Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
I have been separated from my wife since 2008 (not legally i live in Florida and she resides in Tennessee)all four minor children have resided with me since. I have been awared child support by Florida court where we reside. she wants them to come visit her for the summer how can I make sure she will have to return them to me and in time for school we are not divorced at this time have been unable to afford it because I have been taking care of the children without help from her and as of 5-14-2010 i was awarded support by the volusia county florida court system. thanking you in advance for any assitance you can give me in this matter .
5-17-2010
James
1 Answer from Attorneys
I recommend you file a petition with the court to set up your timesharing so you have an order to enforce should she decide to keep the kids and not return them for the summer. The costs for filing for Establish Timesharing as well as Dissolution of Marriage are pretty close in numbers and I suggest you just file for the Dissolution of Marriage which will deal with your timesharing issues to avoid more trips to the courthouse. As far as child support, you indicated that she is not paying you despite a court order in place that she should be paying you. If your case is presently with child support enforcement, I suggest you follow up to see status of enforcement, which is usually via income deduction order, so that your wife can start making those payments, which appears from your question, has not happened yet.