I've been paying child support for years and have not been allowed visitation of any kind with my children. What can I do?
Also my children complain that they're not being bought the things they need
What happens next?

Ok, paying support and visitation are not related, you pay child support because there is a order of support. It is to help the custody parent pay for rent, transportation, food and clothes.

So what type of visitation order do you have though the courts. So if she is not allowing you to see the kids according to the visitation order, you take them back to court, just like they would take you back if you did not pay.

More explanation is needed here. As Chuck said, visitation and support are treated separately. So without knowing what orders were issued by a court pertaining to custody and visitation and/or what you have done to have visitation its hard for us to advise. But your first step is to get visitation defined by a court order. If that has been done, then you petition to the court to enforce the order.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

More explanation is needed here. As Chuck said, visitation and support are treated separately. So without knowing what orders were issued by a court pertaining to custody and visitation and/or what you have done to have visitation its hard for us to advise. But your first step is to get visitation defined by a court order. If that has been done, then you petition to the court to enforce the order.

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You must be current on your child support and definitely not more than 2 months late. Then hire a Lawer and file for change in visitation. By law you can win 50% visitation rights but this will take time. You need to get your life in order its not to late. How about you just call her and see if y'all can meet at a park for 3 are 4 hrs. After that work your way to getting the kids at your house a couple times a month day time only. You still need to go to court but Mabe build a better relationship with your kids over the next month first

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Originally Posted by dogdeville

You must be current on your child support and definitely not more than 2 months late. Then hire a Lawer and file for change in visitation. By law you can win 50% visitation rights but this will take time.

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Can you cite any law to support that?

In most areas, courts treat visitation and support separately. So there is no requirement to even pay support to be granted visitation.

Second, 50% would mean joint physical custody, not really visitation. Visitation generally occurs when there is a primary custodial parent and the NCP get to be with the children on a schedule.

Finally, its nice that you want to help our members, but please read the posts carefully before responding and make sure that your response is accurate. Especially in the law forums where answers need to conform to statutory law.

The OP stated he has been paying support so I don't know where the "get your life in order" comment comes from. There is nothing in the OP's post that would justify that. The OP simply stated he hasn't been allowed visitation. Since we don't know WHY he hasn't been allowed visitation we need to get that info before offering advice. Usually the phrase not allowed means someone is denying him visitation. That would be either the courts or the custodial parent. I don't know who else wouldn't be "allowing" it. So to give a quality answer we need more info first.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Can you cite any law to support that?

In most areas, courts treat visitation and support separately. So there is no requirement to even pay support to be granted visitation.

Second, 50% would mean joint physical custody, not really visitation. Visitation generally occurs when there is a primary custodial parent and the NCP get to be with the children on a schedule.

Finally, its nice that you want to help our members, but please read the posts carefully before responding and make sure that your response is accurate. Especially in the law forums where answers need to conform to statutory law.

The OP stated he has been paying support so I don't know where the "get your life in order" comment comes from. There is nothing in the OP's post that would justify that. The OP simply stated he hasn't been allowed visitation. Since we don't know WHY he hasn't been allowed visitation we need to get that info before offering advice. Usually the phrase not allowed means someone is denying him visitation. That would be either the courts or the custodial parent. I don't know who else wouldn't be "allowing" it. So to give a quality answer we need more info first.

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somebody that has not Seen their kids in years needs to get their life straight. He said he's been paying cs for years but he needs to be current. He has to paint a good picture to win visitation because something happened years ago a blind man can see this!

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Originally Posted by dogdeville

somebody that has not Seen their kids in years needs to get their life straight. He said he's been paying cs for years but he needs to be current. He has to paint a good picture to win visitation because something happened years ago a blind man can see this!

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If a judge did not order him to pay cs then no it want matter. They are treated separately but when you don't pay and you were ordered, you can be held in contempt so if he in jail then he want get visitation. We going over board we need more information from him!

Again, can you cite any law that states that a NCP needs to be current on their child support to get visitation?

And again, clearly he is in contact with his children. Clearly he has been paying support. And using the words "not allowed" gives another picture. So we need to wait until the OP explains why he hasn't been allowed to properly help.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Again, can you cite any law that states that a NCP needs to be current on their child support to get visitation?

And again, clearly he is in contact with his children. Clearly he has been paying support. and using the words "not allowed" gives another picture. So we need to wait until the OP explains why he hasn't been allowed to properly help.

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Again if he is in contempt he will not get any visitation this is law. You must pay cs to have visitation. If a judge ordered him to pay!

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Originally Posted by dogdeville

Again if he is in contempt he will not get any visitation this is law. You must pay cs to have visitation. If a judge ordered him to pay!

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He needs a lawer!

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Originally Posted by dogdeville

YBy law you can win 50% visitation rights ...You must pay cs to have visitation.

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... and your source is?

Child support and visitation are not tied together, even more-visitation cannot be denied if support isn't paid. Please pay attention when posting on LEGAL boards!

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Originally Posted by GV70

...and your source is?

Child support and visitation are not tied together, even more-visitation cannot be denied if support isn't paid. Please pay atention when posting on LEGAL boards!

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If he is in jail how can he see his kids. So please have more common since! You should not say you don't have to pay to have visitation. You are sending the wrong message for everybody following. Yea he's probably not late on cs so it want matter!

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Originally Posted by dogdeville

You must be current on your child support and definitely not more than 2 months late. Then hire a Lawer and file for change in visitation. By law you can win 50% visitation rights but this will take time. You need to get your life in order its not to late. How about you just call her and see if y'all can meet at a park for 3 are 4 hrs. After that work your way to getting the kids at your house a couple times a month day time only. You still need to go to court but Mabe build a better relationship with your kids over the next month first

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You obviously do not read the question and do not know the law, please stop giving such poor advice.

1. late on child support, sorry but non custodial parents who are behind still get visits, one is not connected to the other, normally in court they will want a plan to catchup but there is no 2 month late rule, that is rubbish

2.50 percent, sorry it is a law that they may get it, but and a big but, most courts still do not give it, and those that do, the parents have to live very close to each other.

3. Just call her, obviously you have not been divorced and have a custody agreement from most, both parties often use the kids as weapons against the other, and custoidal parent often go out of their way to keep the kids from the other. I have stood outside a house knowing my kids were inside on my visit days to have the police called and police escort me off the property. And that is with a visitation order. And guess what the judge just tells her to not do that again ( after 3 months to get to court)

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Originally Posted by dogdeville

If he is in jail how can he see his kids. So please have more common since! you should not say you don't have to pay to have visitation. You are sending the wrong message for everybody following. Yea he's probably not late on cs so it want matter!

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But he is NOT in jail. He is paying support. So your assumptions have no merit. Bottom line is you are not citing correct law, nor are you reading the OP's question correctly. Just admit you made an error and move on. And further argument will be removed.

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Originally Posted by dogdeville

You are a dummy for arguing with me. Your not a good parent either. If he don't pay child support and if you don't pay your ex wife you going to lose visitation because you will be in jail. Yea their is pmt plans but if you don't pay you will be locked up.

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All courts give 50% visitation if you hire a lawer

While it is true that a court has the discretion to throw a parent into jail for non payment of support, it is actually rare that it will. If the parent is in jail they certainly can't pay support. Jails are also overcrowded so a court will be reluctant to jail someone just for non payment of support. So there may be several reasons a parent may not be paying support yet will not be in jail and therefore still able to visit.

Again, we take pride in the accuracy of the advice we give here. You clearly don't have a lot of experience with Family court system. So please stop giving inaccurate and essentially bad advice.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

You obviously do not read the question and do not know the law, please stop giving such poor advice.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

You clearly don't have a lot of experience with Family court system. So please stop giving inaccurate and essentially bad advice.

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I cannot agree more.