Child support payments from the other parent may be crucial for you to provide your child with the things they need. You may rightly be frustrated and upset if your co-parent is not making the payments.
So what can you do if you find yourself in this situation?
You cannot hold back their allotted time with your child
You may feel your co-parent has no right to see your child if they cannot even make the payments on time. But that is not the right way to look at these things. Child support and parenting time are two separate things.
Put yourself in your child’s position for a moment. They probably enjoy spending time with their other parent, just as they like spending time with you. It’s also generally better for children to maintain contact with both parents. Trying to stop this from happening could lead to problems between you and your ex and you and your child.
You can try to talk to your ex about it
Your co-parent might withhold payments to try and unsettle you. Or they may have genuine reasons for being late.
Talking about it and stressing the importance for your child of prompt payment is a wise first step. If your spouse is unresponsive, or if you sense they can pay but are withholding the money to try and mess with you, then you may need to ask the court to intervene. Child support is after all a court-ordered payment and your co-parent is obligated to pay it on time.
Courts have many measures available to try and get someone to pay up, including garnishing wages, freezing bank accounts or suspending their professional license or driver’s license. If the person continues to refuse, a jail sentence may even be on the cards.
The important thing is to get the payments flowing once more with minimal disruption to your child’s wellbeing. Learning more about your legal options is wise in such circumstances.
