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There’s an excess of remedies that courts use to enforce support orders against tardy parents, mostly dads. Conversely, enforcement remedies for fathers who are being wrongly denied access to their children is woefully inadequate. The disparity between child support and child custody enforcement exists in Michigan as well as in all other jurisdictions.
Due to traditional societal norms, the burden of this unfair dichotomy in family law falls on the shoulders of fathers. According to U.S. Census statistics, 87.1 percent of child support payers and 82.6 percent of noncustodial parents are the fathers. In the past, the law was filled with principles favoring mothers for child custody orders, particularly in the case of young children. Although there may be few remnants of the ‘tender years’ doctrine remaining, nonetheless the courts still generally follow the rule in practice by granting custody of younger children mostly to mothers.
Child support enforcement finds parents hounded into submission by onerous and humiliating measures, sometimes only with respect to two or three missing payments. This kind of enforcement is swift and automatic in many child support offices. The offenders are subject to incarceration, losing a driver’s license, repossession, lien filings or garnishment of tax refunds.
On the other hand, enforcement of a noncustodial parent’s visitation rights can linger without action for months. When a custodial parent denies visitation to the noncustodial parent for reasons that are subjective, sometimes hidden and often misplaced, the noncustodial parent must fight tooth and nail through the child custody system to get results. It helps to have independent counsel whose experience can be used to minimize the wait.
However, not all parents can afford private counsel, and if that’s the case the wait to see one’s children could be a long one. In Michigan and nationwide, normal court procedures must be followed for child custody and visitation enforcement proceedings. Summary procedures do not exist in visitation enforcement, even when a court order that provides visitation rights and schedules has been violated. If you’re a Michigan resident facing any of these dilemmas, you can fight this unfair distinction by having a meeting with a family law professional who can assist in providing you with complete information and a strategy to achieve your legal rights.
Source: Huffington Post, “Disparity Between Child Support and Custody Enforcement,” Joseph E. Cordell, May 3, 2013