Child support services are available to any parent or guardian with whom the child lives, even when the absent parent lives in another state. If you are receiving public assistance, child support services are automatically provided. You do not have to wait for DCSS to act in order to request child support. Paternity must be established before you can get a child support order. The law now allows you to file a paternity action up to the child's 18th birthday.
Contact DCSS for help in establishing paternity.
You may also call LARC to request a copy of the Unwed Custody pamphlet for more information. To ask a court to order child support, you start the process by filing a Petition for Child Support, or include the request in a Petition for Custody or a Libel for Divorce. A petition is the paper that tells the court the facts of the case, begins the case against the other party, and asks for court orders. You must file the petition with the Superior Court in the county where either parent or the children live. In Grafton or Rockingham County the petition is filed in the Family Division.