Question:
My niece and nephew recently started living with us because their mother was arrested for using drugs. However, she is still accepting child support payments from their father even though the children no longer live with her.
How can we get the child support transferred either to us or into a trust for the children?
Answer:
While I am not licensed to practice law in your state, I can give some general guidance on this issue.
The best option is probably for the children’s father to modify child support to stop payment while the child is not in the mother’s care. He may also ask that she be ordered to turn over the funds she received to the current caregiver.
You may also seek the assistance of the child services agency, although in some states they will not got involved in civil matters of that nature.
You should also consider moving to intervene in the child support/paternity/divorce case where the child support order was issued and request that the payments be directed to you. Unless the mother notifies the court that the child is no longer with her, which is unlikely, either the father or the child’s caregiver will likely have to motion the court to stop the payments from going to her.
I would strongly urge you to seek a consultation with a local attorney to find out what the laws in your state regarding this situation are and to try to rectify this situation.
Unless you take some action or the father does, the child’s mother will continue to get the support money. If she is receiving other public benefits, such as food stamps or TANF, which are based on having the children, she could be prosecuted for fraud and you may consider alerting her public assistance worker.
To arrange an initial consultation to discuss divorce rights for men with a Cordell & Cordell attorney, including Indianapolis divorce lawyer Kyli Willis, contact Cordell & Cordell.