Legal Question in Family Law in South Carolina

I was awarded custody of both of my children by DSS with their father having liberal visitation as agreed upon by both of us. He and I had a verbal agreement for child support and his visitation but he didn't comply with either. I recently requested child support through DSS and now he is ordered to pay $100 a month for one of our children which he doesn't pay like he is ordered to. Our other child is currently in a sex offenders treatment facility. Their father is requesting visitation of our youngest child now but due to his living situation and the fact that while our youngest child lived with him for 5 months I discovered through our child that even though I was providing food for him he was forced to eat dog and cat food because the $200 (on average) worth of food that I bought for my son wouldn't last the whole month. Our son is 9 and doesn't wish to see his father, so I have been refusing visitation. Can I legally deny him visitation for those reasons?


Asked on 2/15/13, 6:42 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Barbara Strowd Barbara A. Strowd, Attorney at Law

If there is an order that grants father visitation, even though it says as agreed upon, I would advise you to follow the order. You could be held in contempt if you do not allow visitaiton. You could end up doing up to one year in jail for civil contempt. Understanding that your child's safety and welfare are your top priorities, if you believe that father's home is unsafe or inappropriate for your child you need to file an action to change the order. I would suggest taking all of your court papers to an attorney to go over your options. Good luck.

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Answered on 3/10/13, 4:30 am


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