I have a 10 year old daughter with an ex-boyfriend. We have never gone to court over custody of our daughter. But I have always had physical custody of her. I am now married and my husband and I have a 4 year old son. About 1 1/2 years ago my husband got a job in Atlanta Ga so we moved from Ca to Ga. Since we moved here he has not paid a single penny to us. When we were in Ca he did pay support from time to time. (the amount of support always changed to) I have always worked with him if times were tough i was patient in the amount he paid and sometimes for long periods he didnt pay anything. Even his visitation varied sometimes he would show sometimes not. Since we moved he NEVER calls her, and as i said before he hasn't paid anything since we moved. Every break from school she gets we fly her back to visit. My husband and I are at the point that we are tired of being nice and bending over backwards for him so we have decided to take him to court. Problem is we don't know which state to file in Ga or CA? And we dont know what our rights are or what to ask for. He has told me the judge will make me bring her back to Cali. (I'm thinking that might be true if he wasnt a dead beat!) I feel if you want to say your a father you need to act like a father. Funny thing about it is he says he doesnt call her because he misses her to much! Note: We lived 15 miles from him before and he didn't see her anymore than he does now. Is that a crock or what? I think thats a man who is in need of some serious mental help. :)

I have a 10 year old daughter with an ex-boyfriend. We have never gone to court over custody of our daughter. But I have always had physical custody of her. I am now married and my husband and I have a 4 year old son. About 1 1/2 years ago my husband got a job in Atlanta Ga so we moved from Ca to Ga. Since we moved here he has not paid a single penny to us. When we were in Ca he did pay support from time to time. (the amount of support always changed to) I have always worked with him if times were tough i was patient in the amount he paid and sometimes for long periods he didnt pay anything. Even his visitation varied sometimes he would show sometimes not. Since we moved he NEVER calls her, and as i said before he hasn't paid anything since we moved. Every break from school she gets we fly her back to visit. My husband and I are at the point that we are tired of being nice and bending over backwards for him so we have decided to take him to court. Problem is we don't know which state to file in Ga or CA? And we dont know what our rights are or what to ask for. He has told me the judge will make me bring her back to Cali. (I'm thinking that might be true if he wasnt a dead beat!) I feel if you want to say your a father you need to act like a father. Funny thing about it is he says he doesnt call her because he misses her to much! Note: We lived 15 miles from him before and he didn't see her anymore than he does now. Is that a crock or what? I think thats a man who is in need of some serious mental help. :)


You have several issues here that without more info it will be hard to determine.

1. You say custody was never legally settled.. was there any support ever settled?

2. Was there ever a visitation order?

3. When you moved I'm going to assume that you only told him and since there wasn't a court order of any kind, you didn't notify the courts, correct?

no none of that was ever done in court. But he was fully informed about us moving and had no problem at all with it. Like i said his visitation was when ever he wanted it. As well as his family, our daughter is his mothers world.

I know it was stupid not to go to court but till now we never seemed to need it. The situation kinda worked for us.

no none of that was ever done in court. But he was fully informed about us moving and had no problem at all with it. Like i said his visitation was when ever he wanted it. As well as his family, our daughter is his mothers world.

Ok.. well legally he has no rights .. nor does he have any obligations. Right now if you were to take this to court for CS... you would actually be pretty close to even to things. Since nothing has been filed you likely can file in GA as you meet the resident requirements. You could be faced with paying for all transportation requirements if dad files for visitation. The likelyhood of being forced to move back to CA after all this time and nothing in court isn't likely to happen but I have seen stranger things. As far as CS you will likely only get support from the time that it's filed for so don't expect back pay and know that it will be tough to get with a interstate case.

lol that kinda sucks for us then huh? Does it help us that we have always paid for her to visit him? And are you saying we would have to pay for him to come here for visitation and court?

lol that kinda sucks for us then huh? Does it help us that we have always paid for her to visit him? And are you saying we would have to pay for him to come here for visitation and court?


No you wouldn't likely have to pay for him to visit or court (he could get a telephone contact for court) but the fact that you have been paying for transporation already will show you are willing to do it so that will likely continue.

If you are GA residents, you can file there, as that would be preferred, but there is also a basis for jurisdiction in CA. I suggest consulting an attorney in GA to discuss further.