If your ex has intentionally refused to follow your parenting plan or has failed to pay child support, you have legal rights in Washington state and have options when it comes to choosing how to enforce a parenting plan or child support order. Both parenting plan violations and child support violations can be enforced through filing a Motion for Contempt Hearing with the Superior Court Clerk and your local court. When you file a motion for contempt, you can ask a judge to find your co-parent in contempt of court for failing to follow a parenting plan or child support order.
When a parent intentionally violates a parenting plan or intentionally doesn’t pay court-ordered child support, a parent can be found in contempt of court. If your ex is found in contempt for violating a parenting plan or child support order, they can be required to pay your attorney’s fees and pay any costs incurred for locating and returning your child. You could also be awarded additional time with your child (to make up for lost time). The court can compel the other parent to pay child support by garnishing wages, garnishing tax returns, and more. For more extreme violations, a parent can be required to pay civil penalties and could even face jail time. In cases where the judge finds that the other parent has intentionally denied visitation, the judge might even modify the parenting plan, requiring sole custody or supervised visitation.
Filing for contempt is often a “last resort” option.
Most failures to follow a parenting plan or child support order aren’t intentional.
Occasions where parents do intentionally deny visitation or intentionally withhold child support often involve other issues like coercive control, domestic violence, extreme cases of high conflict between co-parents, or situations where there is a real concern for the children’s safety.
Most other conflicts surrounding parenting plans and unpaid child support can be resolved through mediation or through the collaborative family law process. In fact, most conflicts surrounding parenting plans are resolved outside of court.
That said, it can be understandably frustrating if your ex keeps showing up late for exchanges or keeps missing drop-offs or pick-ups. And it can be downright upsetting to learn that your ex has made a unilateral decision regarding your child’s education, or medical care, or has decided to take a long weekend with your children without consulting you ahead of time. And if your ex keeps missing or forgetting to make daycare payments, payments for health insurance, or fails to cover transportation costs as agreed in your child support order, you could end up facing late fees, unexpected bills, and find yourself struggling financially as a result. Excessive lateness or missed drop-offs can disrupt your schedule, impact your children’s routines, and be considered a violation of a parenting plan. Unilateral decision-making involving your children’s education, medical care, or schedule can also be considered a violation of a parenting plan if both parents have decision-making authority. And if your child support order requires your ex to pay for other expenses like childcare or health insurance, failure to pay these expenses can be seen as a violation of a child support order.
While it is possible to go to court to seek contempt charges for your co-parent’s failure to comply with either a parenting plan or child support order, there are steps you may be able to take before taking your ex to court that could help you amicably enforce your parenting plan or child support order. In fact, even if you were to request a contempt hearing to enforce your parenting plan, or child support order, the judge will ask your co-parent what their reasons are for violating these orders. If your co-parent’s reasons are valid or reasonable, the judge might end up ruling in their favor rather than yours.
Finally, it’s important to note that the court cannot step in and resolve disagreements about parenting that you and your ex have. If you are concerned about your children’s diet, bedtimes, or whether your ex is enforcing homework time, for example, these issues are better resolved outside of court with the help of your collaborative family lawyers and family therapists.
If your ex hasn’t complied with a parenting plan, do you know why? Would a modification of your existing parenting plan make compliance more likely? Have you explored creative solutions if the same problems keep coming up? While parenting plans are legal documents that can be enforced through court order, it’s important to remember that real life can sometimes get in the way of even the best-laid plans. Traffic happens, emergencies arise, and children’s and parent’s needs can sometimes change. Costs of transportation might mean that flexibility is required.
In this article, we’ll explore ways you can enforce a parenting plan or child support order in Washington state.
- Using Collaborative Law to Enforce a Parenting Plan
- Enforcing a Child Support Order Outside of Court
- Filing for Contempt to Enforce a Parenting Plan or Child Support Order
Using Collaborative Law to Enforce a Parenting Plan
Before you can file for contempt with the court, you’ll generally need to show the court that you attempted to communicate with your ex about the parenting plan violation. An occasional late pick-up or drop-off, or one-time miscommunication about a long weekend or schedule change, isn’t usually grounds alone for filing for contempt. If your ex tried to communicate with you about an emergent educational decision or medical decision before making a unilateral one, but couldn’t reach you in time, this might also not be grounds for you to file for contempt.
Yet, if your ex has a habit of missing drop-offs or pick-ups; if your ex’s excessive lateness is having an impact on your own schedule or your children’s routines; or if your ex has a habit of making unilateral decisions in violation of the parenting plan, the collaborative family law process might be able to open the lines of communication in a safe setting, help you and your co-parent understand the underlying causes of the parenting plan violation, and potentially help you find solutions that work for your family—outside of court. Furthermore, if the collaborative process fails, your attempts will make a judge more likely to proceed with a contempt hearing.
Often, failure to comply with a parenting plan has less to do with willful disregard for the parenting plan. Sometimes a plan that looks good on paper, just doesn’t translate to working out perfectly in real life.
For example, even the best-laid parenting plans might not always account for road construction, traffic, or unexpected work commitments or meetings that end up leading to missed drop-offs or pick-ups, or lateness. Frequent exchanges that worked when your children were younger might be more challenging now that your children are older. Other parents who thought that they could make a 50-50 parenting time split work, might find that, in practice, frequent exchanges are much more difficult to keep up with.
It’s important to look at the schedule you proposed and determine whether the drop-offs or pick-up times are still realistic, and to reflect on whether the parenting plan you crafted still works.
- Would a change to the parenting schedule that reduces the number of pick-ups and drop-offs resolve the issue? Older children might find alternating week schedules less disruptive.
- If traffic is an issue, are there alternative transportation methods available? Or is there a way to arrange drop-off and pick-ups outside of rush hours? Sometimes shifting pick-ups and drop-offs by an hour or a day is all it takes to make a parenting plan more feasible to follow.
- Are there alternative ways to arrange pick-ups and drop-offs that don’t rely on the other parent’s punctuality? For example, no-contact exchanges that involve one parent dropping off the children at school or an activity, with the other parent doing pick-up, might work better for some families. Would getting a friend or family member to help with pick-ups and drop-offs help, or will hiring someone to manage pick-ups and drop-offs make these exchanges go more smoothly?
- Are there ways you can re-think parenting time? Some parents don’t choose to count the time their children are in school, at extracurricular activities, or when they are sleeping as parenting time and choose instead to focus on scheduling quality time with their children, where everyone can be fully present.
If one parent keeps making unilateral decisions, perhaps you and your partner need better communication tools. Phone applications that allow parents to make formal schedule changes, or shared calendars that inform both parents about important doctor’s appointments and parent-teacher meetings, can sometimes help resolve major communication and decision-making issues. Parents with ongoing conflict, might decide to schedule weekly or bi-monthly meetings with a family therapist or their collaborative lawyers to address ongoing conflicts and communication issues regarding parenting decisions.
Sometimes a small, mutually agreed upon change to a parenting plan can prevent additional conflict, or the need for one parent to go to court. A few sessions in a collaborative family law setting, with your attorneys and family therapist present might be all you and your co-parent need to avoid ending up in court.
Enforcing a Child Support Order Outside of Court
If your ex hasn’t paid child support, and you have an existing child support order, you should call 1-800-442-KIDS to notify the Division of Child Support in Washington that you have not received child support payments. DCS can investigate why your ex hasn’t paid child support (or why you haven’t been able to access your funds) and has many tools at its disposal to compel your ex to make required payments—all without you having to go to court or even call your lawyer. DCS may even be able to help you enforce health insurance obligations if your ex hasn’t enrolled your children in their employer-sponsored or union-sponsored health insurance plan.
As part of your child support order, your ex might be required to pay for your children’s day care, education, long-distance transportation, and other expenses. The Division of Child Support may be able to help you collect these payments.
Alternatively, if you know your ex is struggling financially, you and your former partner can meet with your collaborative lawyers to discuss a modification of child support.
Filing for Contempt to Enforce a Parenting Plan or Unpaid Child Support
If your ex refuses to comply with an existing parenting plan and all attempts to use mediation or collaborative law have failed, you can file for contempt with the court. It’s important to note that before filing for contempt, you’ll want to have written evidence that your ex has willfully violated the parenting plan. This evidence can include emails or texts where you have written to your ex notifying them that they have violated the parenting plan and given them an opportunity to explain themselves or correct their actions. Evidence can also include sessions you held with your collaborative family lawyers to attempt to resolve the issue outside of court. You’ll also want to note dates and times when the parenting plan was violated.
If your ex hasn’t paid child support, and you have an existing child support order, you should call 1-800-442-KIDS to notify the Division of Child Support in Washington that you have not received child support. DCS can often take actions on your behalf to compel your ex to begin making payments. The Division of Child Support in Washington state has wide-ranging authority when it comes to getting a parent who isn’t paying child support to pay.
According to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, DCS can take the following actions:
- Send the noncustodial parent’s employer and Order to Withhold and Deliver. This order can require that the other parent’s employer withhold child support income and deliver it to DCS so that it can be paid to the parent with the child support order.
- File liens and seize assets, including real estate, vehicles, and personal property.
- Communicate with licensing authorities to suspend any licenses, including occupational licenses, professional licenses, business licenses, and more.
- In extreme cases of noncompliance, DCS can refer the case to the prosecuting attorney to initiate contempt proceedings, refer the case to a U.S. Attorney for criminal non-support charges, and refer the case to the federal government to withhold the non-complying parent’s federal tax refund.
Parents can also take steps on their own (or with their lawyer’s help) to begin contempt proceedings to enforce a parenting plan or child support order. You’ll need to fill out and submit a Motion for Contempt Hearing. The documents to open a motion for contempt can be found on the Washington Courts website. The paperwork must be filled out in detail, sent to the Superior Court Clerk, and to your local county judge (if required). You’ll also need to formally serve the paperwork (once the judge signs the order) to your co-parent (and to his or her attorneys). Usually, people hire a professional to serve the paperwork to their co-parent and their lawyers. Once the paperwork has been served, your co-parent will have a chance to respond before the hearing.
When filling out the contempt paperwork, you’ll need to specify in detail how your co-parent has failed to obey your parenting plan or child support orders. If your co-parent hasn’t complied with a parenting plan, residential schedule, or custody order, you’ll need to include detailed notes of dates and times when the order was violated, and ideally, provide evidence of the violation, if you can. If your co-parent has failed to pay child support, pay for health insurance, or other expenses, you’ll need to specify exact amounts, and include dates and times when amounts weren’t paid. You can ask the judge to award you a money judgement for unpaid child support, with interest, ask for enforcement of your parenting plan, and even request that additional sanctions be placed on your ex.
You’ll want to prepare for the hearing. The judge will want to know details about the violations and details about any attempts you made to remedy the situation outside of court. If you find yourself in a situation where you’ve had to file for contempt, it can be helpful to have a family lawyer help you navigate the process.
When taking your co-parent to court, there’s always the risk that the judge might not find them in contempt. If, for example, your co-parent has a good reason why he or she cannot comply with your parenting plan (his or her work schedule changed or he or she had to move for a job, for example; or your children’s schedules have changed and the existing parenting plan is no longer feasible), the judge might change the parenting plan, or order that you attend mediation to create a parenting plan that can work for your family. If your co-parent cannot pay child support due to real financial hardship, the court might offer your co-parent temporary or permanent relief. For these reasons, it’s important to try to take the time to work through difficulties with your co-parent outside of court before you resort to filing for contempt.
There are several more reasons why it’s a good idea to try to work things out amicably, outside of court:
- Children fare better when their parents don’t have high levels of conflict. Working together to create a parenting plan that you both can follow in the long-term will not only help preserve your children’s routines but can also foster a better co-parenting relationship with your ex, which is better for your children’s emotional and mental wellbeing. Children whose parents get along do better in school and have better long-term outcomes than children whose parents have high conflict or those whose parents choose litigation.
- Privacy. Everything you write in the contempt paperwork will end up on the public record unless you can get the records sealed.
- Choice. If you take your motion to a judge, there’s always a risk that the judge might modify your parenting plan in a way you don’t want. By working with your ex outside of court, you both retain greater control over the outcome.
If you want to enforce a parenting plan or child support order peacefully, amicably, and outside of court, consider reaching out to the collaborative family lawyers in Washington state at Truce Law today. We can help you understand the process and work with you and your co-parent to help you find solutions that can work.
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is unique. For guidance specific to your circumstances, consult a licensed family law attorney in your area.