Can I Stop My Child from Visiting The Other Parent if He or She Is Not Paying Child Support? 

 Posted on June 05, 2023 in Child Support

 Child support is often a high-conflict area for divorced or separated parents. When the parent who is required to make child support payments cannot or will not pay, the parent receiving child support is usually left in a troubling financial position as he or she struggles to support a child on his or her own. In response, some parents threaten to or actually withhold parenting time from the parent who is behind in child support payments. However, this is illegal itself and can often backfire as a child support recovery strategy. Instead of taking matters into your own hands, work with an Illinois child support and child custody attorney who can help you explore your options and take legal action. 

What Are My Options for Recovering Child Support? 

Parents who need help getting the child support they are owed have a couple of options. The first is to work through the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), which is the governmental organization responsible for tracking down parents who do not pay child support and enforcing increasingly punitive sanctions on them until the support is paid. Unfortunately, HFS is often slow, very busy, and can be an ineffective way to get support in a timely manner. 

The other option is to work with a lawyer who can communicate with HFS for you or petition the court directly. This gets the parent asking for child support in front of a judge, who can require the other parent to explain his or her situation and pay right away or face immediate consequences, such as wage garnishment, court sanctions, and even professional license loss. 

Can I Petition a Court to Modify Parenting Time? 

If child support is not getting paid and it is part of a broader picture of disinterest or abandonment on the part of the parent who is supposed to be paying child support, the parent receiving child support may want to consider petitioning the court to modify the parenting plan. While judges usually do not want to see a child cut off from a parent completely, Illinois law is required to make parenting arrangements that are in the best interests of a child. If a child has a parent who has abandoned, neglected, or simply exhibits continual disinterest in him or her, it may be in the child’s best interests to have a parenting schedule that does not put the child at the mercy of the other parent’s whims. 

Call a Kane County, IL Child Support Recovery Lawyer

Recovering unpaid child support is essential for providing your child with the things he or she needs, but it is important to follow the letter of the law when trying to collect child support. For help with your child support case, contact McHenry County child support attorney Colleen G. Thomas with The Thomas Law Office today at 847-426-7990 and schedule a confidential consultation. 

Source: 

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050k505.htm