Full Custody And Child Support

by Josh Epstein
(Madison, WI)

Five years ago, after a three year marriage during which we spent approximately 9 months together (I had been in the service and often gone on training or other deployments), my ex-wife and I separated. At the time, we had a three-year-old daughter and one on the way.

Full Disclosure: I went into hiding after this. I did not speak with my ex for over a year, or our oldest daughter. My financial situation was dire, and I had no means to send them support.

She filed a petition for abandonment and was granted full custody.

Fast-forward two years: After school, I moved to Wisconsin and secured full-time employment. I worked with the state of Kansas and the state of Wisconsin to determine support payments and have successfully cleared all arrears.

Now that I am paying over $700/mo in support, I have had a difficult time getting my ex to agree to let me see the kids.

She will not return my phone calls, and did not allow me to speak with my youngest daughter when I called on her last birthday. Considering that I've never been able to meet with her face to face, such calls are my only link to this child.

I am going to be travelling home to Kansas next month on other personal business, and would very much like to see my children. Given my ex's previous intractability (I visited last year and she took the girls and left town before I could come to see them), I am worried that she will not comply unless I have the law on my side.

Please help! I have not seen my oldest daughter since the split and have never been able to meet my youngest. I have worked very hard to get to the point where my life is on track and I am able to meet my obligations, and to feel like a failure as a father because I have no presence in my daughters' lives is literally eating away at me (stress-related digestive tract issues)

Thank you!