change of custody

Here's a single father with joint custody of his son. Father has weekdays and mother has weekends and the summer with their son. The mother is ordered to pay child support to the childs father each month. The mother refuse to pay and have approximately $7.000 in arrears. The father is know receiving job opportunities in another state. By landing one of these job opportunities, he can be in a better position in supporting his son on his own.. How can he make the childs mom pay her support or do the father needs go hire a lawyer to modified the custody issues to move to another state? The father will like to keep the child thru out the year, excluding the summers for the mother. What are his options?

Always best to have a lawyer for these matters since they are usually complex. If he cannot afford a lawyer he can usually obtain some help from the court clerk to have a hearing on the issues - however, I am guessing that the mother may be represented. I would look at it this way - investing in a lawyer to petition for the court to allow him to move the children and to make an order of contempt of court against the mother might be a good investment towards a new future.

Probably getting a lawyer is a good idea and the statements I am about to give are not legal advice I am just an anonymous internet poster like anyone else on these forums so take anything you read with a grain of salt.

In regards to child support if you have the order it's probably in place, but most states follow something known as guideline support and if you begin making more money she could file for modification of support.

The more important thing is the interstate move most courts do not like one parent moving out of state without the other parent agreeing even if custody is in place. I would really speak to a lawyer before moving out of state with your child I know some states impose automatic restraining order preventing you from moving interstate with kids. Also moving interstate with a child can be very hard on a kid as they have friends, school, etc and changing all that can be really traumatic for a kid.