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Contempt of Court

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Maddy0307

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?Florida

I have full custody of my daughter. Her father was put on court ordered support as of 08/2013. This was after nearly 1 1/2 years of me trying to play nice and asking him for only $75. He basically told me to shove it and was found to be 2 years in arrears and ordered to pay $575 a month. He has so far paid nothing...not one cent. I have been on the DOR CSE case diligently, but they haven't even threatened to suspend his license yet. When I give them information about his personal vehicle they told me they can't put a lien on it because there is no lienholder on it! How does that make any sense??

Meanwhile, he works under the table...when he chooses to work. Lives with his mother for free. He has no other children and besides a phone bill, no other real bills. He has told me many times he does not intend to pay, although he claims to love our daughter so much. He is also on probation for a very serious crime he served time for for another 7 years. I have spoken to his probation officer, hoping she would say something to him, but that never happened. Isn't it a normal probation term to keep regular work and take care of your dependants? He always has money for the bars and partying, never for my child. I have asked him to sign his rights over, and he refuses. He sees her maybe once every couple months and doesn't live that far from us.

I am furious over this as my daughter's standard of living is not what it should be if she had 2 responsible parents. My family has offered to help me with an attorney. If anyone in Florida has any experience with contempt of court proceedings here, please let me know. I'm thinking of filing myself, but I don't want to wait another 6 months for a court date like I did for child support. If I have an attorney can this process move faster? Will my attorney use pictures that he posts while on the job on Facebook as evidence of willfully not paying?

Thanks so much for any help.
 
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Ladyback1

Senior Member
If he is intent on NOT paying, a contempt of court citation will not make him pay.

As sad as it is, some parents do not believe, think, and/or feel they should have to pay child support to the other parent to support the kiddos.

Get over being angry, it does nothing for you.

You may never see a dime of child support. I know that there have been posters here who went 18 years or so with no support...
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
If he is intent on NOT paying, a contempt of court citation will not make him pay.

As sad as it is, some parents do not believe, think, and/or feel they should have to pay child support to the other parent to support the kiddos.

Get over being angry, it does nothing for you.

You may never see a dime of child support. I know that there have been posters here who went 18 years or so with no support...
I am one of those posters. My ex owes me over $160,000 in support which is all arrears. My youngest turns 20 later this year. One can never rely on child support to pay the bills.
 

Maddy0307

Junior Member
I can't just get over being angry! There has got to be some way to make him pay...I am pretty sure he doesn't want to go back to jail.

Thank you for the replies.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I can't just get over being angry! There has got to be some way to make him pay...I am pretty sure he doesn't want to go back to jail.

Thank you for the replies.
I understand. It sucks that you are the responsible parent and the other parent gets to do whatever they want without having to worry for a moment about the child(ren).
 

Ladyback1

Senior Member
I can't just get over being angry! There has got to be some way to make him pay...I am pretty sure he doesn't want to go back to jail.

Thank you for the replies.
No, there may not be a way to "make him pay". It's going to take a while for him to be sent back to jail for nonpayment of support. And, if he goes to jail? You have ABSOLUTELY NO chance of getting paid support.

It sucks. It's not morally right. It's not "fair".
But...it is what it is.
(FWIW-my Ex is behind in child support AND I have a judgment issued by the court because Ex didn't think he needed to pay 1/2 of the out of pocket medical expenses for 3+ years. I'm not talking out my hiney when I say "get over being angry". It won't and doesn't do you any good. And if he is still making you angry, then he is still controlling at least a part of your life. Is that what YOU want??)
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT hand the child support arrears over to a collection agency. Once you do that, he can go down and file for bankruptcy and have it discharged.
 

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