When you and your ex got divorced, the court issued a number of orders. For one thing, you were ordered to have shared custody. The children live with your ex during the school week, but they live with you over the weekends. Since you earn more money than your spouse and have the children for less time, you were also ordered to pay monthly child support.
But now your ex has begun violating the custody order. They refuse to make exchanges or let you see the children. You are trying to get them to comply with the custody order, so you may consider refusing to pay child support until they do. Is this a viable step to take?
Do not violate the custody order
No, you should not stop paying child support as long as the legal court order is on file. You are obligated to follow it, regardless of what your ex does. Just because they are breaking the custody order does not give you the right to also break the support order.
That said, this can certainly be a frustrating situation. Your best way to move forward is to approach the court about the violations and work with it to get it to enforce the order. If the court decides to lift your support obligations, it can do so. It can also take other steps, such as holding your ex responsible for violating a court order themselves. In some cases, this may even put your ex’s custody rights in jeopardy if they refuse to comply.
But the key is to ensure that you do everything legally yourself, even if your ex does not. Make sure you know what rights you have and what steps to take at this time.