The most important thing you can’t do is withhold visitation and violate a court order on custody or some other provision because the other parent is not paying child support as they should. Similarly, a parent who is obligated to pay child support can’t withhold payments simply because the other parent is withholding visitation. If the other parent is not paying child support as required under an existing court order, you may need to file a motion with the court to ask the court to step in and find the other parent in contempt of the court order. In North Carolina, there are two kinds of contempt- civil contempt and criminal contempt.  A party may be found in criminal contempt if you can prove that they willfully failed to comply with the court order at some point in the past, even when they had the ability to do so.  If the Court finds them in criminal contempt, the court may fine them, admonish them, or may put them in jail for a limited period of time. On the other hand, a party may be found in civil contempt if you can prove that they are currently in violation of the court order, that their failure to comply with the order is willful, and that they have the present ability to comply.  If the court finds them in civil contempt, the court may order them to purge the contempt by paying any outstanding amount of child support that has become due, to avoid going to jail.   The difference between criminal and civil contempt is that criminal contempt is intended to punish the party in violation of the order for their lack of compliance, whereas civil contempt is intended to force them into compliance going forward.   If you currently have a court order entitling you to receive child support from your child’s other parent, and they are not paying it as they are supposed to, please call our office to arrange to discuss your options.