FOREIGN Child support till what age ?

[jamierenae]

What is the name of your state? Florida

My husband was married to a german citizen before. He has paid child support for nearly 18 yrs. The 2 children will be 18 in 2004 and 2005. We currently reside in Florida how long do we have to keep paying? Can he stop when they are 18? According to german law the father usually pays till the children are out of college. He has german court orders since he was married and divorced in Germany in 1990. Since living in the USA again does he need to follow the german court orders or can he go by american child support laws?
Thanks in advance
Jamie

 

[mrseld]

You need to contact an attorney. What if the kids don't go to college? Do you continue to support them until they are the age they would've been if they had graduated? You can be a career college student if you change majors, get you Bachelor's and Mater degrees, etc. Right?

Call an attorney.

 

[stealth2]

Since the divorce and orders are from Germany and that's where the kids live (presumably), he probably has to follow their laws. The US likely has no jurisdiction, but it could n't hurt to ask a local lawyer anyway.

 

[Coastinwmn]

This is interesting. My husband is in the same situation now. He married a german citizen 15 years ago which ended in Divorce after three years and they had a daughter. It is now 14 years later and we are being served with papers from Germany stating that we must start paying Child support until his daughter is 18. It made no mention of paying longer if she goes to college.

My husband's divorce papers which we had translated state that Child support is not required and, the mother is soley responsible for his daughter. She told my husband that german welfare stops paying once the child turns 14 and that is why she is going after him for support now. According to our lawyer there is nothing we can do. I even recall her telling my husband on the phone that she had gotten remarried (she divorced six months later) and the new husband was going to adopt his daughter and there would be nothing he could do about it. I will also add that on top of getting German welfare for his daughter, she had him sending her an extra $200.00 a month until he found out she could have gotten in trouble for it. Of course he has no proof that he sent money because, she had him send the money order to her sister who lives here in the US. The only thing the divorce papers are going to do is prevent my husband from having to pay back support.

If she needs the money for his daughter, fine. I just wish she would have started taking it the day they divorced. We now have two kids of our own and huge debt. My husband will get a second job but, we would have done things differantly (Maybe only had one kid instead of two) had we had to factor in child support payments in the begining. This stinks really but, nothing we can do but try and get by. Good luck to you. I guess we will have to contact the german consolate in NY again to find out about paying after 18. If we find something out before you get a legitimate response I will let you know.

 

[nextwife]

Is there a divorce decree that details the agreement?

"Until they are out of college" is pretty broad. My sis is 41 and just got yet another post grad decree (she works and pays her own way, though), but technically she just "got out of college". So if one pays until they "get out of college", he could be paying for decades if they stay in school. Likely there are more parameters that limit the obligation..

 

[hexeliebe]

Your husband must follow the laws of Germany where the divorce occurred. Because of standing treaties, a judgement between one member of the European Union and the United States is valid in either location.

Instead of contacting an attorney, you might want to first contact the State Department. They will know faster under what specific treaty your divorce falls.