Legal Question in Family Law in California

You can contact your local department of child support services and ask them for assistance. I don't know that it would be worth hiring your own attorney, because I don't know how much you would gain in reality. They can try to put some pressure on him to get a job and pay, sometimes it works, sometimes not. Here is the link to find out about services: http://www.childsup.ca.gov/Portals/0/CustodialParty/ApplyForServices/tabid/72/Default.aspx

The California Supreme Court has ruled that find-work orders are not violations of the 13th amendment. The father can be ordered to find work. If he fails to try to find work, or fails to make a good faith effort, child support can be ordered based on the income the court finds a person of his education and/or training could obtain if they seriously looked for and accepted appropriate work. At that point if they don't work and don't pay out of savings, the support starts building as a debt, and collects 10% interest on top of it. DCSS can help. If you can afford it, and especially if the father has assets and/or is qualified to earn substantial wages, a private attorney will get you better results faster, and you could likely obtain an order that the father pay all or part of your fees.