How can my son’s father and I legalize our custody arrangement?
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How can my son’s father and I legalize our custody arrangement?
We have everything split 50/50 where each of us has the same amount of time to spend with our son and have equal living expenses. Allowing our son to share equal time between parents is crucial for us, and we feel that child support is unnecessary and not welcome. However, in order for the state to recognize us as separated (as we were never married), we must file for child support. Is there any way to legalize our arrangement without sacrificing our terms? Do we need a lawyer? If not, do you have any advice for us?
Asked on May 25, 2012 under Family Law, Florida
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Yes, I would seek legal help here. Understand something: the child support is really not yours to waive. The reason that states have encated child support laws and made them nadatory is because the chuldren are the ones that are made to suffer. And although things seem nice and amicable now they may not be at some point in time. You have a lot of little legal issues here being that you are not married and technically you are the child's only legal guardian until that is legally established. Good luck.
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