Fights over children — who gets custody, how much for child support — are at the heart of any family law court on any given day. The faces change, but the stories and disputes rarely do.

So it is on today's docket in the Los Angeles courtroom of Judge Elia Weinbach. At least on paper. The dispute between Rosemary Douglas and Urban Joseph Grass over back child support seems familiar: She claims he never paid; he says he never knew.

In this case, however, the mom has a head of gray hair and has been collecting Social Security for more than a decade. The father was born in the heart of the Jazz Age, when a fellow named Coolidge resided in the White House. And the “child” in question is that only on some yellowing piece of paper. In real life he is a retired grandfather.

“He was ordered to do something. He didn't do it,” said the 81-year-old Douglas. “He didn't challenge it, not legally anyway. I'd always thought about this. It was never far from my mind. Finally I decided, why not? Why not try one more time?”

The story began in 1950. Douglas got pregnant and was not married. She insists Grass was the father and that he wanted nothing to do with her. After her son Gerald was born, she said she went to court to get an order for child support because she had no alternative.

No knowledge of order?

Douglas claims Grass, who now lives in Pearland, refused to acknowledge the child and paid no attention to court proceedings. Grass, 82, could not be reached for comment. His attorney in California, Pedram Mansouri, offered a different version of events, saying Grass, then a young soldier, attended one court hearing that produced no child support order and was sent by the Army to Korea before any subsequent hearing. Mansouri claims Grass knew nothing of the order that he pay $50 a month in support.

Douglas insists she repeatedly tried to reach Grass and to get him to release funds from his military allotment to cover the support. She said he refused.

“He wouldn't sign for it, and he has used every ruse he could think of to get out of it,” she said.

The years went by. Douglas said she tried again through private attorneys to find him and get the support payment when Gerald was about 5 or 6 years old, then gave up. She married and had two more children. She worked for many years managing medical groups before retiring. Gerald spent 32 years in the Air Force and recently retired as a lieutenant colonel, she said.

Now a widow, Douglas said she could use the $57,000 that she claims Grass owes her, which includes ever-rising interest. But more important than the money, she said, is the principle. When she managed to locate him in Texas, she hired a process server to deliver court papers.

Now a widow, Douglas said she could use the $57,000 that she claims Grass owes her, which includes ever-rising interest. But more important than the money, she said, is the principle. When she managed to locate him in Texas, she hired a process server to deliver court papers.

“If a judgment is rendered, you have to satisfy that judgment,” she said. “He owes this.”

Mansouri, who was hired only last week and said he is not familiar with all of the details of the matter, said the case may hinge on whether Grass was ever notified of the second court hearing or the support order that came from it. There is no statute of limitations on child support, said Mansouri, who is skeptical that Douglas will be able to prove anything at today's hearing.

“We are hoping to make this go away pretty quickly,” Mansouri said. “I suspect it's an old lady down on her luck who's looking for some money.”

mike.tolson@chron.com