So what do you do when your Ex Spouse decides that since you are now out of state, he or she can ignore his or her child support order or obligations? An out of state child support order can be “domesticated” in Florida even if the obligation was created from another state. What domestication does is bring the out of state child support order into Florida’s Jurisdiction so the court system here can enforce it. Once the child support order is domesticated, the Florida court can determine how much is owed, how much interest is owed and potentially hold your ex-spouse in contempt of court for failure to meet their child support obligations. One prerequisite, the children must be living with you.
A contempt order can send the nonpayer to jail until they make arrangement to pay if it is shown that they have the ability to pay and are refusing to make child support payments. The judge is much more likely to order them to enter into a payment plan with a deduction order so the child support is taken out of their paycheck each payday.
If you have any questions about Domestication of an out of state child support order or any other family law issues, please give us a call at 904-685-1200 or fill out the contact us form on right hand side of this page.