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Question: I would like some information on first rights. My fiance has joint custody of his daughter from a previous relationship. He gets the child one week and his ex gets her the next. He agreed to first rights in the custody agreement. My understanding of the Parenting Guidelines is that if he has to hire someone to care for the child on his week while he is at work, he must first give the mother the option for additional parenting time. Since we live together and I am available to keep her at home while he is at work, does he have to offer her first rights? We have been told that Indiana doesn't even have a first right statute any longer, but he put it in the custody agreement. She is so hostile that she wants him to not even leave the child with me for his doctor's appointments. She is constantly causing problems and as soon as we can afford to obtain an attorney we would like to take her back to court to have first rights taken out, to change the custody from one week to two at a time, and to have the court explain to her what reasonable and flexible means. We have tried to keep his daughter at home with me while he is at work, but she causes so much trouble that he relents and lets her take her. Neither one of them work 9-5 jobs. He works 1pm - 7pm, and she works at a BP gas station so her schedule can change from day to day. Even though she does try to keep a schedule on his week so that she is always available to have the child when he is at work. To show how unreasonable she can be - when his older daughter(child's half sister) graduated, she absolutely refused to extend any additional time so that we could take her with us. It was his week when we left on Wed but the graduation was not until Sat. This was also Memorial Day weekend (and it was her holiday). He offered her Fourth of July and all make up days for the extra time that we would have her. She basically told him that since I was going that he could not take her. That if his parents (who live in Alabama) wanted to take her that they could, but she didn't want me having any extra time with her daughter. It didn't matter that it was her sister's graduation. Even though he usually tries to get along and not rock the boat, we took her with us any way. It was pure hell when we got back. We save all of the voicemail messages that she leaves and record them on cassette tapes in anticipation of going back to court. Thanks for your help. Linda Answer: I am not licensed in IN and therefore cannot answer your question specifically to the laws of that State. We often put rights of first refusal into parenting plans, though I often do not recommend using them if the parents are unable to communicate. My typical language used for a right of first refusal includes a timeframe of 2-4 hours of estimated time that the child would be with a third party before the need to call the other parent kicks in. However, if the terms of right of first refusal is active, you as the fiance (or step parent for that matter) are a "third party" and the mother should be called before leaving the child with you. With regard to your Memorial Day incident, I believe the Mother was justified in giving you "hell" upon your return. It is not justified to take her weekend regardless of the reasons behind her refusal to trade weekends. She is not obligated to explain her reasons for refusing to trade holidays. The court order controls. It would be nice if people could always work together, be flexible in trading weekends or altering pick up times, but if the parties are unable to AGREE to a change, it is not justified that your fiance just take her weekend. Be careful returning to court if mother can show more incidents like you describe. It might end up that the father has less than fifty-fifty at the end of that fight.
 by Erik Carter, JD (Cordell & Cordell, PC) What constitutes marital property? The answer to this question will largely depend on where you live. In Indiana, all assets owned by either party at the time you file for divorce are considered marital property. It makes no difference how the property is titled. If the property is owned by either party it will be included in the marital pot. This is also true for any liabilities either party may have at the time the divorce is filed. Keep in mind that property will include not only real estate, vehicles, bank and investment accounts but also retirement benefits. Even if you cannot access these funds if they are vested the value of your 401(k), pension, IRA etc. is a marital assets. The value of all assets minus the liabilities equals the marital estate.
Question: I have a daughter in Minnesota, but I now live in Indiana. I want to know about having my parental rights voluntarily terminated. My daughter
Question: I have joint physical custody of 14 year old son with my ex as the primary. The number of overnight spent with me have worked out to be 60% as oposed to the 25% that was used in the inital calculation a year ago. When using the calculators to allocate the number of overnights I'm shown as paying expenses which at this time is not correct. The best I'm able to calculate is a 50/50 split. Is there a way of getting a support figure based upon the secondary parent having a majority of overnights? Answer: I agree that calculating child support when both parents have joint custody can be difficult. I am confused as to why mom is noted as primary physical custodian if you have the majority of time. However, if that is what the order says then I suppose you need to mark yourself as paying support or non-custodial parent when using the worksheet. Indiana does not utilize percentages for the purpose of giving a parenting time credit anymore. It is based on the actual number of overnights. Put the actual number of overnights you have your son, your income, mom's income, health insurance premiums(if paid) in the worksheet. The result should give you a recommended support amount. If mom has more income or equal income to yours then the result should be no support or negative support in your column. If a negative number appears, no one pays support. The only way mom would be ordered to pay support is if she were the non-custodial parent.
Question: My ex-girlfriend is claiming that I am the father of her child. While she was pregnant, she told everyone I was NOT the father and that this black man was. When the baby was born, she had this black man sign the birth certificate, named the baby after him, and he visits with the child on a regular basis, even though he had a paternity test and it's not his. She is now saying that I am the father because the baby is white, not mixed. She says she is taking me to court and is going to make me pay back support for this child. She also had 1 other man tested, who happens to be her ex-husband. I know she can take me to court and establish paternity if she wants, but I really don't think this child is mine. But if for some weird chance it is, can she sue me for all of that money even though another man is still on the birth certificate and visits with the child? I also got married 4 months before this baby was born, thinking there was no way this was my child, because she said I wasn't, and now my new, wonderful wife has been going through hell from this woman. She blames everything all on my wife. I don't want my wife going through this anymore. Help! Answer: In Indiana you are the legal father of a child if you sign a paternity affidavit. I assume that is what you meant when you said another man signed the birth certificate. He can be forced to pay child support no matter what the dna test results say. That being said if the mother is trying to overturn the paternity affidavit and there is a pending court action you may be compelled to submit to a dna test. Only do so if you are ordered to do so by the court. If the court determines you are the father you will be responsible for paying child support. Under Indiana law child support in paternity actions can be retroactive to date of birth. As a practical matter courts generally only make child support retroactive back to the date the petition was filed. It is more likely to be retroactive to date of birth the younger the child is.
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