their child without a court order)

Do you have receipts? Anything?

Yes. I was voluntarily paying and went 16 years without missing a monthly payment. I have a signed letter from the CP with my payment history. I needed it when I file for Bankruptcy in the 17th year and she provided me with the information.

So you paid voluntarily absent a court order until she was 17, at which time mom got a court order?

Sorry, it sounds off.

Your were close...I paid 16 years without a court order. After that I did not pay for 1 year. CP got a court order and I paid from that point on until the child was 21 years old when the court order case was closed.

So it is the one unpaid year I am questioning about.

Sorry about the confusion. Sound about right now?

Quote:

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Quoting wishtobedramafree

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Your were close...I paid 16 years without a court order. After that I did not pay for 1 year. CP got a court order and I paid from that point on until the child was 21 years old when the court order case was closed.

So it is the one unpaid year I am questioning about.

Sorry about the confusion. Sound about right now?

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Ah, ok. I was confused.

The answer is "maybe." Was the support order made retroactive to date of filing or valid from the date that the order was issued?

Example. You stop paying in January. Mom files in March. The case is heard in December. If made retroactive to date of filing you would have had instantaneous arrearages. If you quit paying in January and filed in December and the order was issued in February and made retroactive, you'd owe from December on. Make sense?

My guess is, if CP closed the case out then mom is outta luck.

Read your original support order. It should have an effective date.