if there is a court order for child support from the AG’s office and we are not receiving the support at this time, if we are able to start receiving it, would we be required or obligated to allow the parent visitation? she has not seen them in over 3 years, they are 3 1/2 and 5.
child support and visitation have nothing to do with each other.
You unfortunately cannot deny visitation due to non payment of child support in the state of tx..they are 2 different things..sorry!
Are there court orders addressing this issue already in place? Then you must follow the orders that exist. Whether the absent parent pays support (either now, last year, or in the future) is completely irrelevant to their visitation rights. They are two separate issues. If you fail to allow ordered visitation, then you will be in contempt of court. Same as the other party may be found in contempt for failure to pay ordered child support. You can both be in contempt at the same time for different things. One does NOT negate the other.
Even if she never pays (unless they land her in jail for non-payment, and you can order that visitation hours at the jail are inappropriate, but sending a parent to jail for non-payment rarely happens outside of small towns) she can still demand visitation… even take you to court over it and get your custody arrangement changed in her favor if you deny it.
BUT if she has NO visitation right now, purely honoring her CS obligations will not also grant her immediate visitation, or grant her the right to go after custody (as she can do that at any time, regardless of whether she’s paying as ordered).
If she HAS visitation, however, and has not used it that gives you grounds to have the visitation orders changed so that she no longer has the right to them. Very few situations would exempt her from that (military service for example would be one situation wherein the orders wouldn’t be considered for revoke… but could still be changed).
In all things legal, though, a lawyer consult is best.
Hugs.
Unfortunately, paying child support, or not, has nothing to do with visitation rights.
Not paying support might make a parent look bad in the eyes of the court, but visitation is never based on a parent’s ability to pay.
If you need to try to change the visitation orders based on the length of time the parent has had no contact, that’s a separate issue.
Best wishes.
Yup, you sure would…
frm what i’ve been told child support & visitations have nothing to do w/ each other. If child support hasnt been paid it doesnt matter if there is a court order for visitation. you must still allow parent their visitations. i know that really bites!
According to the courts (in a similar situation) the Judge specifically told me that I could not keep my child away from the father. Evcen if he wasn’t paying child support. The parental rights are not contingent on child support. I was told that if I withheld access to her, I could go to jail. The only thing that can suspend parental rights, is the courts.
I am not a lawyer, but as far as I understand it, that is two separate things. Even if the parent is not paying child support they should be allowed visitation with the child. If the parent is paying child support they should be allowed visitation with the child. The two are not mutually exclusive. Unless, there is an order restricting the stopping the visitation. If there is not, you could be in violation of a court order. You really want to check with a lawyer or call the AG’s office. I would hate for you to get in any kind of trouble by the look of keeping a child from the non-custodial parent, even though the non-custodial parent may have chosen not to see the children. These are very sticky issues…I’m sorry you are having to deal with it.
From personal experience…the AG’s office has nothing to do with visitation, they will not deal with any aspect of it. They are strictly child support enforcement. They leave that to family court. Good Luck :0)
non-payment of child support is not a reason to deny visitation. I asked my attorney the same question and that was his answer to me. He suggested I call the AG’s office and they can begin taking action against the person.
I think it depends on what state you live in. In Texas you can have their parental rights revoked if they go that long.
In the past, if you go one full year with no contact, you can have parental rights revoked…but you’ll have to actually talk to an attorney about it.
The AG’s office is only there to make sure he pays.
Good luck to you.
Child support and Visitation have nothing to do with each other. Even if a parent does not pay child support, they are still entitled to exercise their visitation provided there are no other issues that impact the welfare of the children–like drugs, alcohol, violence, etc. Best wishes and God bless!