When it comes to children in a situation where parents are not together, the topics of child support and visitation always come up in Arkansas. It is a misconception that these two things are related. The courts actually see them differently. According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, visitation and child support are two separate entities that are not related.
What this means for you is that you cannot use visitation to affect child support and vice versa. For example, you cannot deny your child’s other parent visitation rights if he or she has failed to pay child support. This is a common issue with parents, but one that is not legal. If you were to do this, you could be charged with disobeying the court orders that set up visitation.
Of course, not paying child support also is something handled by the courts and could land you or your child’s other parent is trouble. However, the court does not look at these issues together. The court will never take away visitation rights because a parent is not meeting child support obligations.
On the flip side, if you are paying child support, you cannot withhold it if your child’s other parent refuses to allow you to see the children. Again, the court will hold you responsible for not paying. You can, however, go to the court about being denied visitation since it is a violation of a court order. This information if for education and is not legal advice.