A Writ of Bodily Attachment Child Support Florida is established when the payor (person ordered to pay the payee/recipient) of child support has been delinquent, received a fair warning of that delinquency (essentially a failure to pay child support, whether willful or due to financial hardship and/or inability), and has failed to pay that amount owed/requested. The Writ commands the Sheriff of any county to arrest the payor for his or her failure to pay child support. First, either the Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) will commence an action, or the party to whom child support is owed will first file a Motion for Contempt, stating that the payor has failed to pay and is accruing arrears in defiance of a court order commanding him or her to pay child support payments. Jacobs Law Firm is a Florida child support attorney. Call us today for help at 407-335-8113. Please do not e-mail us as these types of cases require a consultation. We will not answer e-mail messages.
Pursuant to Florida Statute 38.22, and Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.615, a Florida Family Law Court (the Circuit Court of any County) may find a person in civil contempt for failure to pay child support. Civil contempt is not the same as criminal contempt, but the consequences are severe.
The “Writ of Bodily Attachment Child Support Florida” may be served by a Sheriff in any Florida county, even if in a county where the Writ did not originate. This is not simply a matter of the delinquent payor absconding to another county to avoid paying child support debt. Once the debt is owed, it must be paid and satisfied to avoid very real consequences.
Florida Child Support Attorney
The reason you may need a Florida Child Support Attorney to represent you is because a Bowen Hearing (eponymously named after Bowen v. Bowen, 471 So. 2d 1274 (Fla. 1985)) is held within 48 hours. The purpose of a Bowen Hearing is for the Circuit Court to determine the payor’s present ability to pay the amount of child support owed. The “Writ of Bodily Attachment Child Support Florida” creates a “purge” amount owed. This means that the amount owed must be satisfied or else the payor will likely not be released from jail. If the payor is determined by the evidence to have the ability to pay, he or she must do so or remain incarcerated until such a time as they decide to pay their child support debt.
A Florida Child Support Attorney may file a Motion to Set Aside Writ of Bodily Attachment for you, which will illustrate to the Circuit Court your inability to pay and ask for your release from jail. Call us immediately if you need help. Attorney Jacobs is an Orlando child support attorney practicing child custody and relocation with minor children cases.