DocketNumber: No. FA94-0535315
Citation Numbers: 2000 Conn. Super. Ct. 7426
Judges: LIFSHITZ, FAMILY SUPPORT MAGISTRATE.
Filed Date: 6/4/2000
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/17/2021
On December 3, 1999 the Department of Social Services filed another paternity petition pursuant to its authority under General Statutes §
On May 7 both parties were present in court and filed financial affidavits. The defendant now has adequate employment. He is employed as a driver and has gross income of $609.00 per week. He reports his net after taxes and payroll deductions to be $464.00. The plaintiff mother is also employed full time. Her gross weekly income is $754.00 with a reported net of $516.00.
The defendant father claims consideration for support obligations for three additional minor children. He has one child issue of his present marriage. He is entitled to a qualified child deduction for that child. Regs., Conn. State Agencies, §
The defendant claims he is the father of two other children born in the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. These children, Stacy Ann, born March 30, 1987, and Jermaine Anthony, born May 12, 1986 continue to reside in Guyana with their mother. Copies of their birth certificates are appended.
Stacy and Jermaine do not fit the definition of qualified child. For this deduction to be available to the defendant, the children must live in the same household as the defendant as their legal guardian, or, if not their legal guardian, they must have lived in the same household for six of the twelve months immediately preceding the determination. Regs., Conn. State Agencies, §
The child support guidelines provide for a deduction from an obligor's gross income when determining a child support obligation for "court-ordered . . . child support awards for individuals not involved in the support determination." Regs., Conn. State Agencies §
In such a situation, the obligor may be entitled to a deviation under Regs., Conn. State Agencies §
Proof of a legal obligation is more difficult. The defendant never married the mother and there has not been a court adjudication of either child. The question rests upon whether there has been a procedure recognized in law analogous to our acknowledgment provisions by which the defendant is recognized as the father or otherwise has a legal obligation to support the children. The defendant relies on the birth certificates. These are not original documents but are certified from the original record on file in the General Register Office of Guyana.
Guyana law mandates that births be recorded in the General Register. Laws of Guyana, cap. 44:01 §§ 29, 32. In Guyana, typically both the father and the mother, even if unmarried go the hospital together for the birth of the child2. Subsequent to the birth, the father must acknowledge paternity by way of a birth certificate. The mother is not allowed to name the father unilaterally. This prevents the mother from providing false information as to the identity of the child's father. The birth certificate may issue only "at the joint request of the mother, and of the person who acknowledges himself to be the father, and the person shall in that case sign the register together with the mother." Laws of Guyana, cap. 44:01 § 313. Thus father's name will not appear on the birth certificate unless he and the mother both appear before the registrar, declare that he is the father of the child and sign the register.
This procedure contains the essential elements of a formal acknowledgment procedure. Under principals of comity, this court recognizes its validity and recognizes the defendant as the father of Stacy and Jermaine. The duration of a child support obligation varies in Guyana depending on the gender of the child. If the child is a girl, then the obligation terminates at approximately 14 years of age. If the child CT Page 7429 is a boy, then the obligation terminates at approximately 16 years of age. Since neither child has reached the stated age threshold, the court will grant a deviation to the defendant for the regular support he provides to his children in Guyana.
The court also grants the State's motion to modify the support order. The addition of another child as well as substantial increases in the income of both parties since the original orders were set in 1994 amply satisfy the requirement of a substantial change of circumstances. In determining the support orders, the child support guidelines require that the court first state the presumptive amount required by the computation prior to considering any deviation. Regs., Conn. State Agencies, §
The child support guidelines now require the court to provide an order for medical and dental insurance coverage. Regs., Conn. State Agencies, §
The child support guidelines also require this court to order payment of the children's "medical and dental expenses that are not covered by insurance or reimbursed in any other manner." Regs., Conn. State Agencies, §
The child support guidelines now also require the court to make an order regarding a contribution by the noncustodial parent to child care costs. Regs., Conn. State Agencies, §
The defendant is ordered to pay the current support and arrearage order to the State of Connecticut as they may direct. The arrearage portion of the order is allocated to the plaintiff except when she is owed no arrearage, in which event it shall apply to the State's arrearage. Regs., Conn. State Agencies, §
Judgment is entered accordingly. Costs are awarded to the State in the amount of $37.50 The State may at its discretion apply the periodic arrearage payment to reimburse itself its costs.
BY THE COURT Harris T. Lifshitz Family Support Magistrate