Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Child Support Contempt Hearing

The delay between filing and issuance of the SCO depends upon the efficiency of the particular court you filed in. Courts in larger counties typically take longer to process these than the more "rural" counties. As for the likely outcome at the show cause hearing, if the court finds that the ncp is able to work and is deliberately refusing to work so he can avoid child support, he'll be held in contempt. He could be incarcerated, but what would that accomplish in terms of what you're really looking for? If there were a source of funds, such as a bank account, you could ask the court to enter a money judgment against him and then attach the bank account, but in all likelihood he either doesn't have an account or it has a de minimus amount in it. Maybe you'll get lucky and can find an asset worth attaching. Ask the judge to hold him in contempt and give him a short time to purge it by getting a job and starting to make his payments, or else face incarceration. Maybe that will motivate him.