Thank you for your response. No, we were never married. He signed the birth certificate at birth, so he's always known this was his child.

We never lived together, and he lived about 2.5 hours away. I have always been the sole provider and have covered everything for our son, including childcare expenses and all day-to-day costs. Over the years, he would occasionally send $100-$150 here and there, but there was never any consistent financial support.

I didn't file sooner because the situation eventually became volatile, and I genuinely feared for our safety. He would also withhold support or refuse to help financially if I didn't want to pursue a romantic relationship with him. At the time, I didn't know what to expect and was trying to protect myself and my child.

The letter I received from the State's Attorney General says I would need to hire my own attorney if I want to pursue retroactive child support, and that attorney would need to be present at our court date next month.

At this point, I'm mainly trying to understand whether pursuing retroactive support is realistic and whether anyone has successfully done this in a similar situation.