Contempt of Court matter continued
My ex hasn’t paid child support since mid-2025, and I’m honestly beyond frustrated with how little accountability there seems to be.
Our order started in 2023. I have primary custody, and he has visitation only, no overnights. We were both ordered to split daycare costs 50/50. At first he paid inconsistently, then started sending tiny amounts here and there, and eventually stopped altogether. I struggled trying to keep up with childcare expenses on my own and ultimately had to unenroll our daughter because I couldn’t afford it anymore without his court-ordered half.
His current partner is court ordered to stay away from our child due to prior issues, which is why he has no overnights or expanded parenting time. Even with only 3 visitation days a week, he usually only sees our daughter once a week and blames “work.” But he refuses to tell me where he works or provide any kind of schedule, saying it’s “none of my business.” Fine. but I’m also not rearranging court-ordered visitation last minute whenever he randomly decides he wants to show up. He expects to text me day-of and just see her whenever it’s convenient for him. This has been the situation since she was 2. She’s now 9.
Child support enforcement told me they can’t find an employer on file to garnish wages from, which makes me think he either doesn’t actually have a job or is working under the table somehow. Meanwhile, he keeps getting traffic cases for driving an unregistered vehicle, continues driving anyway, and still picks up our child. He no-shows the traffic court dates. When I ask questions, he lies, deflects, or turns the conversation into attacking me as a mother. I have had to go extreme low contact and even blocking for periods of time. I always show up on his court ordered days. I should probably re-evaluate the physical custody but he is already at hourly visitation. I’m not sure how much more they can take away.
We recently had our first contempt hearing for nonpayment of child support. He showed up late, and they actually offered to waive his arrears if he agreed to probation. Which i was upset at because that’s money I need to be repaid for. He refused, asked for a public defender instead, and now the next hearing is pushed out another 3 months. Meanwhile another month passes, still no support paid.
What frustrates me most is completely raising our child alone while he faces zero consequences. He claims work prevents him from seeing our child but won’t verify employment. My daughter overheard him say he delivers food, and when I asked him about it he doesn’t know why our child would say that. I genuinely suspect he’s DoorDashing under someone else’s account or something similar to avoid garnishment. If he delivered food I suspect they would report the earnings to child support? What’s the realistic best case scenario for him here with a public defender? Can he actually get out of paying arrears? I’m hoping the court at least puts him on a payment plan and work program so they can finally garnish income and verify employment consistently