My ex-husband hasn't paid child support in five weeks. Should I file comtempt of court charges or child abandonment charges against him? I send him a text every week asking him if he is going to pay this week. Every week he tell me he will pay when he gets the money. The only time he visits her is when she stays overnight with my aunt. He will stop by the for an hour or two. He has only taken our daughter to stay the night with him twice since December 2009 and that was because I sent him a video of her crying for him. He has never taken her for the weekend and he never calls to ask how she is doing.

Does he have court ordered visitation? Is the child support court ordered and collected by the state?

First, abandonment only applies in very few states. Second, is there a court order for child support? Third, Where do you live. ANY questions about law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area.

I live in Georgia. The child abandonment does apply where I live and there is a court order for child support and visitation in our divorce agreement. The child support is to be deposited into my checking account by him each week.

Child support was ordered by the court. He is to deposit it into my account each week.

His visitation was to be every other weekend with at least 48 hr notice if he was unable to get her for the weekend. He has never taken her for the weekend.

First please stop answering questions in the comment feature, no one reads those, Answer the questions by posting an "answer" to your own question to add more info.

You will really need to be more than one month behind to file in GA. While he may be ordered to pay each week, support is figured by the month, so he is only one month behind, I doubt the court would even consider contempt at this early stage.

Also GA does not require him to see the child, abandoment in GA deals with his non payment of support.

You can attempt to file, but really need to be 3 or so months behind for the courts to take you seriously.

Ok, correct, GA is one of the few states that call failure to pay support abandonment. As Chuck noted it may be too soon to file. When you do file, ask for the payments to be automatically deducted from his pay.

Visitation is a right, not a requirement. You cannot force him to adhere to the visitation schedule like you can support.

I know I can't force him to visit her or even call her. I have been trying very hard to get alone with him and work with him when he doesn't have much work going on. He is a very difficult person and I tired of begging him to see his daughter and I'm tired of asking him for child support. He just bought himself a new motorcycle and he's out playing all of the time. There is no reason for him to not help support his child. Will I need an attorney or can I file for a warrant against him?