Child support: dealing with an uncooperative ex

Even if spouses decide to go on separate ways, they are still jointly responsible for providing for their child’s needs. While many parents are more than willing to spend for their children’s growth and development, some parents make it unnecessarily difficult to demand child support. If you find yourself dealing with an uncooperative ex, here are a few remedies you can consider.

Initiate mediation

Some ex-spouses maintain a communicative relationship, allowing them to discuss matters privately and amicably. If your ex is having a hard time paying support because of financial issues, you have the choice to work out an achievable payment amount and interval with them. You can also include in the agreement terms that an amount adjustment will apply if they subsequently become capable of paying increased support.

Request child support order issuance

Let’s say mediation is not an option in your situation, or you did try it but failed to come to a settlement. If one does not exist yet, you can request the court to issue a child support order, which will oblige your ex to pay support. If they continue to refuse payment, despite the order, the court will hold them in contempt and order penalties such as jail time and fines.

Enforcement of child support

If the court finds that a parent fails to pay child support or is making delayed or incomplete payments, the court can enforce the child support order through wage garnishment, property seizure, tax refund offset and other collection methods.

U.S. laws give utter importance to a child’s well-being and receiving support from parents is one of the ways to maintain this. With the child’s best interests in line, getting parents to provide support should be easy. However, it is not always the case. If you are having difficulty getting through to your ex to pay for support, know there are available resources.