Ive been a divorced male since march of 2000 and have had custody of my daughter since who's now 10 1/2 years old. Her mother has visitation and is ordered to pay child support. She doesn't pay and has had no contact with my daughter since 12/12/07 so almost a year with no contact. The last time she saw my daughter she told me, my wife, and my daughter that she wasn't going to be picking her up anymore and wouldn't see her until she was 18. This incident was all caught on video. I'm wondering if this is considered abandonment, even though she lives 10 minutes away in another town in Florida. Or is there anything I can do to prevent her from just snatching her from school one day and me not knowing anything about it.

No this is not abandonment. What you can do is go to court to have the support order enforced and ask the judge for a modification to the visitation order. Bring in your proof that she has not been using her visitation and unless she shows up to fight it her visitation should be cut greatly so as not to traumatize the child by her scheduling visits and not showing up continuously. Even if she does show up to fight it her visitation could be probationary meaning that if she misses any of her next three months (or so) of visits then they will be cut.

Ive been a divorced male since march of 2000 and have had custody of my daughter since whos now 10 1/2 years old. her mother has visitation and is ordered to pay child support. she doesnt pay and has had no contact with my daughter since 12/12/07 so almost a year with no contact. the last time she saw my daughter she told me, my wife, and my daughter that she wasnt going to be picking her up anymore and wouldnt see her until she was 18. This incident was all caught on video. im wondering if this is considered abandonment, even though she lives 10 minutes away in another town in florida. or is there anything i can do to prevent her from just snatching her from school one day and me not knowing anything about it.


In my area the custodial parent signs the form listing the people authorized to pick the child up from school - if you're not authorized by the custodial parent you don't pick up the child and the Police are called, natural parent or not.

You go to the school with a copy of the custody order and tell them that only you or someone you designate can sign her out.

She is also old enough to know not to go anywhere with someone you don't authorize.

There is no such thing as abandonment. What you are talking about is teminating her rights and using abandonment as the grounds.

But I don't see the value in a TPR since she says she isn't going to contact her anymore. And I doubt if you would get one anyway.

As for support, if you want to enforce it, go to court to do so.