When a parent falls behind on child support, the other parent may feel that visitation should stop until the payments resume. In California, however, child support and parenting time are generally treated as separate legal issues.
A parent should not simply ignore a custody or visitation order because the other parent has failed to pay child support. Instead, California provides separate legal procedures for enforcing support orders and addressing custody or visitation concerns.
Are child support and visitation separate issues?
Yes. Child support involves a parent’s financial obligation to support a child, while custody and visitation determine how parents share time and responsibilities involving their child.
A parent can therefore have a child support obligation even when that parent has limited parenting time.
Similarly, a dispute over unpaid child support does not automatically change an existing custody or visitation order.
Parents can learn more about these separate issues on our child support and child custody and visitation pages.
Can you withhold visitation because your ex stopped paying support?
Generally, you should continue following the existing custody and visitation order unless the court changes it.
If the other parent stops paying support, withholding court-ordered parenting time in response can create a separate custody dispute.
Instead of using visitation as leverage to collect unpaid support, the parent who is owed support can pursue available enforcement options.
Likewise, a parent who is being denied court-ordered parenting time generally should not respond by stopping child support payments.
What can you do about unpaid child support?
A child support order is legally enforceable.
Depending on the circumstances, enforcement methods may include:
- Income withholding
- Collection of past-due support
- Interception of certain tax refunds
- Liens or other collection procedures
- License-related enforcement
- Court proceedings involving unpaid support
Unpaid child support can also accumulate interest.
If a parent’s financial circumstances have changed substantially, simply stopping payments is not the same as obtaining a modification of the existing support order.
Our related article, What Happens If a Parent Does Not Pay Child Support in California?, explains the enforcement issue in greater detail.
What if the other parent is denying your visitation?
If you are paying child support but the other parent is preventing court-ordered parenting time, continue to treat the two issues separately.
Document missed exchanges and relevant communications. Keep records showing the dates and circumstances surrounding denied parenting time.
Depending on the situation, you may need to ask the court to enforce, clarify, or modify the existing custody order.
You can learn more about modifying child custody orders in California.
What if there is a genuine safety concern?
A dispute over child support is very different from a situation involving an immediate concern for a child’s safety.
If circumstances involve abuse, domestic violence, a credible threat of abduction, or another emergency, different legal remedies may be available.
California courts base custody and parenting-time decisions on the child’s best interests, and safety concerns can affect those decisions.
Parents facing urgent circumstances can learn more about emergency custody orders in California and domestic violence and family law.
If a child is in immediate danger, contact the appropriate emergency or law enforcement services.
Can child support change if parenting time changes?
Parenting time can affect California’s child support calculation.
If the amount of time a child spends with each parent changes significantly, that change may be relevant to a request to modify child support.
However, an informal change in parenting time does not necessarily change the existing support order automatically. A parent may need to ask the court to modify the order.
More information about changing custody and support orders is available on our custody and support modifications page.
Avoid using one court order to enforce another
When one parent fails to follow a court order, retaliation can make an already difficult situation worse.
A parent who is owed child support should use the available child support enforcement procedures. A parent whose court-ordered parenting time is being denied should address the custody violation through the appropriate custody procedures.
Keeping these issues separate can help parents protect their rights while continuing to comply with existing court orders.
Get help with child support and visitation disputes
Disputes involving unpaid support and denied parenting time can become complicated when both problems occur at the same time.
Understanding which court order is being violated and the appropriate way to address each issue can help prevent additional legal problems.
Cullen Family Law Group represents clients in Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, and surrounding Southern California communities in child support, custody, and visitation matters.
Contact Cullen Family Law Group today to schedule your confidential consultation.