Visitation and child support

[florida]

I have two children with a man who went to prison before the kids were three. We never married. child support was established in court before he went to jail but he never paid and had little interest in any visitation. He went to prison on drug and gun charges. While in a halfway house for his last year before he was released he wanted to start to see the kids. He was able to call anytime and was able to see the kids once a month sometimes more. Wile in the halfway house he started to pay his child support. Now that he is released (3 months) he has no contact. he does not call at all and has stopped paying his support. The kids have never felt safe with him and do not care to see him. If he does decide that he wants to call or see them at this point do I have to allow it? If we go to court for this at a later date will it look bad on me if I refused him? I have documentation regarding all the times I have tried to work some kind of visitation out. I will not chase him down to see them and feel that he should not be able to walk in and out. Also I have not brought up the child support with him but if he is past due is this not something his probation officer would address. His balance is $35k.

Thank you

[Attorney Howard Iken]

I have not seen probation officers that were overly concerned with child support.

You have a duty to follow the last court order - no matter what it says. With that said, if you feel strongly - you may need to do something different. If that is the case, you must have a really good explanation for the judge on why you chose not to follow the order. That strategy can backfire on you.

Attorney Howard Iken