Child Emancipated in Florida, New Jersey is Ignoring Order

My question involves child support in the State of: Florida and NJ

Hello,

My daughter was emancipated in the state of FL in Sept 2007. I have sent the emancipation order to the state of NJ, but they refuse to close the case. They insist that the case is still the jurisdiction of NJ, even though the child and mother have not lived in NJ for 17 years (They both live in GA), AND modifications to the case in 1994 and 2002 (In which I, the father, fought for visitation) we conducted in Broward County, FL. I was not in any arrears when Florida emancipated the child, but now my license is suspended as NJ refuses to even return calls.

The child is now 19, and not living at home. She is in college at UGA.

DMV won't give me my license back, DCS says it's out of their hands and to contact NJ, NJ won't return my calls, and says they can't help me over the phone!

What should I do?? I am at my wit's end with the run around. :wallbang::wallbang:

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Quoting CaveDiver

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My question involves child support in the State of: Florida and NJ

Hello,

My daughter was emancipated in the state of FL in Sept 2007. I have sent the emancipation order to the state of NJ, but they refuse to close the case. They insist that the case is still the jurisdiction of NJ, even though the child and mother have not lived in NJ for 17 years (They both live in GA), AND modifications to the case in 1994 and 2002 (In which I, the father, fought for visitation) we conducted in Broward County, FL. I was not in any arrears when Florida emancipated the child, but now my license is suspended as NJ refuses to even return calls.

The child is now 19, and not living at home. She is in college at UGA.

DMV won't give me my license back, DCS says it's out of their hands and to contact NJ, NJ won't return my calls, and says they can't help me over the phone!

What should I do?? I am at my wit's end with the run around. :wallbang::wallbang:

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You probably will need an attorney to fix this. try getting a consult with a FL attorney first, you can get a low cost 1/2 hour consult by calling the Florida Bar Lawyer Refferal Service at 1-800-342-8011.

There is a child support order out of New Jersey. You say that you've been told that you will not get relief from that order unless you bring an appropriate motion in the New Jersey court to terminate your support obligation, and that the provision of a Florida emancipation order is not sufficient. So it follows that you should bring an appropriate motion in the New Jersey court to terminate your support obligation.

You should not count on that erasing any arrearage you have accrued during the period of time before you file your motion to terminate child support. If the other parent is willing to forgive your debt, it may be possible to get them to agree to a satisfaction of judgment that will cause the New Jersey court system to regard your support obligation as paid in full, such that you can recover your license.

How would I go about filing the proper paperwork with New Jersey? Do I have to retain a lawyer in New Jersey? If so, can I appear by phone? Or is this strictly an administrative process?

The mother has no intentions of helping in any way. I contacted her prior to posting, and her response was "what's in it for me?"

I believe that Florida was given jurisdiction in a previous modification ( I will look at court order records to confirm), but if it is so ordered, can New Jersey still refuse to honor such an order?

Also, is there a low cost consultation service in New Jersey that I could contact if I need legal help in that state?

Thank you all very much for your help.

Sincerely,

You can try to handle this yourself, assuming you can figure out how. Assuming the motion is to be filed in New Jersey, child support forms are available online, but I can't say they're not confusing. You would have to ask the court if they can accommodate your appearing by telephone.

I have no idea what any prior court orders state, and I'm not going to speculate - I have no way of knowing what's in the orders, or whether New Jersey would respect a Florida court order terminating support based upon that unknown history. But if you believe that Florida has jurisdiction to terminate your support obligation the question is raised, why haven't you filed a motion requesting termination of support in Florida?

Possible sources of legal help.

Hi Aaron,

Thank you very much for the information.

To answer your question, I do have a court order terminating child support obligation and emancipating the chile when she turned 18. My problem is that NJ refuses to accept the order, stating that they still have jurisdiction, even though the order was modified in FL twice.

I will contact an attorney through the numbers you provided, as the forms list in NJ does look somewhat overwhelming.

Thanks again for your help.