Whether you have questions about visitation as a non-custodial parent who has fallen behind on child support payments or your child’s other parent is not paying support, it is essential to understand your rights, options and obligations. For starters, you should realize that child support and visitation are separate issues.
Violations involving child support as well as visitation and child custody issues can result in serious repercussions. Moreover, these cases are often especially emotional because they involve a parent and his or her relationship with their child.
Does back child support affect visitation?
According to Texas’ Access and Visitation Hotline, courts treat visitation rights and child support obligations as separate legal matters. Therefore, even if a non-custodial parent fails to pay child support, they still have the right to spend time with their child in accordance with a court order. Therefore, custodial parents must respect the visitation rights of the other parent, regardless of whether they pay child support, and non-custodial parents must continue to pay support even if their visitation rights are not respected.
How can parents address visitation and support violations?
If your child’s other parent refuses to let you see your child under the guidelines set forth in a court order, you can look into your options with respect to enforcement. Parents in this position can file a motion and those who violate the terms of a court order could face serious consequences. Likewise, you can take steps to enforce child support if you are not receiving the payments you deserve.
Make sure you swiftly address any violations involving court orders pertaining to your child.