If your former spouse isn’t following custody orders, are you still required to make your child support payments? Yes, you are still required by Kentucky family law to continue paying child support. But it’s a very interesting question with a lot of layers.
Here in Kentucky, child support relates to your child’s well-being, and the money associated with that support is to ensure your child’s needs are provided for. The failure to pay ordered child support exposes you to serious legal and financial repercussions. This can include wage garnishment, suspension of a business or professional license, and confiscation of any tax refund you are owed until the arrearages are paid in full. In rare cases where willful disregard of Court orders to pay support is a factor, contempt of Court and jail time are possible.
While the amount of child support can be related in some cases to the amount of parenting time each former spouse has with each child, it is best to consider these issues as completely separate from one another.
If your former spouse isn’t following custody orders, the first legal step to consider is to address the custody and visitation orders directly. Kentucky Family Courts take a dim view of a parent who refuses to follow the Court’s orders. My name is John Schmidt, and after more than 25 years of service as a family law attorney here in Shepherdsville and throughout the greater Louisville region, I can tell you there are legal actions and remedies you should consider in order to properly address this type of problem.
Each case is unique, and a blog is not a forum for legal advice. In these cases, it is usually possible to resolve the matter outside of the Court. We can help you to work out the custody issues with your former spouse through negotiation or mediation. Another option to consider is a Motion of Contempt to bring your former spouse’s failure to follow existing orders to the Court’s attention. If your former spouse’s behavior is a willful act of noncompliance, the Court has several options, including fines, granting you additional time with your child, or even modifying existing custody and parenting time orders.
Spending more time as a custodial parent could also reduce the amount you are required to pay in child support.
When you are facing a serious issue, like when a former spouse isn’t following custody orders, it is important to remain focused on the best interests of the child(ren). This is a foundational principle of child custody here in Kentucky and is a primary concern of the Court.
At the Law Offices of John Schmidt & Associates, we can help to negotiate a resolution, represent and protect your interests in mediation, or pursue other remedies through the Court. You are required to consistently make ordered child support payments, even if your former spouse continuously violates existing custody orders.
We invite you to contact us via e-mail, schedule an appointment or call us today at (502) 509-1490 to get answers to your questions and to learn more about your unique circumstances and how to protect what is most important to you in your child custody and support or family law case.
