 |
 |
 |
|
   |
||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
 Georgia Question and Answer Handbook for Noncustodial Parents: A question and answer resource on paternity establishment and child support
Table of Contents The Top Ten Things You Should Know About The Georgia Child Support System Questions Surrounding: Paternity Establishment
Child Support
Health Insurance Child Support and Parenting Time
Employment
Introduction This handbook is based
on Georgia law. It was written on January 3, 2005. It does not reflect
changes in the law since that date. Legal Services Many people hire a lawyer for the
matters discussed in this handbook. Yet many parents cannot afford
such help. This handbook gives information for low-income non-custodial
parents and the people trying to help them. This handbook
does not replace a lawyer for your legal problems.
They also have available a packet for
Custody/Visitation after Legitimation but only at the Justice Center
and not available at their website. The Top Ten Things A Father Should Know About The Georgia Child Support System
Paternity Establishment What does the word “paternity” mean? In Georgia, paternity means fatherhood with respect to the legal duties of a father. When a mother gives birth to a child she is almost always the legal mother of that child. She has rights and duties to the child as the child’s mother. It is different for a father who was not married to the mother. Georgia does not give you any rights or duties to the child as the child’s father. For you to have these duties your paternity must be established. For you to have many legal rights with respect to the child you must legitimate the child. (See next question.) What does the word “legitimate” mean? Before a father who was not married to the mother can have certain rights he must legitimate his relationship with his child. To do this he must take legal steps. What is the difference between legal and physical custody? Legal custody involves the right to make decisions for the child, such as medical, educational, and religious decisions. Determinations about physical custody decide where the child lives. Who has a legal right to custody of the child? When a child is born to unmarried parents, the mother has sole custody. You will need to go to court if you want a different custody set-up. To make a custody arrangement you must first legitimate the child. To do this you must give the court (file) a legal document known as a “petition.” This petition should ask the court to legitimate your relationship with the child. To legitimate your relationship with your child you will have to show the court that:
As part of the legitimation hearing, you may ask for custody of your child. The mother may stop this. If the mother does this, the court should not address this issue during the legitimation hearing. After the court legitimates the child, you may file another court action. In this action you may ask for custody or visitation. The court is supposed to then decide these issues based on the best interest of the child. How can I establish the paternity of my child? If you were never married to the mother, there are two primary ways to establish paternity.
How can the mother and I establish the paternity of my child without going to court? If you are absolutely sure that you are the father, and the mother agrees, you can both sign the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity form. The child support agency, the court system, and other government agencies will then consider you to have a legal duty towards the child. If the mother or the state obtains a court order you will owe child support. While the baby is still in the hospital, the mother and the father, if he is present, are given a chance to sign this form. You may also do this at a later date. You may get a copy of this form at the local vital records agency or at the probate court office. Signing this form means that you will not be able to get a genetic test to be sure you are the biological father before you are declared the father. You still will need to go to court to legitimate your child if you want court-ordered visitation or custody of the child. What if I signed the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity form, but I know now that I am not the father? There are a few ways to cancel your signing of the form. However, this is most easily done within 60 days of either of you signing it. After 60 days, what you have to do is much more difficult. (See next question.) You will need to go to your local vital records agency and tell them you think you are not the father. Tell them you wish to “rescind” or take back your signing of the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity form. They should give you a second form. You need to follow the steps on this second form. There are time limits for you to submit this second form. If any of the following events happen you can no longer submit this second form:
Sixty days have passed since the mother and I signed the Recognition of Parentage form. What can I do now that I think I am not the biological father? After 60 days it is hard to make a court or the child support agency not treat you as the legal father of the child. You will have to go to court. You will have to file a lawsuit to challenge the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity form. To do this you must prove at least one of three things. You must prove that you signed the form under conditions of:
You likely will need a lawyer. You need to act quickly to have a court declare that you are not the father. Why would a mother force me to go to court to establish that I am the father? In some cases whether to establish paternity is not a choice of the parents. A mother who gets Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (welfare) or is on medical assistance must generally help the government to try to establish who is the father. Otherwise she may not get her welfare benefits. Yet there are many benefits to knowing who is the father. An example of one of these benefits is child support. For a court to order you to pay child support you must first be declared the father. What if a woman says I am the father of her child but I think that I am not the father? If you were never married to the mother, there are two main ways for her to establish that you are the father. The first way explained earlier is for you both to sign a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity form. The mother can also start a court case to establish you as the father of the child. The people who can start the court case are the mother, the child, a relative who takes care of the child, or the local child support lawyer. The local child support lawyer works for the state and represents the interest of the state. You will get a legal document that will have a date and time for a hearing. You should go to the hearing and be on time. You should do everything that the legal document asks you to do. Otherwise you may wrongly be declared the father of the child or owe the wrong amount of child support. At the hearing, you may want to ask for a genetic test (DNA test). A genetic test is the best way to be absolutely sure that you are the biological father. If you are not sure that you are the father, and want to be sure, you should insist on a genetic test. I got a document that claims I may be the biological father of a child. This document tells me that there will be a hearing about this matter. Should I just skip the hearing because I know I am not the father? No. You should go to the hearing. If you do not respond to this document you will be declared the father of the child and you will owe child support. You should do everything that the document asks you to do so you will not be declared the father. You should go to the hearing and say that you are not the father. Perhaps the best thing to do is insist that the court order a genetic test (DNA test). I got a document that claims I may be the biological father of a child. This document tells me that there will be a hearing about this matter. What should I do because I am not sure whether I am the father? You should do everything that the document asks you to do to indicate that you are not sure. You should go to the hearing and say that you are not sure whether you are the father. At the hearing, you most likely want to ask for a genetic test (DNA test). A genetic test is the best way to be absolutely sure that you are the biological father. If you are not sure that you are the father, and want to be sure, you should insist on a genetic test. I got a document that claims I may be the biological father of a child. This document tells me that there will be a hearing about this matter. Should I just skip the hearing because I know I am the father? No. You should go to the hearing. This will allow you to hear what your rights are. You will also have a chance to tell your financial situation so that if you are declared the father a realistic child support order may be set. Going to the hearing will let you know your child support order amount. What if I think that I am a child’s father, but the mother does not let me see the child? It is best to get a lawyer to help you with this matter if you can afford one. For you to have court-ordered custody with your child, you must legitimate your relationship with the child. To do this you must give the court (file) a legal document known as a “petition.” This petition should ask the court to legitimate your relationship with the child. The Family Law Information Center has a packet that can help you with this process. This packet is called Legitimation, and information about how to contact the Center is available at the beginning of this handbook. To legitimate your relationship with your child you will have to show the court that:
As part of the legitimation hearing, you may ask for visitation with or custody of your child. The mother may stop this. If the mother does this, by law, the court should not address this issue during the legitimation hearing. The child support agency does not deal with matters regarding legitimation of a child. If the court legitimates the child, you may file another court action. The Family Law Information Center has a packet that can help you with this process. This packet is called Custody/Visitation after Legitimation, and information about how to contact the Center is available at the beginning of this handbook. In this action you may ask for visitation or custody. The court is supposed to then decide these issues based on the best interest of the child. If paternity is established will that mean that the child is legitimated? No. The child support agency has started a paternity action against me. Can I ask for my child to be legitimated? Maybe. If the child support agency started the paternity action, two things have to happen. First, you must give the court (file) legal papers to ask that as part of the paternity action your child be legitimated. If you have not given the court legal papers, you should verbally ask at the hearing for the court to legitimate your child. Second, the mother must agree that you can do this. After the court determines paternity, the court may on its own legitimate the child. The court should do this if it believes it is in the best interest of the child. You may want to ask the court if it will do this. If the mother will not allow you to do this and the court does not do it, you will have to petition the court in a separate action to legitimate your relationship with the child. (See next question.) If you legitimate the child as part of the paternity action, other issues about your relationship with the child must be addressed later. For instance, issues of the name of the child, visitation, or custody cannot be part of the hearing. Instead you will have to petition the court later to address these issues. How can I legitimate my child? The child support enforcement agency cannot help you with this matter. You must petition (give) legal papers to the court. This must be done in the county where the mother resides or, if the child is being adopted, the county where the child is being adopted. The legal papers must include the name, age, and sex of the child, the name of the mother, and if you wish, the name you would like the child to have. You must also give notice to the mother about what you are asking the court to do. The Family Law Information Center has a packet that can help you with this process. This packet is called Legitimation, and information about how to contact the Center is available at the beginning of this handbook. To legitimate your relationship with your child you will have to show:
A court may also order you to pay child support. How important is a genetic test (DNA tests) in paternity cases? If the genetic test shows a 97 percent or higher chance that you are the father, you will most likely be declared to be the father. If the genetic test shows you are not the father, you likely will not be declared the father. Thus, if a genetic test is taken, the genetic test will most likely determine the ruling as to whether you are the father. Who pays for the genetic test (DNA test) in a paternity case? Initially, if a child support enforcement agency is involved in the case, the government pays for the genetic test. If you are found to be the father of the child, you may be ordered to pay the government back for the cost of the test. If you are found to not be the father, you will not be ordered to pay the government back. Does the child support attorney represent the mother? No. The child support attorney does not represent you or the mother; he or she represents the interest of the child support agency. What are some of the legal benefits of my legitimating and being declared the father of my child? Once both of these happen you are the legal father. You can then have all of the rights and duties of a man who had been married to the mother. Your name can be listed on the birth certificate as the father. You will have the right to be notified if someone tries to adopt your child. You will not automatically have a right to custody of or visitation with your child. What you will have is a right to ask a court for custody of or visitation with the child. You may want to ask the court for an order that has the exact days and hours you can be with your child What are some of the legal consequences of my being declared the father of my child? If you are declared the legal father of a child and the child does not live with you, you will have to pay child support. You also may owe all of the cost for the genetic test if it was ordered as part of the paternity action. You may also owe some of the cost for:
How does the court decide how much child support I should pay? The support amount is generally based on a percentage of your income. The percentage of your income you pay is based on how many children you have:
Even if you have a very low income or no income at all, you probably still will owe child support. This will happen if a court believes you could make more money. The court will base your child support on an amount that it believes you could make. It is important to show the court that you are making as much money as you possibly can or that you have tried to get a job but have been unable to do so. In addition, if you have a physical or mental illness that prevents you from getting work, you should make sure the court is aware of this. Does the court have to follow the guidelines? (See previous question.) No. A court can order a higher or lower amount of child support than the guideline amount. To do this the court must think that in your situation the guideline amount is not fair for you or not the right amount for you (if following the guidelines would result in an unjust or inappropriate order). How do I make my child support payments? The usual method is that your employer (by court order) takes money directly from your paycheck. The employer then gives the money to the child support enforcement agency. If the money is owed to the mother, the child support agency is supposed to give it to her. Is there another way to make child support payments? You should do what the court order says to do to make your child support payment. If you are unemployed, self-employed, or for some reason cannot pay by having money taken from a paycheck, you may pay in a different way. You can send your payment to the Family Support Registry. The address for non-custodial parents to send their payments is Family Support Registry, PO Box 105729, Atlanta, GA 30348-5729. It is important that if you pay through the Family Support Registry that you ensure that you receive credit for your payment. Will my child support order include anything about health insurance? Yes. A child support order must address health insurance. If both parents have health insurance that is available at a reasonable cost, the court may order either parent to cover the child. If the child is on the mother’s insurance, the court may order you to pay to provide such insurance or pay medical expenses that her insurance does not cover. If neither parent has insurance that is available at a reasonable cost, the court may order you to insure your child when it becomes available at a reasonable cost. Why do I owe so much money in child support? There are many reasons that the amount of money you owe can be larger than what you feel you can pay. First, your current order may not have ever been realistic for you. If you did not appear in court when they set your current order, the amount of the order may be beyond your means to pay. The order may be based on a previous job where you made more money, or you may have been laid off your job at one time or another. If this is the case, you should consider going through the procedures to ask the court for a change in the amount of child support you pay in the future (ask for a child support modification). Second, if you did not ask for a change in your child support order when things changed in your life, the amount you owe may not be realistic for you. You should consider going through the procedures to ask the court for a change in the amount of future child support you pay. Third, if you do not pay your child support, you will have to pay your regular amount of support plus an additional amount to begin to cover the past-due amount. You will also be charged interest of 12% on any past-due child support. You may also be charged with the costs of a genetic test (DNA test) in a paternity action, the mother’s pregnancy, postnatal care related to the pregnancy, premiums to obtain health insurance for the child, medical expenses not covered by health insurance, day care costs if the mother is employed or in school, and other costs. All of these costs may be added to the amount that you owe each month Can they base child support on unemployment compensation? Yes. You can be ordered to pay some of your unemployment compensation for child support. If you have already been ordered to pay child support, you can also have child support taken from your unemployment compensation check. How can I lower my child support order? Going to court is one way to change your future child support order. You will need to give the court (file) a legal document known as a “petition.” This should ask to lower your child support. The Family Law Information Center has a packet that can help you in this process. This packet is called Child Support Modification, and information about how to contact the Center is available at the beginning of this handbook. One reason to lower your child support order at the hearing is if there has been a change in your income and financial situation. Generally, if a court grants this request it will only lower the amount of future support. It will not lower any amount of past-due support you may owe. It is best to get a lawyer, if you can afford one, to help you with this. What is another way to lower my child support order? You may ask the child support agency in writing to review and recommend a change of your child support order. Your written request should ask for a review of your child support order. What the agency does is based on two factors. First, the agency may not review your child support order if it believes that a review is not in the best interest of the child. Second, if it does the review a big factor will be whether it has been three years since the last time the court or child support agency dealt with your order. If it has been less than three years, you will have to show that there has been a major (substantial) change in circumstances. If it has been longer than three years, the agency is more likely to seek a change in your order. The agency will make that change if there is a major difference between what you pay and what you would pay if they applied the guidelines to your new income. After the agency has done its review, you and the mother should get notices. These notices will be sent through the mail. You should make sure the child support agency has your latest address. These notices will tell you the agency has done one of two things. The agency may ask for no change or a change in your child support order. If the agency believes you should get a change, it may ask for a higher or lower child support order or may add medical insurance. If either parent does not like what the agency recommends, either one may object. You or the mother has 30 days to object. The objection must be sent to both the court and the child support agency. There will then be a hearing on what amount you should pay in child support. If neither parent objects, the recommendations of the child support agency will be your child support order. How can my child support order be increased? There are two ways to increase a child support order. The first is to request a hearing to increase child support. The court or administrative agency will grant this if the judge believes that there has been a change in either parent’s income and financial situation or in the needs of the child. The second way is if the mother asks the child support worker for a review of the child support order. (See previous question.) I am about to move or have moved. Should I tell the child support agency about this? Yes. If the child support enforcement agency is involved in your case, you should tell them whenever you move. Generally the child support order requires you to do this within seven days of your moving. Yet if you have moved and not done this you should do it as soon as possible. Otherwise you may not receive important notices. I changed jobs or am about to change jobs. Should I tell the child support agency about this?? Yes. If the child support agency is involved in your case, you should tell the child support enforcement agency whenever you change jobs. You should also tell them of the new address of your employer. Generally the child support order requires you to do this within seven days of your changing jobs. If you have changed jobs, and have not done this, you should do it as soon as possible. What are some possible penalties for me if I do not pay my child support? Many penalties may be applied to you for not paying child support. Some of these penalties include but are not limited to:
Can they put me in jail for not paying child support? Yes. A court may put you in jail for not paying child support, or you may have to pay an additional fine. Can I lower my child support order because I am in prison? No. According to Georgia law, the fact that you
are in prison is not reason to lower your child support order. Health Insurance Will the child support order include health insurance? It depends on whether either parent has insurance available at a reasonable cost from his or her employer or other group health provider. If insurance is available to the custodial parent at a reasonable cost, then the child will be covered under that insurance. The non-custodial parent should be ordered to pay for some of the cost of this insurance. If this insurance does not cover some medical expenses, the non-custodial parent may be ordered to pay some of these. If the custodial parent does not have insurance, the father’s insurance may cover the child. Yet the father only covers the child if the insurance is available at a reasonable cost from his employer or other group health provider. If neither parent has access to insurance at a reasonable
cost, the father shall be ordered to cover the child when he can
do this at a reasonable cost. Child Support and Parenting Time The custodial parent doesn’t allow me to see the child. Why do I have to pay support? By law, child support and parenting time are two separate issues. You must pay your child support whether or not you see your child. However, you may go to court and ask for a specific parenting plan. You may also be able to get some free visitation services from the Child Support Enforcement Agency of Georgia. If there is a parenting time schedule and the child’s mother does not follow it, you can ask the court to order her to follow the schedule. The Family Law Information Center has a packet that can help you in this process. This packet is called Contempt, and information about how to contact the Center is available at the beginning of this handbook. This may be a hard process, but it is possible that it can help you get parenting time with your child. How does not paying my child support impact my right to see my child? Your not paying child support should not affect
your parenting time with your child. When a court determines parenting
time it should only be concerned with the best interest of the child.
Still, the reality is that if you have not paid your child support,
it is not likely to help your chances to spend time with your child. Employment I just got a new job or got re-hired at an old job. What information is my employer going to need from me to give to the child support enforcement agency? Some of the information an employer must obtain from you and give to the government includes your:
Your employer must generally give this information to the child support enforcement agency within 10 days of hiring you. Money is taken from my paycheck to pay child support. Can my employer charge me for taking this money? Yes. Your employer may charge $25 for the first time that they have to do this and then up to $3 for each additional time that they send money to the child support agency. This fee is for the employer following the court order and giving your money to the child support enforcement agency. You should examine your pay stub to make sure no more is taken. I lost my job and am receiving unemployment compensation. Can they take child support from my unemployment check? Yes. When you apply for unemployment compensation you must tell them that you owe child support. They will then take child support from your unemployment compensation. I lost my driver’s license because I did not pay child support. What do I need to do to get my driver’s license back? You must show the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles that you are following the child support order. You will need proof from either a child support agency or from a court that you are following the child support order. You will then have to pay an additional $35 (if done in person) or $25 (if you apply for your license through the mail) to get your driver’s license back.
The Ford Foundation, Charles Stewart
Mott Foundation, and Public Welfare Foundation generously provided
support for this handbook. |
|||||||||||||
|
 |
||
|
Copyright 2005, the Center for Family Policy and Practice. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement | Copyright Statement | Disclaimer |
|
|
|
|||