Can Your Ex Sue You for Unpaid Child Support 30 Years Later?

Florida law requires parents to financially support their children until they turn 18 (or 19 if they are still in high school and reasonably expected to graduate). Once a court enters a child support order, that creates a legal obligation on the parent required to pay. Yet many parents ignore the court’s order and may go months or years without paying required child support.

But child support is not something where you can wait for the statute of limitations to expire. Indeed, there is no statute of limitations in Florida when it comes to child support arrears. In theory, the parent entitled to receive support payments could pursue legal action to collect those arrears for many years, even decades, after the child in question has become an adult and moved out of the house.

Appeals Court: Trial Judge Must Consider Whether Mother Waited Too Long to Seek Contempt Order

That said, raising a child support arrears claim long after-the-fact can raise certain due process issues with the courts. This came up in a recent decision from the Florida Third District Court of Appeal. In Phanord v. Phanord, the mother and father of two young children divorced in 1992. Roughly 30 years later, when the youngest child was approaching middle age, the mother filed a motion to hold the father in civil contempt because he allegedly never made any required child support payments.

Following a hearing before a magistrate, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge granted the mother’s request and issued a civil contempt finding against the father. On appeal, the father argued he was denied due process. Specifically, he cited the magistrate’s refusal to consider his defense of equitable laches.

Laches is a defense sometimes raised in civil cases. Basically, the respondent argues that the petitioner unreasonably delayed filing their lawsuit, which in turn made it impossible for the respondent to defend themselves. If the judge accepts the laches defense, the petitioner is subsequently estopped (barred) from proceeding with their claim.

Here, the magistrate refused to consider laches because the father did not specifically raise it as an affirmative defense in response to the mother’s petition. The Third District, however, said that was unnecessary in the context of this case. The mother did not file a lawsuit requiring the father to file a formal answer with an affirmative defense. Instead, she filed a motion for civil contempt. Under the circumstances, the appellate court said the magistrate should have considered the merits of the father’s laches defense, so it ordered a new hearing.

To be clear, the Third District took no stance on whether it agreed with the father’s argument. And even if the Circuit Court decides against the mother’s contempt motion following a new hearing, that still would not absolve the father of his legal obligation to pay child support arrears, even three decades later.

Contact a Miami Child Support Attorney

Enforcement of child support obligations in Florida often requires additional proceedings beyond the initial order. If you are involved in such a matter and need advice from an experienced Miami child support law attorney, contact Hamilton O’Neill today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=856049021851984309