Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Ex won't pay court ordered support

I have a court order support order for my son. My ex doesn't pay, he is in arrears almost $18,000. The court garnished his wages, then he went to jail for drugs, when out modified order for less $, and pd faithfully for ~1 yr. Then he stopped. He went back to court & put on probation for non-payment for 3 years-ends 10/07, also stated he is independant contractor-no more garnishment. He made pmt up to 12/05, then nothing until he tried to get license in 11/06, then paid 1 mos, then he was in paper for non-pmt, arrested and pd $1450 bond. Hasn't pd since. I'm trying to get DHR to help, but they only issue paper warnings. What options at this point do I have? Can I proceed to take him to court for the arrears and force him to pay? He does have visitation every other weekend, & is always here on time. He's also threatened to take me back to court for more visitation, saying I don't let him see our son enough & interfer w/his relationship, yet I always follow the court order for it, and he calls our house every night to talk to our son. So I don't know how that would interfer . I never speak ill of him, and we can't even have a fmly outing without him calling at least 2 times if we don't answer. Please advise next steps.


Asked on 3/04/07, 12:47 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nakia Gray Law Office of Nakia Gray

Re: Ex won't pay court ordered support

You can file or have your attorney a contempt order with the court where the child support order has been issued. This would allow the court to address the arrearage and work out a payment plan for him. Other than a contempt order, you can't really force him to pay. You can however take all necessary steps to allow the court to intervene and order him to pay.

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Answered on 3/04/07, 10:36 pm


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