If a married man has a child outside of his marriage and becomes unemployed, can his wife be forced to pay child support to the child's mother?

I suppose it depends on the state in which the parents reside. In a community property state, it may well be seen that the dependent child becomes a joint responsibility of the father and his wife.

This is something on which an all-purpose answer site can't reliably advise.

You could start by checking with family services, or whatever public body deals with child welfare in your state.

If this gets you nowhere, you will probably need to see a lawyer. Best to see one that spedializes in family court issues.

I live in Kentucky. After 6 years of paying child support, I took custody of my 2 boys after their mother remarried. For medical reasons she cannot work, so I get no child support from her, and an attorney told me that I cannot go after her husband for support. I did not pursue it any further.

http://www.chicagofamilylawfirm.com/PracticeAreas.html

Honi - The requirement to pay child support is not ended because someone loses their job. It is abated meaning put on hold and the money will still be owed to the partner in back payments. If you read through that article you'll see that the unemployed parent needs to be making efforts to find work while payments are in abatement and those payments need to be made as soon as a job is found. A smart married couple would continue to make child support payments (or at least partial payments) to avoid a bigger inconvenience at a later date. An ethical couple would also continue to make payments in whatever amount they could manage so that the child does not suffer from lack of money.

So basically - if someone with a child support obligation gets married (or someone married has a baby outside the marriage), the spouse takes on some of that obligation because of shared marital assets.

It seems to me that the parent receiving child support has many grounds for suing the married couple that aren't paying the child support, but it's probably pretty tough to win those cases.

It is best to be proactive and notify the court of the job loss to have the child support modified. Don't simply lower the amount on your own!

The spouse is not obligated to pay the child supportand is not under a court order to do so. However, as a practical matter, the modified child support becomes part of the family budget during a job loss as ami has implied.

As in all legal matters, it is advisable to consult an attorney.

Thanks everyone for such great replies.