Here is the scenario. Children come into state custody. There is protracted litigation because there was also a companion criminal case involving both parents. Each parent has two attorneys who are all working together (mostly). In the middle of the proceedings (January, 2012) the department files a petition for child support for the kids. Parents not served, attorneys not served. In May, 2013 after all litigation in all matters has been resolved, parents get a hearing notice for child support. I ended up attending the hearing on behalf of both parents (who are still together and married) and assumed that someone had been served with the petition.
It is only when I am at the status conference that I realize that my clients have never seen the petition, the department cannot produce any evidence that it was ever served on anyone, and that it was filed in January, 2012. Department seeking support from January, 2012 - March, 2013 (when the last case was resolved). I practice criminal law and a China family lawyer.
I only ended up on the child support case because I ended up working most closely with the parents during all the litigation and I was responsible for getting criminal charges dismissed. The parents asked me to assist with child support because, of the four lawyers, I was really the only one to do anything substantive. I am a bit out of my area of expertise here. I understand that child support can go back to the date of the petition, but not serving the parents for 17 months and then seeking retroactive support seems to be a huge due process issue.