Contempt

A Complaint for Contempt is a legal case that you can file to ask the court to force a parent to obey a child support order.  In a contempt case, you ask the court to decide that the disobedient parent is in "contempt" of the court order for child support.

In a contempt case the court issues a special kind of summons called a Contempt Summons.  The Contempt Summons summons that the court requires other parent to appear in court at a particular time and show the court why he or she should not be held in contempt of court.

If the court makes a Judgment of Contempt against the disobedient parent, it can force that parent to obey the order by ordering him or her pay the child support that has gone unpaid (either all at once or in regular installments), by ordering him or her to participate in court-monitored job search (if he or she claims to have been unable to pay the child support because of being unemployed), or by ordering the person to be put in jail.

There is a court form for the Complaint for Contempt.