Understandable as the positions
of both these parents might be, courts are likely to be very unhappy
with either one of them. (Before going any further divorced moms
without custody are no better at paying child support than men are... and
divorced dads with custody are every bit as likely to deny visitation as
moms. But since mothers usually get the children in a divorce, the
references here assume that.)
Courts would view either
parent described above as being in contempt, and could put the parent in
jail for that contempt. In the eyes of the law the parent without
custody has an obligation to pay child support, and it doesn't matter whether
the parent ever is allowed to visit with the children. The same is
true of the parent with custody having an obligation to allow visitation
with the other parent regardless whether the child support is ever paid.
It is quite common that a father who had his ex-wife refuse to allow visitation finally decides to try to force the visitation by cutting off child support. Then the mother takes him to court for the back child support and the father points out to the court that visitation was denied. The general response from the court is to order the father to pay the back child support or to go to jail, and to tell the father if he wants to get his visitation he needs to take the mother to court for that. Courts are very clear that one violation of the divorce decree on child support or visitation does not justify the other violation.
Though fathers don't take the mothers to court nearly as often for refusal to allow visitation, courts can punish either parent for contempt by jailing the parent... and it doesn't matter that the other parent has not been paying the child support or allowing the visitation the court previously ordered.
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