Legal Question in Family Law in California
My girlfriend is the primary custodial parent of a 6 year old boy. There is in custody agreement between her and her son's father. He currently pays no support and says he would go to jail first before paying anything. Does he forfeit his visitation rights if he does not pay support?
2 Answers from Attorneys
No. Visitation and support are kept strictly separate in the law and by the courts, except to the extent that visitation time goes into the calculation of support payments. If the custody agreement is not a court order, she needs to make it one and get a support order to match it. If it already is a court order, there should be a support order included. In either case, once there is a support order, she should take him at his word and file a request for an Order to Show Cause (OSC) re: contempt of court. Most judges will be more than happy to respond to contempt of their orders by letting a dead-beat dad spend some time in jail if he has the ability to pay support and refuses.
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