Child Support

Courts may become creative when it comes to child support, particularly in cases where the legal parent’s resources are slim.  When the best interests of a child are at stake, an individual with parent-like connections to the child – even if they are not legal connections – may be required by the court to make child support payments.

In Pennsylvania, a lesbian or gay man with no legal relationship to a child may be held liable for child support payments to his or her former same-sex partner if a “parent-like” relationship is found to exist between the non-legal parent and the child.  A legal parent’s claim for child support from a former partner is probably strengthened if the non-legal parent has filed a custody claim on “parent-like” grounds.