If you do not already have an affordable safety (that does not need NCP information), you may want to add one of the automatic full ride schools that is still accepting applications to your list. Full tuition may also work, if you get a sufficiently large Pell grant and add a direct loan and some work earnings.
@twoinanddone Wasn’t Arnold providing some sort of support…secretly?
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Do they really expect me to dig up his number after he abandoned us 18 years ago and ask for his help?
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probably not.
Does your rabbi know you and your mom? If so, ask him/her if they can write a letter stating that your bio-dad has never been in your life, you’ve never met him, he’s never paid support.
Have you sent emails to your schools asking for waivers and the process?
Arnold was certainly paying to support the child either through wages or other help to the housekeeper/mother, but it would still be the case that the child thought he had ‘never had contact’ with his NCP and when he went to fill out the CSS would state "I have no contact with my father’ and honestly believe that. In this case, if the OP has no contact, that doesn’t mean that the father has no ability to pay. He may have developed quite a career by now, have won the lottery, have invented something.
It happens all the time that the CP wants nothing from the NCP except from him to get lost. Usually state/fed aid agencies and universities are more anxious for the NCP to be a little uncomfortable and pay up.
Whelp, in fact, my brother had a paternity test done to make sure he WAS the dad, and I have those results. Pretty sure he did not my niece or her mom that he was having it done, though.
“The custodial parent fills out the form with the info for the biological missing parent, and the state seeks reimbursement for the aid. It doesn’t matter that it has been 10 or 15 years, the obligation is still there.”
This doesn’t sound right. I’m pretty sure they cannot obligate anyone for anything prior to the filing date. No ex post facto laws, no bills of attainder are allowed under our constitution. (Obviously, just because a law is unconstitutional doesn’t mean it won’t be passed before being overturned. But what you describe should long since have been reviewed.)
I just had a situation today where the school turned down the non custodial waiver letters (where they had been accepted in the past) and sent the kid a stack of various documents that all had to be signed and notarized including back tax forms to make sure that no one else was filing the student as a dependent
@twoinanddone Yes, if there is no contact BUT there have been support payments, then that would be viewed differently than this case of no support, no contact ever, etc.
I can understand your point that the dad may be suddenly wealthy or something, but if there truly has never been any contact (the student has never seen or spoken to him) or support, then it would seem that a school would grant the waiver unless they have a policy of never granting waivers.
The state seeks the refund of aid for the time the NCP should have been paying it. Just because a NCP wasn’t ordered to pay support 15 years ago doesn’t mean the state can’t ask for reimbursement for amounts paid currently. For example, mother applies for TANF in Jan and starts receiving it. Lists NCP. State then send notices to NCP to pay, a process that might take several months. You bet that state is going to ask for the money from the beginning. If NCP says “Hey, it’s been 15 years and I didn’t even know this kid existed” it’s not going to change anything. If the mother has receiving funds for years and the father can’t be located, when they locate him they are going to ask for the money.
It is not an ex post facto law. The NCP always had the obligation to support children so there is no change to a law after the fact.
“The state seeks the refund of aid for the time the NCP should have been paying it. Just because a NCP wasn’t ordered to pay support 15 years ago doesn’t mean the state can’t ask for reimbursement for amounts paid currently.”
It doesn’t mean they cannot ask for it; it just means that the NCP has no responsibility or obligation to pay anything prior to the date. So they cannot require him to pay anything from before that date.
No, no one has any obligation to pay anything unless a court orders them to. The obligation to provide financial support is made by the court, going back to the date the support suit was filed or comparable event (i.e., separation or divorce) that would incur a support obligation, based on his income as determined by the court at the time of the hearing.
Here are just a few quotes on the subject from various government entities; they are all similar; no one allows indefinite backdating. Texas, for example, does say that support when collected first goes to repaying TANF, but that is where the collected support goes after collection; they cannot backdate when the obligation to pay the support attaches.
“Your support obligation is valid as of the filing date of the order. In some instances, your support obligation will have a retroactive beginning date that is from the summons and complaint or from the date that you were served with the motion for child support.”
“Courts can award temporary child support immediately after a Court case is filed. (The Court can make Florida child support retroactive to date of parties separation to a maximum of 24 months prior to filing date.)”
“What happens after a child support order is issued?
The Court assumes that once a child support order is entered, the respondent (the one paying the child support), is paying and is able to pay the amount ordered.”
“A support action begins when one parent files a support petition, requesting the Court to order the other parent to pay child support. … The Respondent must be served with the Petition for Support and has the option of filing an Answer within 20 days after service.”
“B. If child support has not been ordered by a child support order and if the court deems child support appropriate, the court shall direct, using a retroactive application of the child support guidelines to the date of filing a dissolution of marriage, legal separation, maintenance or child support proceeding, the amount that the parents shall pay for the past support of the child and the manner in which payment shall be paid, taking into account any amount of temporary or voluntary support that has been paid. Retroactive child support is enforceable in any manner provided by law.
C. If the parties lived apart before the date of the filing for dissolution of marriage, legal separation, maintenance or child support and if child support has not been ordered by a child support order, the court may order child support retroactively to the date of separation, but not more than three years before the date of the filing for dissolution of marriage, legal separation, maintenance or child support. The court must first consider all relevant circumstances, including the conduct or motivation of the parties in that filing and the diligence with which service of process was attempted on the obligor spouse or was frustrated by the obligor spouse. If the court determines that child support is appropriate, the court shall direct, using a retroactive application of the child support guidelines, the amount that the parents must pay for the past support of the child and the manner in which payments must be paid, taking into account any amount of temporary or voluntary support that has been paid.”
“Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and certain Medicaid recipients automatically receive child support services after they are certified for public assistance. Persons who do not receive TANF or Medicaid must apply for child support services. There is no charge to apply for child support services. Many services are provided at no cost. Effective October 1, 2011, custodial parents with full-service cases who have never received TANF will pay a $25 fee each year that they receive at least $500 in child support collections. Fees will be deducted from child support payments. Parents who have more than one child support case will pay a fee on each case that meets the criteria.”
"To receive TANF benefits through the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, recipients must cooperate with the Office of the Attorney General’s efforts to identify the child(ren)’s noncustodial parent and collect child support.
TANF recipients must assign to the State their right to child support collections. Payments collected in the case while the family receives TANF benefits are applied toward reimbursing the state and federal governments for TANF benefits received by the family. However, the family will receive as a “pass-through” the first $75 collected during any month that a current child support payment is made. When the family no longer receives TANF, all current support payments are sent to the custodial parent."
“(a) An order of support shall be effective from the date of the filing of the complaint or petition for modification unless the order specifies otherwise. In a child support case, if a change in custody occurs after the date of filing, but before a domestic relations conference is held, the trier of fact shall enter a charging order going forward in favor of the primary custodian that shall be effective from the date of the change in custody. The trier of fact also may enter a retroactive arrears order in favor of the party who was the primary custodian at the time of filing. Such an order may address the period from the date of fining to the date of the change in custody. However, a modification of an existing support order may be retroactive to a date preceding the date of filing if the petitioner was precluded from filing a petition for modification by reason of a significant physical or mental disability, misrepresentation of another party or other compelling reason and if the petitioner, when no longer precluded, promptly filed a petition.”