Attorney Generals Office now what??

[1sttimemommy]

What is the name of your state? Texas

I live in Texas, I have a 21 month old son

His father last saw him when he was 3 months old, and has made no attempt to see him since, He recently called and told me that he was going to pick up my son and take him to visit his family. I told him no.

He's not listed on the birth certificate, but we did do a dna test. He was living in California, then he moved to Utah, and Now he is in Hawaii. He has moved 3 times since my son was born.

Now we had the "mediation" for the support and visitation. At the time he agreed to sign the document. The increased the support to $465.00 a month and set up a structured visitation that he has to comply with.

He's been sending me $200 a month and he was keeping insurance on my son. He canceled the insurance without telling me, I found out from his mother that he quit his job and moved. He will not give me an address in Hawaii because he says he doesn't have one. I have never kept him from my son, but I told him that he had to get to know him before he could come in and just take him, especially out of state.

My son is a person, he's going to be upset and confused if he is taken away from me by someone that he does not even know. The father of my son told me that my son would "get over it" and that he would get used to it.

Now he told me that the September check he wrote me for support bounced, and that he cannot pay me until later. Now my account is messed up and this is not the first time he has bounced checks to me for the support.

I have repeatedly tried to be civil and work things through, but it seems that I have bitter feelings over the way that he and his family have treated myself and my son. He tells me that he cannot stand me, and that he will not come visit our son if he has to be anywhere near me. Not sure where that leaves my son at in his life, but I need to know what's next.

He is not going to sign the "agreement" that he agreed to over the phone with the Attorney General's office

So what happens now? It's already been 4 months since i started this process with the Attorney General's office, and I feel like he is just trying to drag this out further. If he has shown no interest in seeing my son up until now, why would he all of a sudden be so concerned with the "visitation" part of the agreement.

Regards
Concerned Mother

 

[Mbarr]

He is not going to sign the "agreement" that he agreed to over the phone with the Attorney General's office

So what happens now? It's already been 4 months since i started this process with the Attorney General's office, and I feel like he is just trying to drag this out further. If he has shown no interest in seeing my son up until now, why would he all of a sudden be so concerned with the "visitation" part of the agreement.

Has there been any order signed by a judge which specifies visitation. If yes, what does it say.

 

[1sttimemommy]

No there has not been any orders signed by any judge. The only "visitation" discussed was by the attorney general's office, it was signed by me and then sent to Hawaii for the father to sign, but he hasn't even received the documents and he is telling me that he's not going to sign them because his attorney told him not too because he does not like the "visitation" that they set up

He's not listed on the birth certificate, but we did have a dna test done and he signed an aop.

 

[dallas702]

I think you mean "District Attorney's Office", but no matter. Your question of "....why is he concerned about visitation..." is unanswerable. Don't send your son anywhere until a CO demands that you do. The chances of him getting visitation in HI are slim.

 

[1sttimemommy]

The paperwork that I have from them says Office of the Attorney General, but either way I think it's relatively the same organization

I am concerned because he seems to want to drag this out and make it harder when he has shown no real desire to be around or in my son's life

He moved to Hawaii on his own accord, I don't wish for him to not have the ability to see his son, but he wants to see him without me being around. He refuses to try to work through his anger towards me and that concerns me the most

If he's unconcerned with the well being of his son then that's his decision, but I have to put my son first and I think sending him off with someone he does not know is a poor choice for any child, especially in a one on one situation

I am just trying to find out what the next steps are, I called the Attorney General's office and they just told me that I have to wait to see if he signs the papers. They will give him a few weeks and then will call him to find out why he hasnt signed them.

I am considering just taking the bounced check and filing for it at the District Attorney's office, but I am not sure what that would accomplish besides making him more angry and unwilling to work with me

I need the money, I am a single mother and have a son to feed

I know that I need to try to be patient with the "system" but it's getting harder everyday this thing is being drug out

 

[jslopez711]

The paperwork that I have from them says Office of the Attorney General, but either way I think it's relatively the same organization

I am concerned because he seems to want to drag this out and make it harder when he has shown no real desire to be around or in my son's life

He moved to Hawaii on his own accord, I don't wish for him to not have the ability to see his son, but he wants to see him without me being around. He refuses to try to work through his anger towards me and that concerns me the most

If he's unconcerned with the well being of his son then that's his decision, but I have to put my son first and I think sending him off with someone he does not know is a poor choice for any child, especially in a one on one situation

I am just trying to find out what the next steps are, I called the Attorney General's office and they just told me that I have to wait to see if he signs the papers. They will give him a few weeks and then will call him to find out why he hasnt signed them.

I am considering just taking the bounced check and filing for it at the District Attorney's office, but I am not sure what that would accomplish besides making him more angry and unwilling to work with me

I need the money, I am a single mother and have a son to feed

I know that I need to try to be patient with the "system" but it's getting harder everyday this thing is being drug out

Let's see. I'm assuming the child was born in Texas.
So, there is no CO in this situation. Father is out of state. He's given you some money but not the agreed amount (unfortunatelly here nothing is signed by the judge, but it gets better). He has bounced checks and dropped him from his insurance because he has no job.

OK, here are your scenarios.

The aop has been signed so the child has a dad. Your lawyer should just serve him, put everything in writing and wait for the hearing. The drawback to this is that since he has no job right now CS is going to be real low. But you can take him back when he does get a job because the circumtances would have changed. If you do this, it would take another CO to get it reduced if he loses his job again. The catch here is since you will have a CO, he would be in contempt if he does not pay you. Arange it so that it comes directly out of his check to your account. Your attorney will do this if you ask. Aim high.

The visitation angle is a bit different. Remember, just because he doesn't pay you doesn't mean you don't let him see the child. Visitation and Child Support are not one and the same in Texas. That said, there are certain guidelines for parents who live over 100 miles from one another in the SOP. If he shows up to court, at the very minimum he will receive what the SOP outlines. Unless he is a fellon and/or a sex offender. Be prepared for that. Here is the link to the Texas SOP.

http://www.raggiolaw.com/stanposs.html

Here is something to think about. Have your lawyer write a visitation portion of the CO. What I mean by that is to have your lawyer tailor it to what ever it is that you want. The reason you want to do this is because if dad fails to show to court, the default visitation schedule is what is going to be presented to the court. That would be yours.


Say he get's SOP visitation. He will be allowed to take his kid to what ever state he feels like taking the child with notice. The sooner the child can be with dad the sooner the child will adjust. You will probably not be able to contol that.

Good luck.

 

[casa]

OT ....How's the baby Lopez?

 

[jslopez711]

OT ....How's the baby Lopez?

Doing well C. Finally sleeping through the night. Thanks for asking.

 

[1sttimemommy]

No he got a job in Hawaii making $10 an hour, so he is working

But he is not signing the forms from the Attorney Generals office that are increasing the support and outlining the visitation

He claims that he has an attorney and that he is going for more visitation

Now he's to the point of cussing at me and hanging up on me, and being extremely ugly to me verbally

He agreed to sign the forms on the phone with the mediator, now before he even receives them in the mail he's telling me he will not sign them

So I guess the next step is court?

He's never shown up for the hearings he's always called in, so not sure if he will show up or not

Thanks for the link I am going to work on the visitation schedule and see what I think would be appropriate for my son

I have a visitation outlined from the Attorney General's office, I think it's suitable. It's a step-up type program because he's under 3. They said that it was Texas law to follow that program until he's 3 then it goes to standard visitation.

 

[casa]

No he got a job in Hawaii making $10 an hour, so he is working

But he is not signing the forms from the Attorney Generals office that are increasing the support and outlining the visitation

He claims that he has an attorney and that he is going for more visitation

Now he's to the point of cussing at me and hanging up on me, and being extremely ugly to me verbally

He agreed to sign the forms on the phone with the mediator, now before he even receives them in the mail he's telling me he will not sign them

So I guess the next step is court?

He's never shown up for the hearings he's always called in, so not sure if he will show up or not

Thanks for the link I am going to work on the visitation schedule and see what I think would be appropriate for my son

I have a visitation outlined from the Attorney General's office, I think it's suitable. It's a step-up type program because he's under 3. They said that it was Texas law to follow that program until he's 3 then it goes to standard visitation.

If the visitation schedule is suitable- use it.

If he won't agree to visitation- then he doesn't legally get any.

Let his calls go to voicemail or answering machine. He'll either A.) Calm down & be more civil or B.) Give you evidence to use to order him to have supervised visits....and either of those ways will only help your concerns.

Not only should you turn the check over, you should also contact your bank re; the situation. Depending on their policy, they may work with you & remove some of the fees you've accrued behind all this.