Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
vistations & child endangerment
My ex husband & I used to get along very well and were always able to work our problems out amicably. Since he remarried there's been nothing but trouble. He doesn't want to pay the agreed upon child support amount, nor for any school clothes, etc. He's an alcholic & drug abuser who was in recovery. Since he remarried I've had to remove our children from their care on two occasions due to him being falling down drunk and my 11 yr old having a bag of his illegal drugs in her hand. I've since demanded supervised visits until he's again in recovery & in a recovery program. Its been over 4 months & he still hasn't gotten into any programs nor gotten sober. Since he's stopped paying over 30% of what he used to help with, I can't afford the $240+ /mon in gas for these supervised visits in another state. I think he should have to pay this gas money as he was the person endangering our child. He disagrees & also thinks he shouldn't have to pay for the gas for his reg visits whenever they do start again. He thinks I should pay for the gas. My ex agreed to & even signed on the judges rec. in our divorce. Now he says its only a rec & he doesn't have to do them. What are my chances of getting everything back & keeping supervised visits, Etc?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: vistations & child endangerment
With respect to child support, he is presumably under a court order as part of the divorce to pay whatever amount the judge imposed, or if you had previously agreed to an amount, that amount. Either way, it's enforceable by a contempt petition in court if he's not paying according to the order. Also, if he's employed you should have an earnings withholding order directed to his employer, which would require the employer to deduct the child support from his paycheck and send it to you.
As to the transportation expenses for visitation, the only way to get around this problem is to advise him that from now on the supervised visits will take place here rather than where he lives. Then he'll have to do the traveling. While this may not sit well with your children, depending on their relationship with him, it sounds like the circumstances that you describe when they are with him aren't necessarily best for them anyway.
Re: vistations & child endangerment
You may want to hire an attorney to represent the best interest of the child. His recognized problem requires recognized action on his part and this should not be your problem.
His non-payment of support will not cause him to not have visitation. His substance abuse may result in visitation that is supervised or possibly visitation being curtailed.
Contact me should you want to pursue a modification or enforcement action.
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