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Legal Information: Florida

Custody

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Updated: 
October 6, 2023

If the other parent fails to pay the child support that the court ordered, can I refuse to honor his/her visitation (time- sharing) rights?

You cannot refuse to honor the other parent’s visitation (time-sharing) rights because s/he failed to pay the child support that the court ordered. If you refuse to honor the time sharing in the order, the court can order extra time to the other parent to make up for the lost visitation time. In addition, the court could punish you in the following ways:

  • ordering you to pay the costs and attorney fees that the other parent spent to enforce the time sharing schedule;
  • order you to take a parenting course;
  • order you to perform community service;
  • change the parenting plan, which could mean giving sole responsibility to the other parent or changing the primary residence of the child if it is in the best interests of the child to do so; and/or
  • order any other reasonable punishment that the judge sees fit.1

1 Fla. Stat. § 61.13(4)(c)