I am in the process of taking my deadbeat ex to court for over 6 years of unpaid child support. During the time we’ve been divorced, he has never paid me a penny in support, nor has he contributed in any way to the ongoing medical bills for our daughter or our disabled son. He sees them every other weekend, but is otherwise not involved in their lives in any meaningful way. He doesn’t come to their school events, attend birthday parties, or take any interest in their well being, especially if it requires any effort on his part. He has also been unemployed for over 4 years, but this past spring, his mom died & left him a huge sum of money (about 200k), ALL of which he has managed to blow through in just under 6 months, without using any of it to pay any of his support arrears or put any aside for the kids future. This was the last straw & I finally saved up enough for a lawyer & am suing him for contempt.
Since he has been served the papers, he has been making remarks to our daughter that lead me to believe he is going to try and paint me as an unfit mother & maybe try to get custody of them, purely out of spite. I am a hardworking mother who has worked up to 3 jobs to keep a roof over their heads & food on the table. I have no history of drug use, abuse, or any other lifestyle that might be damaging to the kids; they are safe, happy, and well cared for. Yet I know how sneaky he is & I still worry because I am unfamiliar with the legal system. Does he have any chance at all of getting custody of children that he’s never helped to support? He has lots of questionable things in his past (heroin addiction, unpaid loans, bankruptcy, and more). No court would ever think he’s a more capable parent than I am…or would they? Hoping for some peace of mind…thanks in advance.
