Child Support When NCP is Having Another Child

My daughter and her son's father were never married and split before the baby was born.  My husband and I have joint custody of the child along with our daughter.  The father has visitation, but we never sought child support because he does not work.  Now he is expecting another child with another woman that he impregnated and then split up with.  My question is, should we take him to court for child support in order to protect my grandson's rights over this subsequent child?  Or would it not make a difference whether or not we file before the other child's mother?

Absolutely you should take him to court for child support sooner rather than later.

It varies by state --but in general it makes sense to seek first in line position --I'm not sure if this is a "we" situation or its up to Mom to seek applicable child support.

As an aside, mom might qualify for some public sector benefits --? And frequently to qualify one must seek support from dad and state may chase dad for reimbursement.

Lynne in Virginia:

should we take him to court for child support in order to protect my grandson's rights over this subsequent child?

If bio-dad is allowed to skate on supporting his child, who is the worse for it?  Not bio-dad.  Children are entitled to be supported by both of their parents and if he is not held accountable that's just wrong.  If you weren't helping to support your daughter and grandchild, what would be the result?

Advise your daughter to take him to court and file for child support.

Lynne in Virginia:

My husband and I have joint custody of the child along with our daughter.

It may not be reelvant to your question, but this is an extremely unusual custody arrangement.  For what reason was such an arrangement ordered by the court?

Lynne in Virginia:

Now he is expecting another child with another woman that he impregnated and then split up with.

Query how you purport to know he is the father since the child hasn't even been born.

Lynne in Virginia:

should we take him to court for child support in order to protect my grandson's rights over this subsequent child?

Whether you seek a child support order is entirely up to you. However, doing so would not serve to protect any legal rights your grandson may have.

Lynne in Virginia:

would it not make a difference whether or not we file before the other child's mother?

It shouldn't.

We came to an agreement between the parties and the judge signed off on it.  The reason we did it that way is that we have joint custody with our daughter of HER daughter because she was involved with CPS when her daughter was born.  Long story short, she asked to go back on her bi-polar meds as soon as the baby was born because she was worried about developing postpartum depression.  The doctors overreacted/misunderstood what she said and called CPS.  We had to take joint custody to get them out of our lives.  My grandson's father and his mother knew of this arrangement and the two of them filed for custody of my grandson.  We did not think our daughter could win alone against them, so we agreed to joint custody with her of our grandson.

We know that he is the father because they were living together and engaged when she got pregnant.  He is not a stable person himself, however, and they split up when she was four or five months pregnant.  She is now about seven months pregnant.

She was at one time receiving TANF for her daughter as well as Medicaid, and as a result of that, the state went after her daughter's father for child support.  He has not seen his daughter since she was about 11 months old, does not work, and has already been jailed once for not paying child support and appears to be headed that way again.

When her son was born, my daughter decided not to seek TANF for him because she didn't want to go through the same thing with child support with HIS father that she had for her daughter's father.  Unlike her daughter's father, her son's father seems to genuinely care and WANT to be a part of his son's life and has regular visitation with him, although it was supervised for six months due to drug use.  She no longer receives TANF for either child because her income is above the threshold for receiving TANF.

The point is that absent a formal determination of somebody being dad and a formal order for support that your daughter has zero legal leverage to get appropriate amount as per the state formulas --and at best would need to start the process from scratch going forward. (a few states allow for retroactive support but I didn check yours)

If she has job issues then she has severe monetary problems and places kids at economic risk.

Personally I think it totally unwise not to lock in the BioDad(s)  to a formal duty to support his child.

He has been determined to be the father of my grandson.  It's the other woman's baby that I was saying they were living together, etc. when she got pregnant.  He has been proven, through DNA, to be my grandson's father, there is a formal custody and visitation order.  I'm going to encourage my daughter to go to court to seek child support.

Lynne in Virginia:

We know that he is the father because they were living together and engaged when she got pregnant.

One cannot get pregnant simply by living together or being engaged.  Pregnancy results from sexual intercourse.  Given your description of the persons involved, it hardly seems reasonable to assume that the woman in question didn't have sex with someone other than your daughter's father.

I think you need to have your daughter wise up in next day or two..... a child yet to be born is not in the VA math as I understand it but the existing child is sure there and bio accountability can sure be tested--she want to get her child first in line and get there while the line is uncluttered.  Whether other newer children might count and/or dads ability to pay is not really a pressing problem --one needs to be in the offical line.

As an aside the CS formula in your state seems to take into account day care costs paid by CP and triggers a bit more CS from the NCP side of equation  so if you as GP's are currently providing unpaid daycare you might want to rethink and charge something akin to fair market rates and actually get paid and have proof of same.  ( I am a recent grandfather and I have a  good idea of the prevailing day care rates in my area --serious money!)

your daughter should seek child support but realistically the chances of her actually getting any money from him is slim. He does not work. At least with an order she can try to enforce it.