Visitations and Support Payments

There are allot of misconceptions when it comes to child support and visitations. Many people think the two are related and ask themselves similar questions as the following:

Can you withhold visitations if a support payment is late?
Can you lower the amount of support paid according to the visitation time spent?
Can you increase the amount of support paid according to the visitation time spent?

This article will explain and explore why custody and access visitations and child support payments are not related.

Just because they were addressed at the same time and both have to do with your children, it does not mean that they are tied together. Yes the amount of time spent with each parent was part of the equation when child support was calculated and it is still somewhat part of it. However, unlike many people think it may not fluctuate as much as your parenting plan certainly will.

You need a Court Order
The simple fact of it is that if you have a child support order in place, you must continue to honor it unless it is changed by the court. If you both agree on changes then you can very easily and cost effectively go to court and have that changed. However, if one of the parties in this scenario does not agree to a change, then you must fight it out in court. Keep in mind that the court will only hear your case no more than twice a year and only if there has been a drastic change in custody or earnings. You cannot go to court every couple of months and hoping to get a break on child support payments nor can you do so to have them increase. If you cannot have your child support order changed by a court, you are still responsible for it.

You Can't Stop the Visitations if Child Support isn't Paid
Another misconception is that if he or she doesn't pay the child support you can force the hand by withholding access to the child or children. You can't... and you can get into a heap of trouble if you do. It might be unfair but you are still responsible to allow access unless or until that is changes by a court order. Never mind the fact that as tempting as it may be to withhold access, you are not only hurting your ex but also your children. Children need quality time with both parents period. If you haven't already, that is the most important thing you should realize after your divorce. Never use your children as weapons on your ex as it could be detrimental to their development. There are other ways to pressure your ex into paying child support and any court that would punish a child because of his dead-beat parent would be extremely irresponsible to do so.

It is very hard to keep money issues and parenting matters separate but you must. Letting them interfere with each other will only result in harming your child.

Article written by Jane
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