Court Ordered Support/visitation Question?

Question

Here we go again. Went to court in May, an order was entered for my son's dad to pay support and he received a graduated visitation schedule (my son is 8 months). The visitations started at 3 times a week at my house for a few hours, for a month or so, and then slowly worked up to going to his dad's for a while and then after a few months, spending one night and so on. The reason why we did it this way is because he's seen my son maybe 8-9 times since he's been born, Johnny has no idea who he is.

His dad has not visited Johnny nor has he made any of the support payments since court.

Just got off the phone with him and he stated if I let him have Johnny one day/night for the weekend, then he will start paying support. He said he's NOT making any payments until that happens - which obviously violates the court order.

I'm going tomorrow to file to amend custody/visitation and filing a show cause for the support.

What will the judge say about him giving me this ultimatum?

Answer 1

the judge will order him 2 pay again and will tell u 2 start letting him have his son.  4 what it's worth just get along with the little guys dad the best u can

Answer 2

sounds like the dad is going to lose not only visitation rights but also ruin his credit. past due child support gets reported to the credit bureau.

i would'nt let him see the kid at all at this point...stand firm and wait for the judge to decide.

betting the judge will understand your situation and react accordingly.

"dad" doesn't dictate things, the court does...and he's already ignoring what the court said!

good luck.

Answer 3

The judge will probably be very harsh with him since he is violating the court order. This guy sounds like a real *ss. Good thing you got divorced.  The judge may even threaten jail time if he does it again.

Answer 4

Judge isn't going like him giving you that ultimatum one bit.  He is the Judge and your husband obviously has to learn that.

This could be interesting..maybe even a contempt of court case coming out of it.  And Dad is going to find his visitation much curtailed until he complies.

You go girl!

Answer 5

I'm not sure what the judge would say, and you are going to have to prove he is working under the table. But, I would think they would change the custody arrangement because he has nothing to do with his baby and has no interest in supporting him. Also, please don't let Johnny go stay overnight with that loser. Everything you have said about him in your questions reminds of my sister's baby's father. I keep telling her not to let her baby go stay with him because I am terrified he is going to take him and go hide somewhere. If I were you I would look at his motives and be afraid he would take Johnny and run.

Answer 6

Just go to court and let the Judge handle it.   His dad sounds like he has a few screws loose and I personally would not trust him as far as I could throw him......especially with the new threat!  Something sounds fishy!!   I would ask the Judge for supervised visits for many, many, many more months now.

Be careful with your wonderful son.

Answer 7

The court can and will make him pay. If he doesn't his life will be a living h**l. Including jail time for contempt. In most states a judge can't officially tie support and visitation but judges have wide latitude in these matters.

If you have worries about his behavior that too can be brought up in hearings. The court can appoint a guardian ad litem to protect the childs interests-usually a CASA  volunteer. This can backfire if you have any questionable behavior yourself.

The judge won't take very well to the father making demands outside of his ruling. He'll probably deny it,anyway. Keep any communications you have-e&v mail,etc. You can record phone conversations made to you.

With all that said -children need both parents. Try to keep things amiable while keeping Johnny best interests at heart. I hope you can work it out. You might consider asking for court appointed counseling.

Good luck

Answer 8

Hard to speak for a judge, but my experience in these types of cases are that support and visitation are not tied together. Meaning, neither one of you gets to make visitation contingent upon support.  So I am sure the judge will be happy to find him in contempt of court for this.  However, in the end, I think it is important to keep in mind that a Court will never, ever be able to force a person to be a good parent.  You can file contempt on him every day for the rest of your life, but if he doesn't want to be a responsible parent, a court cannot really make him.

Answer 9

My mom went thru the exact same thing with my little brother who was 6 when this all started hes now 8. When my mom and dad split my dad made no attempt whatsoever to visit/call/talk.write to my brother well any of us. So my mom took him to court for child support and my dad informed us he was not paying if he didnt get my brother for weeks or weekends. Well the judge informed him otherwise. It has been 2 years this has been going on and the only visitation my dad gets is supervised with my mom and a lady at the public library once a week. My dad does have to pay. He did stop paying the support for about a month and they started taking it out of his check. So your sons dad will ahev to pay whether or not he gets to see his son. Good Luck with this all.

I do know when my dad misses a visitation they record that down and he missed so many that the court made him do a therapy session and if he missed that they would get him for violating a court order.

Answer 10

He has to follow the court order.  Tell the judge that he gave you the ulitmatum.  Could find himself in jail or fined big time for not obeying the court order.

Answer 11

DO NOT give him an ultimatum. Let the Judge do that. All YOU can do is abide by the court order.

Answer 12

He can't give you that ultimatum. He has to obey by the courts orders, if he doesnt he can lose his visitation rights, and for him to tell you he'll start paying if you do that, thats not his choice, if he doesnt pay his child support and gets behind so much then he'll go to jail. The judge is very strict on the documents so as long as you are follovving your part then you are fine, the judge vvill order him to pay his child support and if he doesnt then he'll face the consequences. Good Luck!