Enforcing a Custody or Support Order in North Carolina

Two kinds of contempt

An order providing for custody is enforceable by proceedings for civil contempt, and its disobedience may be punished by proceedings for criminal contempt, as provided in Chapter 5A (G.S. 50-13.3(a)). Periodic child support orders are treated the same way (G.S. 50-13.4(f)(9)). A person cannot be held in both civil and criminal contempt for the same conduct (G.S. 5A-21(c) and 5A-12(d)).

The Judicial Branch says you can file a Motion for Order to Show Cause or a Motion for Contempt to ask the judge to hold the other parent in contempt for violating a custody order.

Civil contempt

Civil contempt is used to compel compliance (G.S. 5A-21). Failure to comply with an order is a continuing civil contempt as long as (G.S. 5A-21(a)):

• the order remains in force;
• its purpose may still be served by compliance;
• the noncompliance is willful; and
• the person is able to comply or to take reasonable measures that would enable them to comply.

There are two ways to start (G.S. 5A-23):

• Motion and notice. The aggrieved party files a motion that includes a sworn statement or affidavit explaining why the other party should be held in contempt, and serves the motion and notice of hearing at least five days before the hearing unless good cause is shown. The aggrieved party has the burden of proof (G.S. 5A-23(a1)).
• Order to show cause. A judicial official, on a sworn statement or affidavit and a finding of probable cause, orders the person to appear and show why they should not be held in contempt, at least five days before the hearing unless good cause is shown (G.S. 5A-23(a)).

At the hearing the judge must make a finding on each element of G.S. 5A-21(a). If contempt is found, the order must state the facts and specify what the person must do to purge the contempt (G.S. 5A-23(e) and 5A-22(a)). A person in civil contempt may be imprisoned while the contempt continues, subject to the limits and exceptions in G.S. 5A-21(b) to (b2), but may not be fined (G.S. 5A-21(d)).

Criminal contempt

Willful disobedience of a court’s lawful order is criminal contempt (G.S. 5A-11(a)(3)). The punishment can be censure, imprisonment up to 30 days, a fine of up to $500, or a combination (G.S. 5A-12(a)). For failing to pay child support, a sentence of up to 120 days may be imposed for a single act if it is suspended on conditions related to paying support (G.S. 5A-12(a)(3)). Fine or imprisonment requires that the conduct was willfully contemptuous or followed a clear warning by the court (G.S. 5A-12(b)).

Enforcing child support

• Show cause on affidavit. On the affidavit of the person owed support, the clerk or a district court judge may order the obligor to appear and show cause why they should not be subject to income withholding or held in contempt, and to bring employment and income records (G.S. 50-13.9(d)). For contempt, the statewide AOC-CV-601, Motion and Order to Show Cause for Failure to Comply with Order in Child Support Action (Rev. 3/09) is a sworn motion asking the court to order the obligor to show cause why they should not be held in civil or criminal contempt; it cites G.S. 50-13.4 and 5A-21.
• Other remedies. G.S. 50-13.4(f) lists remedies including bonds or other security, wage assignments and garnishment, injunctions, receivers, liens, and execution on judgments for past due support. Immediate income withholding applies to orders initially entered on or after January 1, 1994 (G.S. 50-13.4(d1)).
• The child support agency. In a IV-D case, the designated child support enforcement agency has sole responsibility for monitoring compliance and starting enforcement it considers appropriate (G.S. 50-13.9(b1)). If you have a caseworker, the Judicial Branch says to contact them.
• Arrears stay owed. Each past due payment vests when it accrues (G.S. 50-13.10), and if arrears remain when the support obligation ends, payments continue in the same total amount until they are paid (G.S. 50-13.4(c)).

Parenting coordinators in high-conflict cases

After a custody order (other than an ex parte order) is entered, or on entry of a contempt order involving custody, the court may appoint a parenting coordinator if the parties consent, on a party’s motion, or on its own motion (G.S. 50-91(a)). Without consent, the court must find that the case is high-conflict, that the appointment is in the child’s best interests, and that the parties can pay for it (G.S. 50-91(b)).

• The coordinator’s authority is set by the appointment order and limited to helping the parties comply with the custody order and resolve issues it does not address or that are ambiguous, such as exchanges, holidays, activities, and schedule changes that do not substantially interfere with the basic time-share (G.S. 50-92(a)).
• A coordinator’s written decision within that scope is enforceable as an order of the court. A party may file a motion for the court to review it, and the parties must comply unless the court finds it is not in the child’s best interests or exceeded the coordinator’s authority (G.S. 50-92(b) and (b1)).
• The court keeps exclusive jurisdiction over fundamental issues of custody, visitation, and support (G.S. 50-91(c)).

Orders from another state

A custody order from another state can be registered in North Carolina, with or without a request to enforce it, using the AOC-CV-660, Petition for Registration of Foreign Child Custody Order (Rev. 7/24). A registered order is enforceable as of the date of registration in the same manner as a North Carolina order (G.S. 50A-305(c)).

Primary sources

Statutes, rules, and forms change. Check the current version at the source before you file.

• G.S. 50-13.3, enforcement of order for custody
• G.S. 50-13.4, support remedies
• G.S. 50-13.9, procedure to insure payment of child support
• G.S. 50-13.10, past due child support vested
• G.S. 5A-11, criminal contempt
• G.S. 5A-12, punishment
• G.S. 5A-21, civil contempt
• G.S. 5A-22, release when contempt no longer continues
• G.S. 5A-23, proceedings for civil contempt
• G.S. 50-91, appointment of parenting coordinator
• G.S. 50-92, authority of parenting coordinator
• G.S. 50A-305, registration of child-custody determination
• AOC-CV-601, Motion and Order to Show Cause for Failure to Comply with Order in Child Support Action
• AOC-CV-660, Petition for Registration of Foreign Child Custody Order
• North Carolina Judicial Branch, Child Custody help topic
• North Carolina Judicial Branch, Child Support help topic