My (27F) fiancé (34M) has his the fact that he is not paying his child support. Are we at the end of the relationship?
My (27f) fiancé (34m) hid the fact that he has not been paying his child support. We have been together for 5 1/2 years and got engaged 1 1/2 years ago. I knew on the first date he had a kid (10) with an ex fiancé. I wanted to give him a chance. Everything was going great, he was seeing his kid, paying on time, and we were so happy together.
Flash forward 3 or so years, he is at court because he was behind about $5000. He was in jail for about 12 hours before I helped his mom bail him out. He swore it would never happen again.
I found out earlier this year that he again was not paying his child support. He was behind $3500 at that point. He said he’d get a handle on it. (I had some choice words with him.)
Last night, I find a child support letter in the counter saying he owes $4300. I confronted him about it and he said “I’m so sorry” and “I’m just irresponsible with money”. Mind you, right now he is getting some money in (about $1000 a month) and is in school until around Thanksgiving. I moved my entire life to help support him financially through school (food, bills, etc). So there was no reason for him to be behind since I was paying for everything and all he had to pay for was his child support. How many chances can I give him?
I’m getting so tired of reprimanding him for not doing something a grown man and PARENT should know how to do. I do love him so very much, but this habit is making me question my future with him. If I do break it off with him, I don’t want him to be homeless. I really do want him to finish his education so he can get a better job. There are more elements to wanting to break it off such as feeling a disconnect romantically, him accusing me of wanting to cheat on him with his younger step brother, and him smoking cigarettes again after he quit (I HATE cigs). I keep trying to be positive and focus on what I love about him like how he cares for me, his jokes, that he’s putting him effort to get a better job, how generous he is to my friends. I’m stuck between two roads and neither one feels exactly right.
TLDR: My fiancé of 5 1/2 years didn’t tell him he wasn’t paying his child support and is at the amount where the court and put him in jail. I’ve helped to bail him out once but I don’t want someone who is so financially irresponsible. Do I try again with him or call it quits?
Posted Jun 13, 2025, 10:40 PM UTC · locked