Legal Question in Family Law in California

Re: Custody Awarded to parent $90K in arrears. Will I have to pay support?

Probably. This does not mean you do not have a right to collect support arrears from the other parent, but you would be limited to those collection techniques allowed for a civil judgment, not for ongoing support. For example, the other parent can attach your wages potentially in the amount of up to 60%, but you would be limited to attaching the other parent's wages up to only 25% (if that). But there are some things you can do that the other parent cannot do to you. For example, you can seize the other parent's bank account. If there is not enough money in that account, you can seize the other parent's spouse's bank account. You can also put a lien on and force a sale of any non-exempt property owned by the other parent. There is no statute of limitations on support arrears. So my recommendation to you might be to lie low and do nothing until the children are grown. Then go for the arrears. Before you make any decisions, however, you need to have an attorney review your entire case to give you informed advice.

I suppose you could offer to make direct deposits of child support into the other parent's bank account. Then, once you get the bank name and account number, you could empty out that account, after you make your deposit of course; you would not want to cheat the other spouse out of his child support deposit. Note that you would have to use a lawyer to convert the arrears into a judgment first.

Re: Custody Awarded to parent $90K in arrears. Will I have to pay support?

Many judges will make a child support for you. However often, they will not make you pay. They will deduct your child support payments from the arrears.