Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
I am curious about what actions to take about the father of my two children not complying with the conditions set for child support.
My daughter born in 1990 and my son was born in 1998. In 1998 my ex and I separated (never married, but lived together on and off for 11 years.) I moved to Illinois with my children when he remarried in 1998. (The judge told me at one point that if we had been out of the state of Florida for less than six months, he would have ordered that I return the kids to Florida.)
I returned for a child support hearing in 1999. My ex was calculated to pay around $1800 a month for child support for my two children, at the time he was making $85,000 a year. They deducted $400 a month considering he said it would cost money for him to visit the kids in Illinois approximately 3 times a year. So he was ordered to pay $1400(it was never ordered that he have to pay through the court, he has just sent checks in the mail every month, but never on time.) The first 3 or 4 years he visited about 3 times each year, but then he stopped visiting except for once in 2007. Over the years, he began making up to $150,000 a year, but the child support he paid was never readjusted. About 4 years ago he left that job and started his own business(now I am afraid he could be hiding his income.) When my daughter turned 18 and moved out of the house, he immediately started paying $400 child support for my son (from July 2008 to present.)
He was also ordered to call from his phone(not me or the kids calling him) twice a week. At first he would call maybe once a week, then every couple weeks, then I would call him sometimes, now he might call on birthdays and holidays. He was also ordered to pay for health insurance for both kids. They have never had health insurance. He sent $200 hundred dollars extra for my son to go to the dentist once, but that is about it.
My questions are: What can I do and who, exactly, should I contact to take action? Can he be ordered to pay the correctly adjusted amount of child support from the past? Can he be ordered to pay the amount he should have been paying since he has not spent the extra $400/month to visit for many years? Can he be ordered to pay what should have gone to the kid's health insurance over the years? My son is now 13, can he be ordered to visit my ex in Florida? Are there any time restrictions? About how much should it cost for me to get through all of this??
1 Answer from Attorneys
You would receive more quality, and number of responses if you indicate which Florida County the prior case was heard.