Really? What’s the other one?
As far as I can see, I got one option, and it’s the least reliable one.
Eh, I don’t think it’s so much a matter of the OP sharing too much, as it is a matter of other posters reading an incomplete story, and filling in the blanks themselves, in a way that makes it all her fault. It’s been taken for granted here that she never sees her grandchild, she coddles her son, the child was an accident…I think she would have been better served by posting the entire story of her grandchild’s conception and birth, the divorce, all the court proceedings, and attach her son’s 1040 in a pdf.
Is your tenant an alcoholic? Because this guy is. And alcoholics are typically irresponsible when it comes to responsibility, and often abusive. For all you know, that’s the legacy he left behind in his marriage, and his wife has no interest in being “understanding” any longer – she doesn’t have to anymore.
It’s the “operating in good faith, and [having] a record of getting [her] the money” that’s the problem here. Not only do you not have any idea if that’s the case, but the OPer clearly acknowledges that this guy has a history of late payments!
If it has to be so that he “gets” that he has serious obligations he has to meet. Some people have to be treated that way or they take total advantage of the people around them.
You’d really make that bet? Based on knowing that the guy’s had an alcohol problem for who-knows-how-long? Wow – you’re a bigger risk-taker than I am.
Seems like, based on past performance (frequent late payments), it’s perfectly warranted.
That’s about the only thing you said that makes any sense.
What bullshit. That’s like saying women are typically unable to keep their legs together long enough to keep from getting pregnant, stealing mens’ children and bilking them for whatever they can get. Typically.
How many alcoholics have you known? Let’s not count your after-school specials. I’ve know a few and none of them were abusive or irresponsible. They drank too much, it was a problem, they eventually quit. No Hollywood drama.
Oh, what we know is this chick fucked up one marriage and made off with two kids for which she’s sucking off the government tit, then she made off with the OP’s kid’s child and is sucking off more free tit, and now she’s knocked up with a third guy she suckered and she’s going to suck off him too. That, we know.
Wrong, dumbass. He has a record of always getting the mentally ill ex “her” money. He can’t always get it to the mentally ill ex on the first, but has the OP verified there’s a court order requiring him to pay her on the first, or she’s just a mentally ill psycho bitch who likes to make the OP’s son’s life a living hell because her life sucks and she can’t stand seeing his life get together after he managed to escape her mentally ill clutches?
You think a fucked up ex-spouse who’s fucked up two marriages and who sees her ex getting his life together AFTER ditching her can’t feel all victimized and resentful and vindictive and wield all the powers the courts have given her to make her ex’s life as miserable as hers apparently is?
We know she’s mentally ill everytime she gets pregnant, and she apparently can’t quit getting pregnant and she’s fucked up two marriages, and for all we know she got pregnant again without even getting the chance to fuck up a third marriage, although no doubt she’ll extract even more money from daddy wallet number three.
Ooh, she’s such a victim, and the OP’s son is such a meanie.
Wow, not afraid to make a ton of assumptions based on one piece of information. If we’re trusting the OP, which obviously you’re not and I’m neutral about, she says he always pays, just not on the date the ex-DIL wants. If that’s true, then he’s meeting his obligations in as timely a manner as he can. Also, he’s 4 years sober, so why would being an alcoholic in recovery make it impossible to meet his obligations? Is he doomed forever to irresponsibility in your mind because of that?
As for abusive, you pulled that out of your ass, totally.
And for all YOU know, it’s not. See, you can make up whatever facts you want to support your position, because we don’t know everything, and we can’t. By all means allow your imagination to run away with you, but don’t preach it as gospel, because you don’t know that it is.
The only ideas any of us have is that the OP said it. You don’t believe her. Fine, that’s where you’re coming from. I’m able to believe that a self-employed person in contracting gets paid on an irregular basis. I’m also able to believe that he wants to pay her and does ASAP. It’s not a stretch either to think that she’s giving her ex a hard time for things that he can’t control. Ever had an ex do that? Ever had an ex have as much power over you as the OP’s son’s ex does and use it to hurt? It’s not so hard to picture, really. Sometimes the man has a valid point of view. I know it’s hard for some to accept, but there you go.
Do you “get” that some people don’t get a paycheck from a company generated every week or two weeks? Do you “get” that the OP’s son might be doing the best he can? Or is that impossible to imagine? Sure, maybe he’s an irresponsible douchebag trying to rip off his kids. It’s possible. But it’s not a given though it seems to be your default assumption. I know some people don’t care about paying for their kids. The OP doesn’t seem to think her kid is one of those people.
Maybe I’m not as cynical. Or maybe I’d want to cut my ex some slack and not be a miserable bitch to him, guaranteeing our kid will never have a normal parental situation because his parents hate each other’s guts and fight over him every fucking month.
Gotcha beat by one, eh? 
My guess would be sterilization.
Well, condoms, which are actually pretty reliable, and abstinence, which is 100% reliable. Hadn’t actually thought of sterilization, but I guess that does make three.
Does the OP have no extra money with which to make a short-term loan to her son on those months when he’s going to be a bit short on his actual child support due date?
Does the son have no credit cards or other lines of credit that he can tap for “a few days”,when he sees that he’s headed for another" too many bills, too much month" situations.
Could he have possibly had his income tax over-withheld by enough to pay a couple of months’ support and then disciplined himself to use that money only for child support “emergencies”?
My child support was unfair and excessive, but I did whatever it took to pay it in full and on-time. However, I was no saint.
Knowing my ex had no money sense whatever, I’d pay two months’ support at once whenever I worked a lot of OT or got a big tax refund. For instance, I’d pay March1’s and April1’s money on Feb.20 and be legal until around April 25.
When she’d run out of money the first week of April, I’d laugh my ass off at all of the “You goddamn bastard” calls on my answering machine.
When I prodded the angry beast further by sending her an ad for credit counseling, her “drunk of the month” called me and said he was coming over to kick my ass. I’m still waiting.