Question for the forum:

My girlfriend has an 11 year old daughter that she has raised on her own for well over seven years. An order for child support had been issued to the father, but he skipped out to South Carolina. As far as I know, there has been no attempt to collect childsupport as my girlfriend was simply glad the father was gone. He went five years without contact, only having contact with her once where the child spend a month with him. He has not made contact with her again for two years until several months ago.

He made some threats to my girlfriend that he would serve her papers, and try to get custody of the child. My girlfriend made an attempt at that point to reinstitute the child support order through an outside agency. Investigation found that the father had multiple social security numbers, claimed no revenue for over five years straight, and yet had assets that far exceeded what a "normal working man's" salary would allow. The effort to collect the back child support failed as he refused to pay the outside agency. The issue was dropped as my girlfriend could not afford the legal fees to take him to court.

Today, he served her with papers to obtain custody of the child. We are in the process of trying to find an attorney, but the funds are still not there for the legal fees, and the court date is only a month away.

Would he really stand a chance at winning this after such long lengths of time has passed since he's tried to make contact? I thought the abandonment laws would prevent even the filing. What are our options at this point? I don't want my girlfriend going into court without legal counsel.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Question for the forum:

My girlfriend has an 11 year old daughter that she has raised on her own for well over seven years. An order for child support had been issued to the father, but he skipped out to South Carolina. As far as I know, there has been no attempt to collect childsupport as my girlfriend was simply glad the father was gone. He went five years without contact, only having contact with her once where the child spend a month with him. He has not made contact with her again for two years until several months ago.

He made some threats to my girlfriend that he would serve her papers, and try to get custody of the child. My girlfriend made an attempt at that point to reinstitute the child support order through an outside agency. Investigation found that the father had multiple social security numbers, claimed no revenue for over five years straight, and yet had assets that far exceeded what a "normal working man's" salary would allow. The effort to collect the back child support failed as he refused to pay the outside agency. The issue was dropped as my girlfriend could not afford the legal fees to take him to court.

Today, he served her with papers to obtain custody of the child. We are in the process of trying to find an attorney, but the funds are still not there for the legal fees, and the court date is only a month away.

Would he really stand a chance at winning this after such long lengths of time has passed since he's tried to make contact? I thought the abandonment laws would prevent even the filing. What are our options at this point? I don't want my girlfriend going into court without legal counsel.

Any comments would be appreciated.
No, he will not get custody. He MAY be granted visitation, in which case I would definitely request supervised visitation. Just know that the supervised visitation will not be forever, just until the supervisor deems that the father and daughter have spent enough time together to be on their own.

Since he is now back in reach, your gf needs to report his address and any other pertinent information to the child support agency. She also needs to press them to file contempt charges against him. They can get his happy butt into court, and he can explain to the judge why he hasn't paid his support. She can also turn the info (if she has it) petaining to the multi ss#'s over to the police (for possible id theft) and the IRS. I bet they will be interested in the information.

What state are you in?

No, he will not get custody. He MAY be granted visitation, in which case I would definitely request supervised visitation. Just know that the supervised visitation will not be forever, just until the supervisor deems that the father and daughter have spent enough time together to be on their own.

Since he is now back in reach, your gf needs to report his address and any other pertinent information to the child support agency. She also needs to press them to file contempt charges against him. They can get his happy butt into court, and he can explain to the judge why he hasn't paid his support. She can also turn the info (if she has it) petaining to the multi ss#'s over to the police (for possible id theft) and the IRS. I bet they will be interested in the information.

What state are you in?
Thanks for the insight. We're in Georgia here. The father resides in South Carolina.

Today, my gf will be heading to the child support agency to advise them of what's happening. She's hoping that they can either provide legal assistance in this situation seeing that he owes the state copious amounts of money, or point her in the right direction for legal aide. The court conference is scheduled for the beginning of May, so we'll find out really quickly what he has up his sleeve. Seems to be with all the dirt this guy is carrying with him, putting his name back into the court system is the dumbest thing he could do.

Thanks for the insight. We're in Georgia here. The father resides in South Carolina.

Today, my gf will be heading to the child support agency to advise them of what's happening. She's hoping that they can either provide legal assistance in this situation seeing that he owes the state copious amounts of money, or point her in the right direction for legal aide. The court conference is scheduled for the beginning of May, so we'll find out really quickly what he has up his sleeve. Seems to be with all the dirt this guy is carrying with him, putting his name back into the court system is the dumbest thing he could do.
Going to the state CSE is exactly what she needs to do. They can't do anything about the custody situation, however, they can file contempt for non payment of CS. Which in turn will affect his petition for custody.

As already stated by another poster, he almost certainly won't get custody, but may be able to get visitation, howvever, she can request supervised visits and a "get to know each other" period of short visits.
Xena

Going to the state CSE is exactly what she needs to do. They can't do anything about the custody situation, however, they can file contempt for non payment of CS. Which in turn will affect his petition for custody.

As already stated by another poster, he almost certainly won't get custody, but may be able to get visitation, howvever, she can request supervised visits and a "get to know each other" period of short visits.
Xena

I've had an oppertunity to read the complaint a little closer now, and the entire basis seems to be that he's arguing that the child does not reside with the mother. Because my gf and her daughter live with my gf's grandmother right now, he's saying he is entitled full custody. Sounds to me like it's a weak argument, but at the same time, I don't pretend to be a lawyer.

As of yesterday, the residence issue is solved. My gf is moving into her own apartment within the next two weeks, and has already signed a lease agreement. She's trying to get legal support this week, and then will be going to the various state departments to report what she has (i.e. IRS for the multiple SSN#'s and lack of tax filings, CSE for the failure to comply with the child support order, etc.) I, personally, will feel much better once she's obtained legal consultation, and I'm hoping she can get legal aide or an attorney who will work pro bono.

My girlfriend has a lawyer, and he's going to take the custody case pro bono. He agreed to go after this a$$hole for his compensation. Further, he's relatively confident that he will get the back child support owed, and institute an updated child support order. We're very fortunate that we found someone who's willing to work with us in this fashion.

Thank you to those who contributed their comments and advice. I will continue to post updates, and maybe the information can help someone else. I have no children of my own, and this is the first time I've ever had to face this type of problem. My heart goes out to all of you.

My girlfriend has a lawyer, and he's going to take the custody case pro bono. He agreed to go after this a$$hole for his compensation. Further, he's relatively confident that he will get the back child support owed, and institute an updated child support order. We're very fortunate that we found someone who's willing to work with us in this fashion.

Thank you to those who contributed their comments and advice. I will continue to post updates, and maybe the information can help someone else. I have no children of my own, and this is the first time I've ever had to face this type of problem. My heart goes out to all of you.
WOW! I'm so glad that she found someone to help her. And since the atty doesn't get paid until he wins, the atty will fight even harder. Good luck to you and your girlfriend. Keep us updated.