Still pay child support if child is kicked out of custodial parent’s home?
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011My boyfriend pays child support to his ex-wife for both his 16-year-old daughter and his 15-year-old son, who have lived with his ex for the past 3 years (my boyfriend had custody before that, but his ex convinced the kids to come live with her when they were old enough to sign the paperwork). She and her current husband are pretty terrible parents and have let the 16-year-old daughter turn into quite a monster (cursing, screaming, drinking, etc.). The daughter hasn’t been welcome in our house in a year because of her behavior (the last time she came over, she broke a window to get in because her key was lost). My boyfriend just keeps paying his child support and keeping up a good relationship with his son, resigned to the fact that his little girl has become a mess under her mother’s care.
Well today, we learned that the daughter and the ex-wife, who fight a lot, had a MASSIVE argument, during which the daughter physically assaulted her mother. The ex-wife responded to this by kicking the daughter out of her house. The daughter left with friends, and so far, she hasn’t come to my boyfriend’s house (she probably won’t, since she doesn’t like to live with rules).
Now that his daughter is not in the ex-wife’s home, my boyfriend doesn’t want to pay his ex-wife the child support for her. He was already so upset about how his money was being used, and now he REALLY doesn’t want his ex to get it since she kicked the daughter out herself. I don’t blame him. He will continue to pay support for his son without complaint.
So what, if any, are his legal rights? We’re in Texas, by the way. Does he have to wait and see whether the daughter comes home, whether she and the mom reconcile, etc? Is there a time limit after which the daughter is considered a runaway, or on her own legally? I know the mom won’t go looking for her (well, unless she starts to fear the loss of money). I also know we’d need to get a lawyer to take all of this back to the family courts, but I wasn’t sure whether there was a precedent in this sort of case, or whether there’s a time limit on how long the daughter can be gone before the court decides she doesn’t live with the ex-wife anymore. The ex-wife won’t voluntarily sign away her custody because she wants the money. And we don’t want custody of the daughter, either, because of her behavior. We just don’t want to pay for her if she’s not there to be cared for with the funds, if that makes sense.
Does anyone have any advice/suggestion on how we should proceed? My Google searches aren’t turning up much. Thank you!