Needing info -- in texas

[xxbrokenxxwings]

My husband and I have been married for nearly 3 years now. He has a three year old daughter that he is paying child support on. "visitations" are suppose to be agreed upon.. when and where and what time the mother says. Only everytime he asks to see his daughter he gets told no. Either that or he gets told yes, then no. How do we go about changing that? I fear that she will not willingly let him see his child. He feels as if he souldnt pay child support if she refuses to let him see his child. We know that may not be an option for him. He's also considered the idea of signing his rights away to the childs grandmother. But again we arent sure how to approach any of this. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Duranie]

He should go to court and file for visitation. If there is nothing court ordered, mom does not have to allow visits. That sucks for him so he should look into going down to the court house and seeing if they have a family law faciliator, or a self help/law library where he can file a parenting plan.

He can also see an attorney if he chooses.

Was paternity every established? I assume it was since he is paying CS?

He has to act on this to ensure his fatherly rights. If he does nothing, then he will continue to pay CS on a child he never sees. He cannot sign his rights away.

He is entitled to visitation but he must ask for it. Then mom must stick to a visitation plan or she can be held in contempt.

I suggest he do something ASAP.

Good luck

 

[jharris352]

A few questions

As usual Duraine beat me here and has given you some good advice, but I have some questions:

1. Is this person an ex-wife or just the mother of his child?

2. Like Duraine asked, has paternity been established, or more importantly how did he come to be paying child support?

3. If there is an order for child support, why is there not a visitation plan? You talk like there is a visitation plan, but no judge would order one so broad as "when or where ever" the mother wants.

I don't know where this idea comes from about "not paying child support on a child you don't get to see" but it can not be more wrong. One has nothing to do with the other. His child needs to eat whether he sees him/her or not. I do understand the feeling but the Mother is the problem not the child.

My suspicion is that your husband was never married to this lady and she went to the Department of child services to help establish child support but there is no court ordered visitation. Like Duraine says, go get a visitation order. It's not that hard and should cost that much. With an order in place, which can be VERY specific, she will have two choices: Let you visit on the schedule or go to jail. It will really make your life far more simple.