Complicated question: Child support, escrow, contempt of court, and more?

I'm going to try and nutshell this as much as possible: My husband pays child support for his son that was born out of wedlock in Ohio. Ohio law states that unmarried fathers have no rights to their children until legal paternity has been established, and until he files some sort of custody suit in the corresponding county. After we had paternity established, but before we could file a motion with the court, the mother handed custodial rights to her parents without providing sufficient contact information to the court (without the courts knowledge that she really DID know how to contact us, CS after all has our info on file), therefore we were unaware of the change in custody until AFTER the %26quot;uncontested%26quot; hearing. Now we pay CS to BOTH parties (arrears to the mother as well as current support to the grandparents), but nobody will allow us to see the child. We have filed a Motion to Modify Custody, but in Franklin Co. Ohio, it takes 5-7 months to reach a court date, and continuances happen FAR too often. Soooo... With the mother off in San Diego in the Navy (refusing to provide us with contact information, as well as her parents refusing to cooperate), and the grandparents not allowing us to see the child based on the mother's requests, does anyone know what we can do to serve the mother with the court papers that we filed (one hearing has already been continued due to the lack of service on her)? Also, does anyone know if we can utilize escrow to withold the CS from the mother until she provides us with sufficient contact info in order to uphold her responsibilites to receive CS?



Before anyone asks, no we do not have an attorney at present, but the next hearing is scheduled in September. Since my husband and I are both FT students, we will have the funding to retain an attorney by June with our next student aid disbursement.



One last thing: Since we had our own child AFTER the original order was set, and we now have a substantially lower income since said order, can we request a review on the case to possibly lower the child support to less than the current $458 / month, or does it really have to wait the 36 months?



Any and all help would be much appreciated! Thanks ahead of time!Complicated question: Child support, escrow, contempt of court, and more?Wow. Okay, I'll try to help:



%26quot;Does anyone know what we can do to serve the mother with the court papers that we filed?%26quot; - You can hire a process server to track her down and serve the paperwork.



%26quot;Does anyone know if we can utilize escrow to withold the CS from the mother?%26quot; - No. Child support and visitation are separate issues entirely.



%26quot;Can we request a review on the case to possibly lower the child support?%26quot; - Yes. You can motion to modify child support at any time you meet the guidelines for modification in your jurisdiction.



As you've probably guessed by now, you really need to retain an attorney for custody battles. Call your county Bar Association for referrals to firms that specialize in family law, then speak to a few about your financial situation. You may find one that will take a low retainer, accept minimal weekly or monthly payments, and allow you to pay the bulk of it in June.



Hope that helps. Good luck. :)Complicated question: Child support, escrow, contempt of court, and more?You're welcome. Thanx for BA! :)



%26quot;Loves%26quot; and %26quot;donot%26quot; have some good ideas, too. Try the university and the Navy. Best wishes.



Thanx, %26quot;Loves%26quot; :)

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Complicated question: Child support, escrow, contempt of court, and more?Trai is completely correct in her answer.



You may have one additional resource as a full time student. Some universities that are connected to a law school have law clinics available for students at the university. Second and third year law students are working for grades under the supervision of members of the law faculty. The services are provided without cost to the students. Look online at law schools connected with your institution or in the community. I hope you can find some help.Complicated question: Child support, escrow, contempt of court, and more?There are situations where you can get %26quot;orders to shorten time%26quot; or ex-parte emergency orders to address situations. It might be worth filing an emergency order for contact with his son, so that at least you can

claim that you tried this and were denied. (They'll try to claim that you've never been involved with his son, even though he was wrongfully denied contact and denied the opportunity to contest this change in custody.) They'll try to delay it until they can say, %26quot;Well the child is 3 years old now and has hardly even seen his father - it's not in the child's best interest for his Dad to be involved NOW.%26quot;



You DO need a lawyer to help you with this. I'm so sorry for your situation, and wish you the best of luck in the courts!



P.S. Check out www.fathersandfamilies.org - they're fighting to fix the family court systems!Complicated question: Child support, escrow, contempt of court, and more?File with child support enforcement to modify the child support due to a lower income and the fact that you are being double charged. Do it immediately. Contact the navy for her contact information. Her commanding officer will rip her apart for this behavior. The military is very strict about everyone being on the up and up.Complicated question: Child support, escrow, contempt of court, and more?I don't have much to give you in terms of help, but just know that there are others out there going through similar situations. I'll be thinking of your family.