If my ex-spouse does not allow me to visit my children, can I stop paying child support?

No, you cannot stop paying as child support and parenting time are not tied together. A court will look negatively upon you if you cease paying child support despite the fact that your ex-spouse is not permitting you to see your children. There are now provisions in the Family Law Act for a parent who frustrates the other parent’s parenting time, which includes such remedies as: specifying a time when the parent may receive make-up time with the child, requiring one or more of the parties or the child to attend counselling, or requiring the parent frustrating the parenting time to pay a fine amongst other forms of relief.

Betty L. Gabriel is a family lawyer at Kahn Zack Ehrlich Lithwick in Richmond, BC.