Alex is a young, ultra-wealthy millionaire living in Los Angeles. He buys a mansion in Bel Air from a pop star, so the house is legally his.
Later, Alex has an affair with his cousin’s wife, Maya. They have a child together, but Alex and Maya are not married. (nor have they ever been married they had a one night stand and a child together)
Question:
Does Maya have any legal right to Alex’s Bel Air mansion simply because they have a child together, even though they are not married?
Same question applies if genders are reversed.
(Caveat: IANAL)
The specific property, no, probably not.
However, a child is owed “support” from both parents, normally in the form of direct care. Where one parent is not providing direct care, they can be ordered to provide financial support to the parent who is providing direct care.
If Alex and Maya have come to an agreement where Alex will provide that mansion in lieu if direct support or financial support, Maya has a claim to the property. If Alex is subject to a support order that includes providing the mansion to Maya, Maya has a claim. Barring a scenario including the house as support, Alex will owe money to caregiver Maya (or Maya will owe money to caregiver Alex) but will not owe the house itself.
Legal right to the property, no. Legal right to financial support for the child assuming they have custody, yes. That could potentially result in sale of the property, or an agreement to get the property in lieu of other assistance.
This should be the same regardless of which parent owns the house, but it is less common for fathers to receive child support.
Alternate details that could make it a bit more grey.
If the other parent lived in the house for a significant time while pregnant, tenancy laws could get complicated.
If the parent owning the house dies, especially without a will, the child would have a legal right to some inheritance, even with a will there could be arguments for some level of inheritance.it is less common for fathers to receive child support.
I had sole custody of one of my kids, and not only could i not get child support, i was still having to pay support to the other parent.
Murica
My (adopted) step father got custody over my mother for my siblings and I. My mother was on disability, so we got SSI checks (like $40 bucks a month per kid, in the late 1990’s. He never paid her nothing after the divorce (she got the house, then promptly got it forclosed on).
this has to be the dumbest thing i’ve read today.
it should be mentioned that i am not attacking you (the person who said they had to pay child support) … i’m attacking a system that would allow this. what in the taco bell shitting hell was going through a persons head when they wrote that law?
Sometimes it’s not the wording of the law but the way it’s implemented. Sometimes the law can seem quite egalitarian, but that doesn’t help if the mother is always assumed both the default custodian and less income. Thats no longer as true as it used to be but judges can be old fashioned
What the law says and what happens can be very different unfortunately.
Technically, you’re only entitled to child support if a judge determines you are. While pregnancies from one night stands will usually require the father to pay child support, there are some exceptions (like if another parent adopts the kid.)
Additionally, those funds are only supposed to be used for the kid, and not for anyone else, so if the other parent is found to be neglecting things, they may lose custody altogether and instead owe child support.
There’s a few details here that didn’t seem needed, but cousin’s wife? Was this an episode of Fresh Prince that I missed?
I THINK that depends on if mayas husband stays with her or not. Don’t quote me on this, but if mayas husband leaves her over it, there would be a financial liability, but not the property. However if mayas husband stays, then the rich cousin owes them nothing.
deleted by creator
Yeah… I said that.
My mistake.
Nope
Pop star living in a mansion in Bel-Air? You can just say “Will Smith”
Does Maya have any legal right
Does the story play in Mayaland?
he owes alimony to raise the child. it wouldnt be the house unless he goes bankrupt and has to sell it to pay alimony
please don’t confuse alimony with child support.
child support would apply because of the child in question.
alimony is SPOUSAL support and would apply if one party is unable to maintain their current lifestyle/was told to not work and instead be a caregiver and lost out on work history etc etc… many different scenarios would apply to alimony and has nothing to really do with a kid in the equation.
they are NOT the same thing. people end up with child AND spousal support payments in some (probably many) scenarios. one is for the kid, one is for the spouse (alimony)
also, he can afford a lawyer
