Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
Child support
I have been trying to collect child support from my ex for the past year. I never actually went through child support enforcement because I never have acurate information about him as far as home address and such and since he lives with family they have denied he lives there in the past when the couthouse tried to reach him. I do have full custody because we both signed an agreement in court in 2003,but I was told that even though in the agreement states how much and when he is supposed to pay, that I'd have to open a new case regarding support. He is not reliable when it comes to picking up the kids on every other weekend as agreed and I have reasons to believe that his reason for not helping is because of the hope of reconciling with me. He shows or calls only when he feels like it and the same goes with money for the kids.Where do I go from here?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Child support
It's not clear from your post whether your custody and support has already been reduced to a court order. If it has, you have two choices: ask the court to serve him with a Rule to Show Cause why he should not be held in contempt of court for failing to obey its order concerning child support; or hire counsel to do that for you.
You refer to him as your ex; if that means you were married and are now divorced, it may be possible to open a support enforcement case in the court which granted your divorce.
Re: Child support
File your new petition in your local Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court for the support which was previously agreed to with your former spouse, and, if the sheriff's deputy can't get this evader served with the papers, then hire a private process server to track him down and get him properly served with the papers related to your suit for support.