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Can a motion filed for support modification be answered with a visitation request?
Auburn, MA
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Posted 24 days ago in Child Support
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I recently filed a modification to increase child support after finding out my son's father had been lying about his income. He has not seen our son in over three months (had only met our son at 18 months old, he just turned 2). As soon as I told him I was filing for a modification, he got a lawyer, I presumed for visits (he hasn't ever tried to establish visits through the courts, and I was allowing them for a while, but between the fighting, suspected drug use and verbal threats, among other issues, I told him we needed to change the visit arrangements, and he said fine, I just won't see him). He has not filed any motions for visits, and it has been well over 20 days since he was served w/ the modification. Can he requests visits in response to my motion, or does he need to file his own?
Additional information
I thank Attorney Lebensbaum for the quick reply. Two quick points of clarification, though, if you please. First, if notclearly stated in the answer/counterclaim served upon me and the courts within 20 days of service, I have grounds to object; and secondly, since I brought the motion before the court, do I have grounds to ask that the question of visits be continued until I can obtain counsel(courts are VERY clear that support and visitation are two separate issues, very unfair that he can jump in on a motion i brought and I paid for)? I have absolutely no way to pay a lawyer right now (mostly due to the fact that I just started receiving child support the week after NCP was served with third contempt summons). I truly feel that my son's safety is an issue, and am not sure I can in good conscience allow anything other than supervised visits. If there was anyway I could continue the motion for a month or two, I could afford an attorney ( pretrial conference is on Dec 22).Any help is greatly appreciated. Answers (1)
Henry Lebensbaum
This attorney is licensed in Massachusetts.
Posted 24 days ago.
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Great question!
Once the door is open,the responding part can file a counterclaim for anything and any area permissible. If you have questions, contact me. |
