Non-resident custodial mother

**oilerny** · 8th-April-2012

I have a question that I don't know if anyone can answer.

The situation is the woman is a foreign national that came to work in the US for an international organization. She remains here on a G-4 visa which allows her to reside and work here. If she were to no longer work for this organization, she would have to leave the country. I suppose she could apply for a greencard at that point, but I am not sure, so let's leave that out of the equation for now because it hasn't happened and there is little to no chance that she would lose the job involuntarily. She would most likely return to her country anyway should that happen (she might even do it without losing the job).

She has a child out of wedlock that was born in NYC, so the child is a US citizen. My question is what are the ramifications of her citizenship on a family court hearing. Being that her residency in the US is tied to her employment and that there is no possibility she could receive any welfare benefits as she is not a citizen and has never paid a cent in taxes to the US except for sales tax, would the court not award her child support (since theoretically at least welfare avoidance is the reason for a mandated payment)?

Or, if the court does award CS, would it be in the automatic manner of other cases? Or would the judge actually exercise some flexibility as the statutes pretend to have? The woman earns $85,000 or so which is around 40% of the combined income. The father pays her monthly $900 to help with the cost of daycare. Maybe $85k does or doesn't sound like a lot to you, but the woman is not exactly living hand to mouth. The child is on 1.5 years old and has already traveled to Asia twice. The woman moved INTO the Upper East Side of Manhattan while she was 8 months pregnant.

My question is how much does the father need to worry that the next time she gets pissed at him for whatever reason, she goes to family court and is award a few multiple times what she gets now after add-ons and such? The father just wants to know more about the power of this weapon that she holds over him.

Thanks in advance everyone!

**The Possible Human** · 9th-April-2012

The father can be taken to court and forced to pay child support to this woman even if she is not a citizen or has any legal status other than a resident alien on a g-4. The child is an American citizen and the courts will back this woman all the way to the bank. She could get child support started and then move back to her native country with her child and the payments would continue until the child is 18. There is a racket of sorts with foreign women who come to the US, get knocked up and have the ability to get money from the father even though the woman and child moved back to another country. It's a lot more common that you would think. $900/month is not a large amount in the USA, in some countries it's 5 to 6 times a standard monthly salary, so you can see why foreign women want to get knocked up by America guys. It all about the money and always will be.