Struggling mother without financial help from disabled dad

Question:

Hi, I was married to CL for about 7 years. We have 2 children together. He’s been out of the Airforce for about 7 years now. He receives VA disability. I believe it’s 100%. He’s still allowed to work. He’s been in and out of jail since he’s departure from the Airforce. Right now he’s on work release through our local county jail. I have tried several times to go through our local VA office in FortPayne Al who has faxed numerous times, I believe his name is Bill and also our local Fort Payne Al department of human resource office. Our resources office has told us many times there’s nothing they can do to help because his disability is through the government and not through the state. Our daughter is 12 and our son is 6. My children have never gotten a penny from him. I cannot afford an attorney. But it’s becoming extra overwhelming these days. His is not handicap in anyway. In fact 40% of his disability is because he has 4 scars from a hidlehurnia, 10% is where he throw his shoulder out during racket ball in pt, and they gave him another 40% for ptsd for when he was in Iraq (he built airplane hangers) never on the front line. I Awasad!!! And I can’t remember what the other 10% is for. He’s fully capable of working on top of receiving his disability check. It’s not fair I struggle to support our 2 children while he spends his money on drugs. Can someone please help or point me in the right direction to receive help? My children didn’t ask for this and I never dreamed I would struggle this hard financially.

Jim's Reply:

You don't say if you're divorced? If not, you need to be so that you can get a child support order through the court. Once you have a child support order, you can then apportion some of his VA disability pay if he doesn't stay current. If you can't afford a lawyer, you will need to file for divorce on your own at your local family court. Most states will allow you to file the papers and so on...talk with the clerk of court. Nothing can or will happen until you have a court order.

  • PS from StatesideLegal:  If you are low-income, your local legal aid provider may be able to represent you at no charge; many also have websites with detailed self-help information about divorce and child support. Use the Find Legal Help map for your state to look for LSC resources in your area.