Starting Contempt of Court Proceedings for Child Support

My question involves child support in the State of: Florida

I have full custody of my daughter. After trying for over a year to collect $75 a week from her father for child support and being told to shove it, I filed. The judge ordered $575 a month back in 08/2013. He has so far paid nothing..not a cent. He has told me numerous times he does not intend to pay. He sees his child maybe once a month with myself being the one to make arrangements such as drop-off/pick-up, etc. I have asked him to sign over his rights since he is not interested in being a part of her life apparently. He refuses. It has been 8 months and the DOR CSE has taken no action other than sending delinquent notices and reporting to the credit bureau. I have been a squeaky wheel for sure with them, yet it gets me nowhere.

My ex works under the table even though he told the judge back in August that he is out of work. He is always posting about work on Facebook. My daughter's quality of life is nowhere near where it would be if he paid what he was ordered. I work fulltime and collect no assistance whatsoever. He is also on probation for another 7 years, yet when I have contacted his PO, she seems unable/uninterested in talking to him about child support. Isn't it a common probation term to seek and have regular employment and take care of your dependents?

He is very capable in his trade. He lives with his mom, rent free. Has no other children or any real bills. Always has money for bars and partying.

My family has decided to help me with an attorney as they are furious at him. Will a good attorney be able to speed the contempt process along or should I save my family's money and file myself? Will the attorney be able to use Facebook posts in court as evidence that he is working and therefore able to pay?

Thanks for any help!

You say that dad sees his child on average about once a month, but then says he has no interest in being part of her life. Granted, once a month is negligible, but I think what you were inferring is that you want him to give up his rights because he refuses to pay support. The answer to that question is...

No.

Contempt can only be found if the court finds that he has the ability to pay and is deciding not to pay. He's going to say that in this market, he has a criminal record and is unable to find work which quite honestly is plausible, especially if he lacks a formal education and has no marketable skills. By your admission, he lives with his mom and has no living expenses, so he doesn't have the NEED for an income.

His facebook postings? People lie on facebook EVERY DAY.

Thanks for your reply. I am quite aware that I'm not going to receive sole custody because he isn't paying. The thing is, he DOES work. He DOES have the ability to pay. Maybe hiring an attorney who uses a private investigator to document him swinging a sledgehammer on the side of the road would be beneficial. And as to no "need" for an income...he has a child that "needs" food and shoes. I do not want my child to grow up without her dad. I do expect him to live up to his financial obligation to his daughter.

Swinging a sledgehammer whom? What is he being paid? What legitimate employer is going to admit on the record that they are paying someone under the table (which is ridiculously illegal)? What if he's helping out a friend? What if he's helping out his parents' company for living expenses?

I'm not sure under what basis you think you can get him to "sign over his rights," and sole custody is NOT the same as signing over his rights. So what do you want? Do you want sole custody or do you not want him to be a parent? If you don't want him to be a parent then wouldn't that be counterproductive? If he has no rights, then he pays no child support. If you're OK with him not paying support, then just let it accumulate and let him deal with it when it catches up to him. You can't have it both ways. If you just want sole custody, in what way is he interfering with your ability to make decisions for your child now? If none, then why change anything?

Or is it purely out of spite or attempting to evoke a reaction?

I dont really want him to sign over his rights. It has been almost 3 years of him not showing up to pick up his kid for the weekend and me having to watch her heartbreak. He is completely unreliable(at best). At worst, I would be worried about my child in his care overnight. That is why I have been the one to set up visits. I'm sure if I leave it alone he will see her even less. I do that only so my daughter can see her dad. About working under the table...there has got to be some way to prove it, don't you think. It can't be impossible. And for how long will a judge just allow someone to not pay before contempt is found? He is almost $20k in arrears. I am far from being spiteful, but can't I fight for my daughter's rights?

Your daughter doesn't have the right to child support money. You do.
Your ex doesn't have to utilize his visitation, it's his right to do so, but he's not obligated to.
There is someone on this forum right now whose ex wife owes him almost 200k in back child support. There are people who, myself included who have exes who are well into the double digits in support arrears and I worked in the same system and at one point, the same courthouse that my child support case was being heard. However, the biggest difference between you and I, is that I don't care. I don't exert the time and/or energy in giving a damn because I'd rather watch the ceiling fans spin in my house.

A person who is hell bent in not paying support, won't. Period. That might not be the answer you want to hear, but that's the answer.

I'm sure that's true for some and maybe in my case as well. However, I'm not going to give up without a fight and hopefully I can come back and report that payments have been made, on time for a year. If I don't get that, then I'd like to see him paying the consequences.

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Also, that money belongs to my daughter. It is her right.

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Quoting Maddy0307

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I'm sure that's true for some and maybe in my case as well. However, I'm not going to give up without a fight and hopefully I can come back and report that payments have been made, on time for a year. If I don't get that, then I'd like to see him paying the consequences.

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Also, that money belongs to my daughter. It is her right.

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No, the money belongs to you unless you have the one judge in America who says that the support order is payable to Maddy0307's daughter. Since they check isn't written to your daughter, and because she also isn't a party to the case, it is YOUR right to collect support. In fact, your daughter couldn't sue her father for support ever, even though you believe it's her right.

But you go ahead and fight. Maybe you can get payments for a year. Maybe he'll also modify since he's not making an amount that can support $575/mo. How many more years do you have until your child gets to the age of majority? You stand to spend 100k in attorneys fees to get $1500 in child support payments, plus the cost of your time off from work.

My daughter is only 4. If he wants to modify, then that's fine. I'm certainly not going to consider spending 100k on attorney's fee, ever. That's not an option. But so far he's probably thinking the order will never be enforced. I'd like to show him that it will. I'm at least going to give it a good fight. I would be more than happy to receive even $200 a month.

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Quoting CourtClerk

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Swinging a sledgehammer whom? What is he being paid? What legitimate employer is going to admit on the record that they are paying someone under the table (which is ridiculously illegal)? What if he's helping out a friend? What if he's helping out his parents' company for living expenses?

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I know that you are not naïve enough not to know that there are many, many employers that most people would believe were legitimate, (at least looking in from the outside) who do exactly that.