NYS Child Support

fredandjuls · #1 11-16-2011, 07:50 AM

Me and my boyfriend had our son in October 2009. We have lived together off and on since then. We are currently living together. My boyfriend has done everything possible to help and support our son and myself no matter the circumstances. He has been unemployed and at times homeless during parts of this but always made sure his son had a roof over his head and food to eat. I had received temporary assistance and food stamps from May 2011- September 2011 and continue to recieve medical assistance since the beginning of my pregnancy. Social Services took my sons father to court for support and want him to pay $1600. How is that possible when he lives with him, provides for him, and I wrote multiple letters stating that I did not want him paying support? According to childsupport.ny.gov the most he would have to payis $300 a year. If some of the $1600 is because of medical bills than that is also unfair since all three of us only recieve medicaid and fidelus which have covered all of his bills. My understanding is that he would only be responsible for uncovered bills which we do not have any.I was also under 21 when I had my son which would put the uncovered birth costs (there were none they were paid by my insurance) as my parents responsibility. What can I do to get this changed? The money is going to social services and not to our household. We are struggling enough without this adding to our financial difficulties.I am I full time college student who only works 12 hours a week at a minimum wage job so he is practically our sole source of income and has been paying our rent himself.

aardvarc · #2 11-16-2011, 02:08 PM

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Originally Posted by fredandjuls

Me and my boyfriend had our son in October 2009. We have lived together off and on since then. We are currently living together. My boyfriend has done everything possible to help and support our son and myself no matter the circumstances. He has been unemployed and at times homeless during parts of this but always made sure his son had a roof over his head and food to eat.

But he is not cohabitating with you as your legal husband. That makes a HUGE difference. Since he's not, he's liable for child support.

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I had received temporary assistance and food stamps from May 2011- September 2011 and continue to recieve medical assistance since the beginning of my pregnancy. Social Services took my sons father to court for support and want him to pay $1600. How is that possible when he lives with him, provides for him,

If you needed to take money from the taxpayers, apparantly he's NOT supporting the child ENOUGH. The state is going to go after him to pay back the taxpayers. It's their money you've been getting, so you don't have any legal standing to tell the state not to go after it.

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and I wrote multiple letters stating that I did not want him paying support?

It's not up to you. He owes money to the taxpayers who have been helping to support his child.

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According to childsupport.ny.gov the most he would have to payis $300 a year.

You need to find out what the child support order against him says. It should break down how they came up with the amount for both past support - as well as an amount for CONTINUING support (the state is going to come after him until the child is at LEAST 18, and potentially 21).

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If some of the $1600 is because of medical bills than that is also unfair since all three of us only recieve medicaid

More taxpayer money.

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and fidelus which have covered all of his bills. My understanding is that he would only be responsible for uncovered bills which we do not have any.I was also under 21 when I had my son which would put the uncovered birth costs (there were none they were paid by my insurance) as my parents responsibility.

Did he show up at the court hearing and challenge the amount? There ARE circumstances where your parents would NOT be responsible for your medical bills, even if you're a student - but those are circumstances that should be evaluated by an attorney. Without knowing exactly what social services said in court, we really can't evaluate if it's "fair" or not - but it would appear that the judge thought so since they entered the order.

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What can I do to get this changed? The money is going to social services and not to our household.

Yes. The money will go to pay off the arrears, and once the past amount is paid off THEN the monthly amounts should start coming to you for the baby.

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We are struggling enough without this adding to our financial difficulties.I am I full time college student who only works 12 hours a week at a minimum wage job so he is practically our sole source of income and has been paying our rent himself.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but having babies is expensive, as is raising them. If you can't afford your lifestyle AND to raise a child, then your lifestyle will have to change, whether that means living with parents, or doing less school and more work. Money that YOU receive from the state for the baby, the state is going to go after HIM to collect.

moderator · #3 11-21-2011, 05:31 PM

Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.