Q: My ex husband has been out of work for over a year now and im not getting any child support . Is there anything i can do

A: Anytime the parents of children can work things out without the court, the children are generally better off. However, a parent may file a petition with the court for child support. Generally speaking the court will award child support in accordance with the statutory guidelines. In the case of an unemployed parent, the court may determine that the continued unemployment is the result of the parent failing to take appropriate steps to obtain necessary employment to meet his/her obligations of support and may "impute" income to the parent and order support and enforce that order by contempt proceedings --- nothing like the prospect of sleeping at the local jail to light a fire under a parent to find work.

Again the court is empowered to "Imputed income to a party who is voluntarily unemployed or voluntarily under-employed; provided that income may not be imputed to a custodial parent when a child is not in school, child care services are not available and the cost of such child care services are not included in the computation and provided further, that any consideration of imputed income based on a change in a party's employment shall be evaluated with consideration of the good faith and reasonableness of employment decisions made by the party, including to attend and complete an educational or vocational program likely to maintain or increase the party's earning potential"

Disclaimer: This information contained in this answer is not intended and does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. You should engage a lawyer for legal advice.