Child Support and International Travel
Does child support stop if mother takes the baby to another country without father’s approval? I’m Oklahoma Lawyer James Wirth and that is the question that we have. If we’ve got a custody order in place that provides for child support, but the mom takes the child out of the country to another country without dad’s permission, does the child support order stop? The answer is no. It is a court order. It keeps going on until it is modified, vacated. It does not automatically stop just because the mom has moved without the child, just because the mom has stopped giving you visitation, just because the mom has violated other court orders. So it doesn’t stop.
Enforcing Your Rights
And beyond that, child support cannot be modified retroactively. So if there are grounds to modify, you want to get that filed quickly in the court because otherwise if you wait a year, that’s just an additional year you’re paying child support where maybe you shouldn’t be. But in this case, we’re talking about a mom that took the child out of the country. So that is an issue where you’ve got to enforce your rights. Either you have a court order in place regarding custody and visitation, and she’s violating that because she’s left the country without permission. Maybe you’ve got joint custody. It’s a violation just by going out of the country without your permission.
Acting Quickly in Legal Matters
Under those circumstances, you’ve got to act quick. The longer you delay, the more your rights are prejudiced. You want to file to enforce your rights, either a motion to enforce visitation or a contempt citation, or perhaps a motion to modify because obviously she’s not acting in the best interest of the child based on what the court entered last time. Get those things filed quickly. If you don’t have orders in place, then you need to file quick to establish jurisdiction where you are before jurisdiction changes.
Schedule a Strategy Session
If she leaves with the child, jurisdiction may only be appropriate in that state, in that county, to file for a limited amount of time before that county loses jurisdiction, unless you already have an order in place. So it’s important that you file that quick if she leaves the county, the state, the country, no matter what. Get that jurisdiction established where you are, and you’re much more protected that way. If you get it established here and she leaves with the child, that may be grounds to modify. You may be able to get custody, and then it’s a matter of enforcing that custody if she continues to refuse to follow court orders. But you’re gonna wanna talk to an attorney.
Schedule a Low-cost Initial Strategy Session
This is a delicate situation. It’s a time-sensitive situation. So talk to an attorney for a strategy session to see what you need to do right now. To schedule that with an attorney at my office, go online to makelaweasy.com to book a low-cost initial strategy session.
