Mom wants support from aspiring artiste dad

DEAR MRS MACAULAY,

I am a dual citizen of the United States (US) and Jamaica. I live in the US. I was married in Jamaica in 2017 and we have been apart for two years. I am currently seeking out the best way to file for divorce, whether here or there. We have a child together and I would like for him to be more financially involved since he is choosing not to be in his son’s life. He is not a working individual to my knowledge, but he is an aspiring artiste who generates funds in other ways. What is your suggestion, and will filing for child support force him to be more responsible, as in actively seeking a 9-5 job to care for his child?

You say that you wish for your husband to be more financially involved, which I understand to mean that he is already providing some support, but as an aspiring artiste this is intermittent. I understand that he provides what he can manage, and when he can. You, of course, wish this to be in regular sums and for regular periods.

You also state that he is not “a working individual”. I cannot understand why you have made this denigrating classification of him just because you are dissatisfied with the level of his contributions. Being a struggling or aspiring artiste does not mean he does not work at his craft. This falls within the same vein as some men women who say that a housewife/homemaker is unemployed. This is so incorrect and is contrary to international human rights law, and to our domestic law, and it annoys me no end.

Anyway, because you wish to obtain a structured maintenance arrangement by court order, I suggest that you petition for your divorce here in Jamaica and at the same time apply for custody, care and control of, and maintenance contributions for your child at the same time. I suggest this for several reasons — first, you can do the divorce by filing the necessary documents alone with no need for your personal attendance in court; but you may need to attend court for the custody, care and control and maintenance applications, which can be dealt with on the same day. If you cannot attend, you can apply for them to be done with you online.

Secondly, I do not know in which state you reside in the US, and it may be one of the states with no reciprocal arrangements with Jamaica about enforcements of each other’s court orders. If you, however, obtain your orders here, it can be ordered that the sums be paid directly by your husband into a specific bank account here (which you can open if you do not already have one) by specific dates each month, and you can make arrangements with the bank to transfer sums to you for your son periodically. Your husband will be bound and answerable to the court here if he defaults in his payments. He will be so bound until the age ordered by the court.

I trust that you know that if the order is made for your son’s support up to his 18th birthday, that you can apply before his 18th birthday to the court, if he is going to pursue undergraduate studies or skills training, to extend the order until he obtains his degree or his certificate of training or reaches age 23, whichever is sooner. You can also, as the years pass, apply from time to time for the maintenance sum to be varied because of depreciation in the value of the sums and due to the increase in your sons’ expenses.

Next, you have asked me whether filing, and I suppose obtaining a maintenance order, would force your husband to be more responsible and actively seek a 9 to 5 job. First, I must say that I certainly cannot answer such a question about your husband or about any other person. I must add that the law here is that both parents have a legal obligation to maintain their unmarried minor, disabled or physically or mentally infirmed child, but “to the extent that the parent is capable of doing so”. Clearly he will not be forced to change his calling or occupation. The judge will, on the evidence, decide how much your son’s needs are and how much his father is capable of providing for his maintenance, and make the necessary orders for him to make his contribution to his son’s support.

Your husband cannot be forced to change his occupation. That would be for him to decide, but he must obey the order of the court by paying what he is ordered to pay and on the ordered date, or suffer the consequences of being in default if he fails to obey.

You should take steps to retain the services of a lawyer here to act for you with the filing of your application for maintenance, custody, care and control of your son, and your divorce petition here in Jamaica, and sort out your son’s interests as soon as possible. I also strongly suggest that you must ensure that your husband has access to his son included in the orders, and that your son benefits, as a relationship with his father is in your son’s best interests.

All the very best to you and your son.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only, and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.