I live in NJ and never filed for child support from my son's father who lives in Maryland. Although my son is now 29 years, I was wondering if there is a statute on limitations to file for child support in the State of New Jersey. :mad:

Ummm, can I ask why in the world you would want to file for CS now. Is the son disabled?

Child support would go from the date of filing for it, forward. Your "child" is 29 years old and above the NJ child support emancipation age of 18. No judge will issue an order of support for a 29 year old adult.

I thought it was debt owed to me and was trying to collect. Thank you for your response.

I thought it was debt owed to me and was trying to collect. Thank you for your response.

Not if there was never an order....

Hi Pooda, I don't believe the responses you have received are entirely correct. I have a similar situation. I am 23 years old, my mother and father were never married. My father was there for my mother's pregnancy, and for my birth. He signed my birth certificate, and all of my legal papers that are in vital statistics stating that he is my father. A few months after I was born, he he stopped paying support. He also took me off of his insurance when when he found out that I needed surgery at 6 months old. He wrote a letter to my mom stating that he and his new wife wanted my mom to take a DNA test. He started to deny paternity. My mother was so insulted, and would not take a DNA test-this was rather taboo in the 80's. He told my mother that she could go on welfare and that he did not have a child, so we went on welfare until my mom graduated from graduate school. My father never spoke to me again until recently.

I contacted my father at the age of 20. I found him by using USSEARCH. He told me that he wanted a DNA test, but that his wife did not want me talking to him. She could not have her own children during the course of their 20 year old marriage, and she had no interest in him having a relationship with me. I didn't talk to him again until last week, when I requested medical information from him because I now have a son, and he called me telling me that once again he wanted a DNA test. This time though, he tells me that he wants a home DNA test, because his wife is afraid that if I we take a legal test, I will o after "their" money. I am afraid that if we take a home test, he will get someone else to take it thereby leaving me without any answers for the rest of my life. I wanted to know rather I could court order him to take a paternity test, and found some interesting information when searching online about the Statue of Limitations as it relates to paternity test and child support arrears(even if support was never filed). I have since contacted a lawyer who is willing to take my case if I decide to file any type of suit against my father. Here is a link that may help you:

http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Communications_Office/oral_arguments/04/1012/1012.asp#032116_032183

Hi Pooda, I don't believe the responses you have received are entirely correct. I have a similar situation. I am 23 years old, my mother and father were never married. My father was there for my mother's pregnancy, and for my birth. He signed my birth certificate, and all of my legal papers that are in vital statistics stating that he is my father. A few months after I was born, he he stopped paying support. He also took me off of his insurance when when he found out that I needed surgery at 6 months old. He wrote a letter to my mom stating that he and his new wife wanted my mom to take a DNA test. He started to deny paternity. My mother was so insulted, and would not take a DNA test-this was rather taboo in the 80's. He told my mother that she could go on welfare and that he did not have a child, so we went on welfare until my mom graduated from graduate school. My father never spoke to me again until recently.

I contacted my father at the age of 20. I found him by using USSEARCH. He told me that he wanted a DNA test, but that his wife did not want me talking to him. She could not have her own children during the course of their 20 year old marriage, and she had no interest in him having a relationship with me. I didn't talk to him again until last week, when I requested medical information from him because I now have a son, and he called me telling me that once again he wanted a DNA test. This time though, he tells me that he wants a home DNA test, because his wife is afraid that if I we take a legal test, I will o after "their" money. I am afraid that if we take a home test, he will get someone else to take it thereby leaving me without any answers for the rest of my life. I wanted to know rather I could court order him to take a paternity test, and found some interesting information when searching online about the Statue of Limitations as it relates to paternity test and child support arrears(even if support was never filed). I have since contacted a lawyer who is willing to take my case if I decide to file any type of suit against my father. Here is a link that may help you:

http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Communications_Office/oral_arguments/04/1012/1012.asp#032116_032183

Ok.. first problem is that you are not from the posters state....
and second problem is that the case that you stated is still under appeal so it has not been settled as of yet, making no determination.

I have searched and I'm yet to find case law in New Jersey that allows an adult child to sue for CS absent there being a disability.

Thirdly you say he 'stopped' paying support which would indicate there was an order to begin with which is not the case with the poster.

Fourth, I want to point out that EVEN IF YOU WERE able to get a retroactive order in your case (which has nothing to do with the poster) the fact that your mother was on welfare can and most likely will come into play and those monies will have to be repaid to the state.

Fifth, the SOL for establishing paternity in New Jersey if 5 years past the child's 18th birthday so the SOL for this has ran out if paternity was not established in this case in which the poster did not indicate.

and lastly in the state of New Jersey dormancy revival is not possible, meaning this has sat so long and not action taken that there won't be an order set.

Suzy72,

Laws can be amended. Laws are not set in stone. Before the Ohio case that I posted was put on trial a few years ago, a case like this would have never been considered. Remember, there was a time when women couldn't vote, when blacks couldn't go to school with whites, and when donkeys had to walk on the left side of the sidewalk.

Men like my father should not be able to intimidate women out of filing support claims, and when their adult children grown up and get wind of this, they should be able to sue for what was rightfully theirs in the first place. Just like in the Ohio case, my father was never paying "court ordered" child support, he was paying support to me on his own accord. Men should not be able to drop children around the planet and think that because 18 or 21 or 23 years has gone by, that they are off the hook. If people begin taking these cases to court, the laws will change.

Suzy72,

Laws can be amended. Laws are not set in stone. Before the Ohio case that I posted was put on trial a few years ago, a case like this would have never been considered. Remember, there was a time when women couldn't vote, when blacks couldn't go to school with whites, and when donkeys had to walk on the left side of the sidewalk.

Men like my father should not be able to intimidate women out of filing support claims, and when their adult children grown up and get wind of this, they should be able to sue for what was rightfully theirs in the first place. My father was never paying "court ordered" child support, he was paying support to me on his own accord.


This is my last response because this is rude and hijacking of the original posters thread. The fact that your father at some point had you on his insurance and was in fact paying something COULD possibly cause him to have to pay support due to the fact of admittance.

Here's a case that has been settled in OH. In this case there was a support order, unlike yours, however, the court ruled that the adult child was NOT entitled to the monies but the mother was ..

Critser v. Critser, 2000 Ohio App. LEXIS 1214

here is another OH statute for you..

§ 3111.05. Statutes of limitations


An action to determine the existence or nonexistence of the father and child relationship may not be brought later than five years after the child reaches the age of eighteen. Neither section 3111.04 of the Revised Code nor this section extends the time within which a right of inheritance or a right to a succession may be asserted beyond the time provided by Chapter 2105., 2107., 2113., 2117., or 2123. of the Revised Code.

Again all of this OH stuff is moot anyways and I won't entertain it any longer so you go right on ahead and try this through court in OH and if by some chance when you are over 30 yrs old this is settled and you win, be prepared for the state to step in and take a huge chunk of it...and lets not forget the lawyer needs paid too.