Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
motherr doesn't allow contact
My husband and his ex divorced in march 1990. He was granted joint custody but has never seen or had any contact with the child because his ex disappeared with him. Now after all these years of searching and not knowing where to begin looking for his son my husbands wages are being garnished for child support. Should he be forced to pay since she violated the custody order by never allowing him to know where the child was located? We live in Texas but they were married and divorced in California. The garnishment order came from the district attorney in Maryland. We were told we could not have any contact info for her however. What should we do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: motherr doesn't allow contact
What a sad situation. Child support and visitation are seperate issues. In Texas failure to allow visitation and removing a child from another parent is treated as seriously as not paying child support. But remember, both are seperate issues. He must still pay all the child support that was ordered. He may have other causes of action against his ex wife. She kept him from his child. Your husband needs to see an attorney in his area and he needs to be very clear on his efforts to see his child/children. The child support is owed what he might have as a claim against his ex would depend on the circumstances. The governmental agency he is talking to has very specific laws regarding privacy so he may need a private investigator to locate the child. he needs to get a lawyers advice on his situation.
Re: motherr doesn't allow contact
Yes he must pay despite the fact that she has withheld the child from him. If he doesn't pay he could be jailed.
There are a number of investigative ways to attempt to locate her address. Give me a call and I'll ssee if I can help you.
Once, he finds her he should immediately file/domesticate the previous court order in her jurisdiction and file a contempt order against her to enforce his right to visitation and custody.