Failure to Pay Child Support Does Not Justify Denial of Visitation
Question: I am currently behind on child support, and my ex-husband tells me I can't see my son because the Court Order states that my visitation is at the discretion of the father and since I remarried outside of our race I can't see him. I have already served a six month sentence for being behind on the child support and I am now even more behind. I don't have a job, but I am trying to attend college classes so that I can get a good job to support my son. What can I do?
Answer: The Court typically views child support and visitation as separate issues, and the failure to pay child support doesn't mean that visitation can be denied. The problem in your situation is that there is no set visitation and it's at his discretion.
Your best course of action here is to bring an action to have the visitation specified, so that you will have a set schedule which will allow you to visit. If he then denies your visitation, you can use the Court's contempt powers to enforce the Order.
His attempt to deny visitation based upon your marrying "outside of your race" will certainly not hold up, as the Court will not endorse his racist views or allow him to discriminate upon that basis. In fact, if he makes this claim in the Court case, it is likely to alienate or anger the Judge, which will end up working in your favor.
In the action to have the visitation schedule set, you can also seek to have the child support recalculated based on your going back to school, and hopefully the Court will set an amount that you will be able to pay to avoid future contempt situations.
I am married to man who had two children with someone else. He was led to believe they would be together for seven years. She has not asked for money or any support and has been keeping the kids from him for some time. We see them mabe four times a year for about an hour. My question is how do we go about getting legal visition for my husband with out being fined for not paying child support?
My children and I currently reside in SC a different state then my ex (WA). He has not paid child support or daycare all year except his taxes that were taken. He also has not been able to afford seeing the children in a year and a half? He has not had stable employment in over 2 years and lives in between all of his family memebers houses. I would like to know my rights as far as abandonment issues go, or what the state can do to him for being so badly in contempt?
i have a 5 yo son. i am not married to his father who has visited his child 7 times since birth. 2 yrs ago he was court ordered to pay child support but has missed the last 3 months. can i ask have his parental rights terminated, can a family member adopt my child so i know he is going to be with family if something happens to me?
I have a 2 yr old son, me and his dad split up when i was only 4 mos, pregnant. after my son was born, his dad only came around every blue moon. i eventually started letting his dad get him on a regular basis only to find that everytime i got my son back, there was always something wrong with him..i.e. (bruises, blisters on private areas, flea bites, unexplained pains n the mouth...)so i quit letting his dad get him. his dad didnt even come to the hospital when his son got burned as his dads mothers house. and he hardly ever pays child support. and now hes trying to take me to court for visitation after all this time. he has no license, no job, numerous DUIs, speeding tickets, been in multiple car and motorcycle wrecks..how will this hold up in court as far as him gettin visitation of our son?
My boyfriend was sent to jail for failure to pay support. His ex has an order for the four children set at $1,070.68 a month $200 is past due support. He was a truck driver but has a suspention on his cdl and now that the courts picked him up for non support they say he can't get a reduction on the support even though he hasn't made that amount in over the past year. He had filed in new york but Pa picked him up not even a week before his hearring after they sent New York courts the paper work. He didn't Know about the Pa hearring that was in late Sept. of last year, until after the paperwork was filed in New York. Someone did sign for the letter from Pa courts But it wasn't him and they aren't giving him a chance to go back in front of a judge. I thought a law was past that they would have to be brought back in front of a judge no later than 24-144 hours after being picked up on a warrent. They did reduce his perge from $6,223 to $1,000 but if he couldn't pay the support to begain with how is he going to pay that no one has that kind of money right now and he is in work release but $80.50 room and board and a child support payment of $246.00 a week on a part time job... He lost his job getting locked up. 40 hours a week but only $8.50 an hour and had started paying a $100.00 a week... Is it me or is something wrong with the system.. He also has tried to have the order changed 4 times and because of what he can make driving truck they will not lower it. Is all he wants is a normal life The ex moved on way can't he.... She has refused visatation since she filed for the contempt charge also...... it's all mutual agrement and she doesn't agree on anything but what was ordered by a judge and letting him sit in jail. AND MAKING STATEMENTS LIKE THEY CAN'T TAKE BUT 51% and they want 65% of all income.... I know even if he had a good job i would be support him cause Pa laws would have him sleeping in a cardboard box....