Child Support and Back Pay

[Susanne]

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Missouri

My daughter is turning 5 at the end of this month and her father is just now starting to take interest in things such as her medical insurance and claiming her on his taxes.

He is not on the birth certificate (nor has he asked to be on it) and didn't want to meet her until she was 7 1/2 months old. He told me that his lawyer will be talking to me soon b/c I will not give him her ssn.

If I were to start making him give me child support now could I also recieve back pay or not b/c he has never been on the birth certificate? How does back pay work?

[LawResearcherMissy]

You MUST have paternity legally established through the courts in order to obtain a child support order.

If you don't, you get bupkiss.

[Susanne]

I just figured that out. I am sure that's why he has never pushed the issue of getting himself on the birth certificate. He doesn't have to pay any arrearage at all does he?

[Xena]

I just figured that out. I am sure that's why he has never pushed the issue of getting himself on the birth certificate. He doesn't have to pay any arrearage at all does he?

An "arrearage" is already court ordered support that was not paid.

What you are thinking of is called "retroactive CS". I don't know if MO allows for retro support or not. You might want to speak to your state's CS enforcement agency and they can get the process started for a CS order.

[Susanne]

Thanks Xena this stuff is all new to me, seeing as though I have been taking care of my child alone her whole life. I guess it's probably best to get him on the birth certificate and start getting money before he makes things ugly.

[CourtClerk]

From the tone of your post, it doesn't seem like HE'S the one that is going to try and make things ugly.

As already stated, you can't MAKE him do anything, including pay you support. A court can order him to pay support, but that's after he is legally established as the father of this child. Until he does that, he doesn't have a child that he's required to give one red cent to.

[Susanne]

Thank you for your opinion on my tone. Unfortunately you don't know me or any of the circumstances in my personal situation. No I don't plan on making things ugly. In fact I have been overbearingly nice to him and his family. And have gone out of my way for his family to spend time with our daughter because he doesn't make that attempt himself. He is now going behind my back and trying to get our daughter's social security number and won't tell me what it is for. I am only trying to protect my daughter's future.

The only reason I haven't gone to get child support yet is because I honestly don't care about his money and the amount that he has been giving me is what's in his budget (or so he says) and agreed upon by the two of us, whick is less than he would be giving me if I had gone to get child support. I am not out to get his money I most likely won't even go after him for any retroactive cs. I just want to know what my options are considering he is trying to make things ugly.

But, again thank you for your opinion.

[Xena]

Thank you for your opinion on my tone. Unfortunately you don't know me or any of the circumstances in my personal situation. No I don't plan on making things ugly. In fact I have been overbearingly nice to him and his family. And have gone out of my way for his family to spend time with our daughter because he doesn't make that attempt himself. He is now going behind my back and trying to get our daughter's social security number and won't tell me what it is for. I am only trying to protect my daughter's future.

The only reason I haven't gone to get child support yet is because I honestly don't care about his money and the amount that he has been giving me is what's in his budget (or so he says) and agreed upon by the two of us, whick is less than he would be giving me if I had gone to get child support. I am not out to get his money I most likely won't even go after him for any retroactive cs. I just want to know what my options are considering he is trying to make things ugly.

But, again thank you for your opinion.

When you file for CS if you and ex can agree on an amount less than the guideline amount, most Judges will order whatever the agreed amount is. Please understand though, that once he is established as the legal father, he will have the right to know what his child's SSN is.

[Susanne]

Thank you for this helpful information. I am sure we will be able to work it all out.