Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

I am a single mother of two. I have always been the custodial parent. My child support order was put in place for 8 months and he only made a couple partial payments in the beginning. Nothing has been paid in 5 months. He is not over 14,000.00 behind. This isn't my main concern. My main concern is that since we had our custody hearing, he has yet to take advantage of the order. The kids and I even moved closer so he could see them. A month after we moved, he move across the county and quit his job saying now he doesn't have to pay child support. All of this has put us in a major financial bind. Also, per his request in mediation, I left my career in the military so that I would be able to be there for my kids without fear of having to leave due to deployments. So I changed careers. He has yet to make any contact with the kids. I have occasionally been able to get ahold of him. He refuses to disclose his address or any information that would give me the ability to locate him. I want more than anything to have his rights taken. I want us to be able to move on with our lives. Specially if he doesn't want to help take care of them or be a part of their lives. My eldest is autistic and so we are all learning to adapt to the changes in the household. He functions best when he has a routine. The one and only time he say his father (for a couple hours), it took about two weeks for him to bounce back from the visit. Just because his schedule and life was altered for half a days. Is having his parental right taken away even a possibility?? The kids have only seen him once since 2013

Everything was completed through the courts in virginia. We now live in VA.

Divorced since may 2014

Child support order of 1696.00 in place since June 2014

Custody order in place since august 2014

He current receives disability from the VA


Asked on 1/24/15, 3:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

It would appear that your first order of business, so to speak, should involve

the enforcement of this delinquent child support order(in my opinion) before attempting to deal with any other issues. (And, no, no court is going to terminate

a father's parental rights on the basis that he hasn't paid his court-ordered

child support obligation.)

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Answered on 1/25/15, 7:37 am


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