Adult Woman Seeking Child Support Payments from Mom Should’ve Gone After a Politically Easier Target-Dad

Melville, NY–From Newsday’s Court: No child support for LI woman who sued her strict mother (4/10/08): “A woman who claimed her mother was too strict to live with is not entitled to collect child support from her, a state appeals court has ruled. “The state Court of Appeals concluded that Maria Guevara moved out of her mother’s Bellerose Terrace home voluntarily, so her mother was no longer obliged to support her. “Guevara moved out at 18 and sued her mother, Gina Ubillus, in 2005. Under state law, people between 18 and 21 can be eligible for child support if their parents throw them out or physically abuse them, according to the appeals court’s recent decision.
“Guevara, now 21, contended in court papers that she left ‘to escape an abusive, unloving and unsupportive environment.’ She has said her mother set her curfew too early and refused to give her money for restaurants and fashionable clothing. “A Nassau County support magistrate found no evidence the daughter had been physically abused, and the appeals court upheld the magistrate’s ruling.” Mom’s crime is that she “set her curfew too early and refused to give her money for restaurants and fashionable clothing”? Mom sounds fine to me–if anything, Gina Ubillus seems like a good parent, not a bad one. One questions whether Maria Guevara got good legal advice–suing dad for child support would’ve been far easier politically. Maybe mom was the deeper pocket or her assets were easier to ascertain. Mom’s lawyer said, “The government cannot tell a person how to discipline their child.” Well said.