Child support order forces grandmother to pay

On behalf of Furr & Cohen, P.A. posted in Child Support on Friday, August 1, 2014.

Not too many people would relish having to pay child support for a child that isn’t their child. For one grandmother in Avon Park, that unpleasant thought is exactly what happened to her. Her son had a child while he was a minor. In July of last year, the 41-year-old woman got an order from the Highland County Tenth Judicial Circuit Court stating that she had to pay child support for her grandchild.

In January of this year, her son turned 18 years old. That means that he is now legally responsible for paying child support for the 2-year-old girl. Despite that, the monthly deductions have continued to come out of the woman’s paycheck. In addition to the $254 per month child support payment, she also has to pay $50 per month in retroactive child support to cover the time from when the child was born in December of 2012 until the child support order was made in July of last year.

The grandmother is now trying to get reimbursed for the child suppor payments she has made since her son turned 18. She is also trying to stop the deductions from being taken out of her checks. She wants to know why the deductions are still coming out, despite the fact that Florida law doesn’t require grandparents to pay support for a grandchild.

The truly heartbreaking part of this child support battle is that neither the little girl’s father nor her grandmother have been able to see the child in two months. They don’t even know where she lives. The child’s father says that he wants to support his daughter and wants to see his daughter.

While this child support battle is a unique one, it does show that it is important for anyone who might be ordered to pay child support understand laws that might apply to his or her case. Parents of minors who have children might want to pay attention to this case and learn about child support orders.

Source: Highlands Today, “AP grandmother seeks reimbursement for child support, Jul. 23, 2014