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A man and woman got divorced; she had adopted his child from a previous marriage as the biological mother gave up her rights. So now they have one child together.

In the divorce they got joint custody and the wording in the agreement said it was "anticipated" the child would spend as much time with the father as the mother; the mother did not make enough money to pay child support, did not make as much as the father, so there was no child support ordered.

The child, now 20 years old, never spent any time with the mother. He was wondering if he could get child support from her.

Thanks for any comments.

First, times have changed in that it would be stated that someone did not make enough money to pay child support. That kind of logic is non-existant today.

As for child support, you can only go after it from the day you file; it is not retroactive. Child support ends in GA when a child graduates from high school or is 20 years old, whichever occurs first. With that said, the answer to your question is no.

I'm getting child support for the first time and my kids are grown and gone, the arrears that he owed me.

But this divorce was in 2002, and that kind of language puzzled me too. Seemed really out of date. I couldn't believe that a judge would allow no one to pay child support on this kid.

You are getting arrears, as there was court ordered child support that wasn't paid. His court order most likely has child support reserved, which means there is none ordered, but it can be revisited later (actually, all child support orders can be re-evaluated). However, support can only be ordered from the day of the new order...and it's too late now.