My daughter's father met her once, and hasn't seen her since. He gives fake addresses, switches phone numbers, and refuses to communicate. So when he stopped paying child support, it was like pulling teeth to find out why. Come to find out, he's been in the hospital for a month. I'm still not sure as to why, his condition, or for how long he's expected to be in there, because no one can give that information due to HIPPA. My question is this: If he's seriously incapacitated, such as being in a coma, what on earth do I do about the support of my daughter? Thank you for any words of wisdom you can provide, as we live under poverty guidelines and the support we receive greatly helps put food in her mouth.
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Unfortunately, there is very little you can do in your present situation. If your state, county or local area has programs to collect and pay child support, you can try those possibilities. Depending upon whatever arrangements were made regarding the payments, you can try discussing your problem with an attorney or Legal Aid, although Legal Aid can take forever to help you. If the father has any property or other assets, you can pursue litigation with an attorney to try to collect. This, of course, requires money to pay the attorney to search for possible assets and file actions to get payment.
I apologize for painting a rather depressing picture but from your information, it appears the father is careful with his information and, even if you paid an attorney to find possible assets, collecting on them is another expensive battle.
The only upside here is, if the father dies, you can try to collect survivor's benefits from Social Security. However, the father must have worked and paid into Social Security long enough for any benefit to be paid.
Good Luck!
Addendum:
If the father is permanently unable to work because of medical problems, and has paid enough into the Social Security system, your child can collect benefits through Social Security.
First - you do not make it clear whether you were married and now divorced?
If that is the case, then child support agreement should have been through the court and they should help you obtain payment.
If you were not married and just had an agreement with the father, then all bets are off until you are able to prove he is the child's father.
You may be able to go to the Social Security office (with all legal information - SS numbers for all three involved, any marriage, birth and divorce documents) and explain why you want to file. They may tell you what type of information you need from his doctors.
Of course, any benefits now, or in the future, will depend on whether he worked and paid sufficient SS taxes to qualify for benefits.
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