Jailing a deadbeat dad amounts to debtor’s prison?

Seizure of assets and wage garnishment would seem to be a more productive approach with the added benefit of not having to pay the cost of jailing these guys.

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The epitome of a “vicious cycle”.

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Here’s how it REALLY works in Georgia:

Couple divorces, judge orders child support/amount. Deadbeat parent (DBP)(not always the dad) doesn’t pay, or doesn’t pay in full. Custodial parent (CP) has to PAY A LAWYER (with what????) to even address the court to complain that DBP isn’t paying as ordered. Judge says, “Pay up,” and everybody goes home. Later, when DBP parent still does not pay as ordered, CP has to PAY A LAWYER (with what????) to even address the court to complain that DBP does not pay as ordered. Judge says, “Pay up,” and everybody goes home. Later, when DBP parent still does not pay, CP has to PAY A LAWYER to even address the court to complain that DBP does not pay as ordered. Lather, rinse, repeatedly line lawyer’s pockets. At some point, CP shows up for court and is led into a MEDIATION ROOM where DB parent whines to a mediator. CP tells everyone in a room to (*expletives deleted*) and storms out. Years and tens of thousands in lawyer fees later, Judge finallly agrees to garnish DBP’s wages, IF THERE ARE ANY.

I can’t imagine what these deadbeats are doing to actually get locked up for what is totally run-of-the-mill around here. The only thing the family court system accomplishes in this state is making lawyers rich.

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david lance – that is vengence & punitive – which the taxpayer simply picks up even more of a tab. It appears to me to be counter productive. Which begs the question: Are the child support demands reasonable? Should they be capped at a certain max of annual income ( ala Obama’s repay plan for college loans)?

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Not paying court-ordered child support is contempt of court. Why should deadbeat parents be the only ones not to go to jail for this?

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You guys are full of sh*t- I have been thru this and I have been paying my ex wife in old income amounts that came out during when my decree was issued in 2008- since I am self employed they took my 2007 tax returns which were 3 times the amount I made before the recession hit- So I was paying close to 3k in child support bills every month- ( you can only modify your decree every two years- a little well known fact- and guess what most ex spouses won’t voluntarily lower your payments- and for some reason the courts don’t want to jump in unless you have the means to draw up a petition to challenge the courts to reset the amount-

Your even more screwed if you own your own business like me- since then your not a w-2 employee and a lot of times you don’t know exactly what your going to make until the year is over and then you have to prepare for what your deductions are- so a lot of guys have been unfairly labeled as deadbeats- for example, I had 60 percent less in just gross deposits to my business than what my income was listed as to the courts from the year before but I was totally screwed because of what I made pre recession-

There are hundred’s of thousands of men like me that are in that boat- and ex spouses seemed to love having you underneath their thumb- so trust me some of us pay over 36k a year for a 3 year old child to an ex spouse that has boyfriends live with her when your own child is there- so you guys have zero clue what your talking about-

If I have a bad month or two I could literally starve and have to borrow money to just eat on and it would matter nothing to nobody-

This laws were developed in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s when women didn’t work- My ex wife makes 150k a year and literally had bled me for every dime thru attorney’s fees and child care costs which by the way are not take deductible so that 36,000 I paid add another 35 percent tax on top of that to the IRS and GA dept of revenue.

Its even worst for someone that doesn’t make much money they got no chance in hell of ever getting any just without an attorney to file on their behalf-

Judges know this and see women every day making up bs and playing the pity game- Now are there deadbeat dads yes- but I can guarantee you this and ask around women get the better end of the stick in 2000’s and today- No doubt about it- if your 30 days late your consider a dead beat? you have to show willful contempt by the way which is a big difference-

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My observation is that when judges order deadbeat dads to jail for failure to pay child support, money suddenly and magically appears. Of course, if the father is unable to come up with the money after some period of time, the judge should exercise the discretion to review the situation.

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I LIED and Galloway still knows it.

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Yes, it does; but in Georgia they are some times let out on “work release” w/ support going to the child and, if they stay in that job, they are then released but their wages garnished to pay both back and current support.

It does seem like there should be a better way.

I recall a case where a man (a trucker) had signed to give up his parental rights so his ex’s new hubby could adopt the child (he actually believed the child was not his but his ex’s new hubby’s child)–but the adoption did not occur so, when the child was 18, the mom sued for support and WON eighteen years worth.

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Yeah…. *snerk*… and you MARRIED a person like that because???
… because you thought she’d be sane and nurturing, a good nester, thrifty little saver, who’d always respect you, support your efforts, make all money decisions based on your joint, agreed-upon long-term goals and what’s best for the children, and be a sweet, caring, loving mother and wife who’d always put the family first?

Or… did you look past her fondness for $500 shoes & handbags, fancy cars, self-absorption, substance abuse, salon bills, and narcissistic demands because she was the HOTTEST thing that ever slept with you twice, and your friends were all, “Way to go, man?”

Where’s my violin?

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I’m just thankful I was able to fulfill my commitments to all concerned …

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Sadly, fathers who have children by different mothers usually end up neglecting the older ones until a court orders them to pay up or go to jail–then the younger ones end up doing w/o.

And yes, the change in Georgia is (or was) only permitted every three years; this should be more flexible in this economic environment–especially if the father is self-employed and TRYING to pay.

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I know another case where an ex collected back child support from grown children from her spouses VA retirement benefits–both were in their sixties–how old was that claim? there should be a statute of limitations–if a spouse does not at least TRY to collect (via at least a gov’t claim via request for public assistence for which the DB would then repay) then, after eighteen (or less) years, her ‘rights’ to claim back support should end. (as in two cases mentioned prior)

Sometimes the delay in seeking support is to prevent the dad from seeking visitation–he thinks he’s home free, then WHAM, many years later.

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“Yeah, come live in my word and you would see what I am talking about.”

No thanks. This is what worshipping money, superficial beauty, and material posessions has done to the American family. Those of you complaining about the condition of your bed seem to be skipping right past the part where YOU made that bed, chose that spouse, and accepted those expectations to begin with. Trust me, when you start OWNING what happened instead of blaming, your insides will finally begin to heal. Bless your hearts!

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I had a judge order me to pay $3,200 to a debt collector ( old credit card).

If I don’t pay them, do I go to jail for contempt of court ?

No.

Child support is a civil, not a criminal matter.

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@ Amy you are correct but the economy is so tight and there are limited jobs and chances if you get one it will be less than yo were previously making. Something is better than nothing but i must admit our lifestyles have been built around two incomes for the middle class sadly.

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Oh by the way its called Child Abandoment…which is criminal not civil

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One if my support is for the child I should get a receipt for every dime that was spent on the child. I have a case in my family where support was being paid voluntary 600 bucks a month every month for 7 years the age of the kids. The women tried to get free daycare thru the government. They order dude to court. First judge saw the agreement they had and threw it out. She tried it again another judge to my family member to cough up 600 dollars more in child support. He knows pay 1200 bucks a month because the woman kept trying to get free daycare from the government. My case is simple didnt know I had a son until he was 9 the mother of my child thought the child belong to someone else, we live in different states. Long story short dude got tested he wasnt the father one day I open my check up at work and I was being deducted for child support, no court, no dna. They can go in your bank and suspend your license jail is a bit much. If I was a mother I could leave my child at a fire station or hospital and thats ok if I get behind two months I am going to jail. Really.

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Don’t have children you are not willing to support.

Don’t have children with somebody you would not feel comfortable handing your kids over to for periods of time.

Don’t agree to something in mediation that you are not willing to do.

Don’t use your children as weapons because you hate the other parent.

You will get ZERO sympathy from me on this. After you have chosen to have children it is TOO LATE to whine about it or drop the ball. Support your children. Physically, financially and emotionally… or get the hell out of their lives.

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My daughter’s dad was ordered to pay 80 per month. Yes,$80a month ,and he still didnt pay every month. I say,throw their dead-beat asses under the jail… That is all.

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In June 2011, the US Supreme Court said it’s ok to jail people if they were provided sufficient information or safeguards to prevent mistaken incarceration, such as, telling them well before the court date that presenting evidence of inability to pay was a defense to contempt of a court order. Turner v Rogers, June 20, 2011. They also said there was no right to a lawyer at government expense to explain it to you.

All the states have joined into the interstate compact on child support recovery. The uniform law requires that child support services be given to both the payor and the payee. Therefore, if the deadbeat parent were to go to the child support office with unemployment stubs, then the child support office would be required to do something to get the child support adjusted. Most folks don’t realize that.

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It’s easy to want to put someone in jail when you think that this is such a simple issue. It’s not. Child have become a commodity for some parents (especially woman). I know this from listening to their lunchroom conversations of how the “ex” was going to pay for their new car, funiture and vacation. Oh and I am a woman so to say I’m some woman hating man won’t apply here. Most of the time if someone would truly take a good look they would find the other parent not allowing the paying parent to see their children or worse yet turn them against them. Who wants to pay for a child you can’t have a relationship with. The courts want to be tough on parents that don’t pay but they do little or nothing to the parent that is doing just as much harm to a child. Parents that do receive child support should be made accountable for where they spend that money, trust me, more times than not it isn’t going to the children. It is also tax free to the person who receives it, yet, the paying parent has to pay taxes on it as it was income earned. How do you feel about someone receiving thousands of dollars taxed free every year to spend as they please? While at the same time turning the child against the parent that is paying…..we need to get tough on both sides. If we send one to jail then we should send both there as they are both committing criminal acts to a child.

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Dude, PREACH!!!

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I see there are a few people in here who seem to think that all men who have to deal with child support are deadbeats who don’t give a hoot about their children, and I’m willing to bet that most of these people are women. Ladies, there are plenty of men out here who get screwed over by the child support system not because they are bad parents, but because of other factors: job loss, medical issues, a vindictive ex, a set of laws that are clearly outdated, etc etc. Stop trying to put all men in the same box. If a man volutarily chooses not to provide for his children, then throw the book at him. Otherwise, find out more about the situation before making a judgement.

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Let’s make the law equitable. You want to put fathers who can’t pay child support in jail? Fine. Then also put in jail the mothers who spend the child support on themselves rather than the children who are supposed to be supported. How many times does a Dad pay thousands a month to support their kids, only to see his ex use that money to pay for a trip, or tennis lessons or spa treatments?

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Can’t earn a penny sitting in a pen.

If you want to punish the deadbeat dad, make him move back in with the ex.

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I pay my ex child support every week on time – $640 month. It would make me happy if she spent SOME of that child support on the kids. My daughter begs me to buy her clothes, personal items and school supplies because her mother refers to child support as “her paycheck for having to take care of the kids”. There’s always plenty of beer, cigarettes, pot, clubbing on weekends and lottery tickets. She has been living off of child support for years. You need to understand why these so called dead beat dad’s are so frustrated. We can’t take care of our kids because we don’t have custody. All we can do is keep sending those checks.

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Some guys don’t pay cause they can’t pay is such a load of crap. Some mom’s can’t pay either but we do. We take on 2 or 3 jobs so that our kids can have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Some guys don’t pay because they know that we will do whatever it takes to take care of our kids. I am actually not in favor of the deadbeat being put in jail cause then I’m just supporting him with my tax dollars and I can’t afford that either. I realize he can’t work if he’s in jail so I don’t see how it’s benefiting his kids. Child support in my case was based on my income and his at the time of our divorce. I had to pay 60% of support to his 40% because my job paid more. Now I’ve lost that job and am making about a fourth of what I was making but guess what! I still have to feed, clothe and shelter my kids. Take responsibility as an adult, why should the kids suffer because you don’t want to pay your ex. And guess what its okay for the custodial parent to use child support to pay the rent because that is SHELTER for the kids.

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No birthday gifts,no Christmas,not one football game..Always late with the $200 a month child support,and you want me to understand if you lose your job or if your hours are cut. Save it!I don’t give a crap if you had to be a male gigolo,or sale blood. One missed payment,and I’m calling enforcement.

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I’m a woman…I raised a male child as his step-mother. I did so without any help from anybody. Since i’m a woman with a woman’s prespective; I raised my son to protect his seed. If he didn’t think that the woman he was about to lay down with was wife/mother material; then he should walk away. I’ve seen my friends take men to the bank and use the child support they recieved to impress their new men/the new men children…etc. As a woma n I would not have had a child if I couldn’t take care of it. I would certainly not want my child’s father incarcerated. If one is incarcerated he can’t work and be productive; so what is the purpose if incarceration for this issue. The mother and father are equally responsible for the well being of the children. I think the laws should be modified to reflect fairness. Birth Control is availible to all. Get some if you don’t want children.

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@mecq. I get attorney fees on the first trip to court on a contempt. Come on out to Gwinnett county, the judges will take care of you here.

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The Attorney Generals attorney’s stated “It said the men were jailed because of the “consequences of their own poor decision-making.” – What arrogant B@$t@rd$! I personally have been layed off for no reason of my poor decision making – rather it was for corporate greed sending thousands of jobs to India. Thank God I didn’t have children and child support otherwise I’d be in that debtor prison and the attorney general demanding I steal money to pay!

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I have NEVER with held my son from seeing his dad. ZERO child support in 6 years. Even if he won’t pay what he is required to pay by law, it would be nice for a hair cut or a new pair of shoes once in a while. I work 2 jobs to make sure our sone has what he needs and some of what he wants. Why should the sperm doner be held to less….he is the one who agreed to the divorce terms.

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There’s always plenty of beer, cigarettes, pot, clubbing on weekends and lottery tickets.

One of two things is true:

A: you knocked up a boozing, gambling pothead who goes clubbing on weekends.

B: you’re a self-absorbed whiner.

Notice there is no option C, where you impregnated a wonderful responsible woman who was tragically possessed by Satan after your breakup.

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People are right, if he is in jail he can’t pay ( in theory ) BUT at least in jail….he can’t spend it all on sports, cars and girlfriends.

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Putting a dad or mom in jail often causes grandmom to magically produce five or ten thousand dollars to get their 40 year old baby out of the pokey. Been there, done that.

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My ex only had to pay $75 a week for 3 kids. All she did was move out of state and was Scott-free!

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I am a divorced disable vet and i have 3 kids (two daughters and a stepson). My two kids child support stays paid and current. My mom raised me and couldn’t get help from my father with child support. Since i’ve been divorced i have had serious relationships with 2 women that have kids and there fathers didn’t pay childsupport and i was left with helping them out because i cared about them and thier kids (i also considered it paying it forward). There are a lot of deadbeat parents but i think a lot (not all) really can’t afford to pay and you shouldn’t be thrown in jail because you are to poor to pay. What’s next? Lets put all the women in jail thats on welfare because they can’t afford to pay for thier kids and need help from the system. Also, a man don’t have a choice most of the time when he finds out the woman is preganant, therefore its already an unfair situration. If the man don’t have a say then the woman should be left with the burden to pay. On the same note, sometimes the man wants a baby but the woman wants an abortion; once again the man has no say. The law needs to catch up with the times and with reality. I pay my childsupport because i love my kids and its the law and i have the means to pay. But damn, what if i couldn’t afford to pay? What if i would have had the option to pay for an abortion instead? Food for thought…

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It doesn’t take much to nip all of this madness in the bud. But first, let me put it in perspective. Prior to integration in the south, African Americans decided to grant legitimacy to external policing authorities etc provided that African American men and women integrate into those agencies etc primarily to protect them from the ways and means of their demonstrable enemies.

But a strange occurrence took place during the process of integration. Immediately after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, African Americans entering those agencies etc around the country relinquished their loyalty to the black community and openly joined the positions held by their demonstrable enemies in exchange for money, fame, status, plush jobs, materialism, etc.

Now it’s about time for African American “men” to respond to what has taken place e.g. for self preservation, when black men and women marry or establish personal relationships, each should take an oath expressly forbidding each other from relying on all external policing agencies etc to settle their disputes. And should one party violate that oath, the offending party reserves the right to dissolve all lines of communication with the other, children included.

The five fathers claim in the lawsuit that jailing parents who can’t afford to pay child support creates a modern day debtor’s prison, and wanting Georgia to provide poor defendants with attorneys at child support hearings make sense, if you happen to be white men and women or other ethnicities.

Amen?

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Quit sleeping with everyone you meet, and trying to see how many kids you can have, with how many different partners.

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JM, I fully agree an I believe it works both ways, however rare. My son’s father walked out on us for a meth head an I have worked hard to make sure my son lives comfortably. I do not live beyond our means. His father made his bad choices and wants to creep back into our lives. He can creep elsewhere. This is a happy house!

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Don’t get married or have kids.

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First off this isn’t just about fathers. This is for the NCP.
Secondly with GA system after taxes and support are taken out in some cases people are left with only 32 percent of their income. I think we can all agree that trying to live on a third of ones check is pretty difficult if not impossible.
Lastly how many people out there are like me who have since gained custody of their children but under GA system I am still required to pay child support?

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6 months in a prison work crew, earning $3 an hour. All proceeds go to the custodial parent. Work gets done, deadbeat parent learns it’s easier to pay the support without a ball and chain and warden in your face.

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Maybe before doing the nasty and rushing down the aisle towards wedded bliss, it makes sense to take some time and find out the character of the person you plan to marry. Get to know his/her values, his/her family and his/her friends. Look beyond the nice hair, snazzy sportscar, moves on the dance floor, big boobs, nice clothes, and gold Mastercard.

Dudes, if she is controlling, materialistic and whiny and acts like a spoiled brat now, it ain’t likely gonna get better with age. And she will clean you out when/if the marriage collapses. Ladies, if he is at his credit card max, with shiny rims and overtly proud of his 72″ big screen TV, he is showing off for his buddies, not you. When the rose comes of the romance, he will vanish quicker than a baby’s f#rt in an open air stadium.

Know there is more to living an entire life together and raising a family than material and physical attraction. How does your intended handle life’s ups and downs? Are drugs and alcohol a continual presence in your current relationship? Even after taking the time to consider the above, statistically there is a 1 in 2 chance the marriage will end in divorce. How ya gonna handle that?

Until you are certain, 100% certain, you can make the 18 year commitment to bearing and raising a child – ON YOUR OWN if necessary; guys, you need to wear a condom and ladies, you need to take birth control.

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The United States of America is facing the biggest recession since the Depression of the 1930’s. Unemployment is at record highs, foreclosures are putting record numbers into homelessness, food stamp recipients are at an all-time high, food banks are depleted with no food to give, and charity events like the recent free dental services had people lining up for blocks.
Economists and forecaster are predicting things will not change for the foreseeable future. ABC Nightly News reported tonight that gas will reach $4.50 per gallon by this summer and we are seeing record meat prices at the supermarket.One recent report stated that African-American youth have a nearly 50% unemployment rate. We are facing tough, tough times in America.
We need reasonable and fair-minded people and dialogue to work out this situation. Telling a man or woman that they have to pay (ex.) $600 per month who has no income is in my opinion is unreasonable.If you cannot pay it you face jail. Get the money and we don’t care how you get it or you go to jail. You now have a record which makes it even harder to get a job.
I pray and hope that every non-custodial parent can solve their individual cases and that every child is taken care of
May God Bless every child with support and love.
Thanks !!!

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However what about the fathers that pay their child support and the visitation is set then the Mother says “I don’t care what the court says, you can’t have her” The mother has moved without letting the father know twice.She has been in contempt at least 4 times.The father goes back to the lawyer and tells him he is not getting his visitation etc and the lawyer says give me $600.00 and we will take her back to court. You can take her to small claims to get reimbursed. ( that means nothing when a judgement is in your favor) My question is , WHY after HE insisted the DNA test and paid for it and then started giving her money monthly and was told it made no difference that it was just considered a gift. OK he put himself in the system and has paid his support. ( he wants to take care of his daughter ) Now the mother is getting dumb again and he has to pay hundreds of dollars because she is wrong and is going against the court order.WHY is it HE has to pay? She does not work only is a girl that wants to have fun.

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It makes no sense to me to jail a parent for not paying child support when that parent does not have a job. Why do I, as a taxpayer, have to take on the burden of feeding the jailed parent? Find that delinquent parent a job and take the child support payments out of his check. If the parent has a job, take the money out of his/her pay before they get it.

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Enter your comments here

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHB69Q8z8cI&feature=youtu.be

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True Story:
I lived with a woman in the mid-80’s. After 4 years together she decided to go into Air Force and after basic was assigned to a remote post overseas. 14 months passed and she returned on leave. We hooked up and about 3 months later I get a call, she is pregnant and the baby is mine. I fly out to “Bumfargle” for the birth and ask her if she wants to get married. She says no. I make arrangements to pay child support. There is no marriage and no court order. I made those payments without fail, month after month and as my income grew, so did the child support payments. Eventually I moved to California but traveled back East as often as I could, flew him out for summer recess when he got older, took him on trips. There were continual requests from her for additional money for clothes and braces and shoes and what not. I paid, even though by this time she had left the Air Force with a degree and had gotten a job with a good paycheck. By age 12, it was pretty apparent that physically, there was nothing of me in the boy. My then wife suggested I get a paternity test to find out. I was not interested. This was my son and no science class chemistry test was going to change that. My income continued to rise as did the support payments, still no court order. I bought him a car (used) at 16 and paid the insurance. Finally, he became of age and we discussed college. He was not interested. I said fine – sometimes at 18, you don’t know what you want. I told him if/when he decided to go, to let me know. I handed him a check for $5,000 and said as far as the money goes, that was it. I was taking him off my insurance and the monthly payments were stopping. He became incensed as did his mother. In her rage, she stated that she had a paternity test conducted 2 years before and I was not in fact the boy’s biological father.
She later sued the actual father for 18 yrs back child support and won in the initial ruling. I sent a letter to the actual father when I heard that and told him I had made copies of every check written and documented every trip taken and every nickel spent. If he wanted to claim my son as his own, I would destroy the records and he was on his own. If not, I told him I’d hook him up with one of Northwest Florida’s top pit bull attorneys. I never heard back from him. I have have not heard from my son in over a year.

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I pay way more than the guidelines require voluntarily (more than 6K a month). Why? Because my daughters deserve the best I can provide for them and more importantly its the price of freedom and I’m worth every PENNY. That being said, the system especially in Fulton County which is different than all of the other systems is screwed up, big time.

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Jim the courts are bias towards the women. Men are abused in the courts and the system is rigged. Women just have to lie and shred a few tears and the judges give them everything. The courts and the law are broken and needs a overhall. Both parents should take care of their children and that includes finanically.

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How can people behind catch up when they are in jail?

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The issue is the father paying his ex and child/children the support — money! I fail to see how putting the father in jail is going to accomplish this aim unless they’re paying more to stamp out car tags that I suspect.

It makes the judge look tough and is probably good fodder for re-election ads, but it’s a nonsolution to a very difficult problem.

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Zig Zag

January 30th, 2012
10:42 pm

why come is it 85% of women required to pay….don’t….and that Ga does not go after dead beat moms,at all !!! 85%…fact

Because for a woman to not win custody (and with it all the money) in Georgia would mean that she would have to be in front of a Judge beating the children while smoking crack.

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When it is mandatory for two parents to be named and verified BEFORE any welfare subsidies are issued then I will support “deadbeat” parents being put in jail … until then my taxes will just get pi**ed away on someone else problem that is now mine ,and the others that do the right thing .Thanks ,by the way for doing it right. Oh well ,right to birth babies and let someone else pay , that’s buried somewhere in the constitution.

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whether you are a man or a woman……..take care of your kids. they did nothing wrong. there’s no reason to punish them for your dumb*ss mistakes.

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I hear stories of the DREADFUL and INHUMAN loiwyers who make millions off the backs of this system. How many filthy loiwyers in atlanta do YOU know? there are PLENTY of them, some even go to area churches and appear upstanding on Sundays!

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It’s easier to say that from many positions. I don’t have kids, but, I question, with this tough of a job market for many, especially the youner generation, and those in that class who are less education, to land a job, that pays enough topay 17%, and then pay your own rent, and then to lock them up indefinitely. It’s gender discrimination in some cases, where in others, I’d probably agree some should be locked up, but not to the extent that it happens on tax payers dollars. JM your concern is well justified, but with little means to do anything about it. I have friends who’s ex’s make more than they do, and the guy is paying the full 23%, and can’t afford an apartment. I think this has to come down to what happens in the divorce, in most cases, instead of stereotyping, poor dad’s as “deadbeat dad’s.”

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Not all non-payers are deadbeats. Jail time does not help struggling fathers succeed, nor does it make them better earners. Encourage success wtih a percentage system rather than a fixed number.

It is time to recognize that fathers are more than just financial insurance for their children. Children deserve to be supported by two contributing parents. Ensure that child support funds are used for children.

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Edward: and fathers as well!

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If there were a tax break given to the child support playing parent, then I could see more of them paying. Remember, child support is 100% tax free to the custodial parent and they can spent it however they wish (most of the time – not on the child). Make child support a tax deduction and tax the support as income for the custodial parent and I bet there would be a lot less deadbeat parents.

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“Child Support” and “Deadbeat Dads” are noble- and evil-sounding phrases respectively, chosen by those who are marketing certain ideas, which are actually deceptive in nature. Everyone accepts that parents should care for their children, including economically, and nobody likes the idea of a person who does not, thus the “deadbeat” term. This is smokescreen used to keep the general public under control while there is grand larceny occurring against parents and children behind the scenes. Who is committing the larceny? Lawyers and judges — and state governments. How does this work you ask?

First of all, there are many regions of the USA which make “child support” awards which are so outrageously supersized that they are guaranteed to result in default by the fathers. This turns the fathers into instant “deadbeats”. Under the Federal cash bonus rewards system — yes CASH BONUS REWARDS –system the states cash in and collect big federal bonuses when (i) they make larger rather than smaller “child support” awards — no matter what the father’s circumstances, and they get even bigger bonuses when (ii) the father falls behind and the state engages in ruthless “enforcement action”.

This is a dirty system born out of the seed of good intentions, and sold to the public with carefully chosen marketing labels (”child support”, “deadbeat”, etc.) but it has been horribly subverted by greedy and power hungry state government apparatus across most states in the U.S. as well as fee-hungry lawyers and their close friends in the state courts.

What is really going on, and what keeps this dirty system going, is the VERY LARGE scale is the shaking down of fathers and mothers for “legal fees”. The father is hit with an impossible support award — or the threat of one — and of course he is duped into hiring an costly family court lawyer (who is invariably a friend and former and likely future colleague of the “judge”). The father’s lawyer works in partnership with the mother’s lawyer to suck out as many fees as they possibly can from the parents assets, home equity line, and future earnings.

The key to the legal fee sucking operation is that everyone is put at risk for one or more things they fear: loss of their kids, outrageous “child support” award, indentured servitude, and of course, the threat every private lawyer likes to use to scare their male family court clients: jail time.

So what is really going on here? Corrupt state judges feeding people’s assets and future incomes into the pockets of their crony lawyer buddies. Corrupt judges and lawyers brokering people into slavery “orders” for excessive amounts of money.

How do they get away with it? With effective marketing labels, that’s how:

“Child Support” (false label in so many cases — more like designer clothing shopping budget forwomen)

“Deadbeat Dad” (false label again — more like man sold into slavery who has no ability to earn the sharecropper demand)

This is what is really going on America.

The money spent jailing these men is propping up the legal fee billing sprees of private attorneys who chow down at the family court feed trough. Where the least competent, most corrupt and bumbling lawyers in America can feed like they are royalty — and be part of the 1% who are ruining America.

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GaBlue had it dead-on. A lot of guys complain about women who only go for jerks. Well, a lot of men only go for shallow gold-diggers and then bitch and moan when she does what she does best – take the money and run! I have seen this too many times. Stop blaming everyone else for your mistakes, you picked her…

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GABlue – You don’t know what you are talking about when you say the custodial parent has to pay a lawyer to get paid child support that it is due. Clearly you have never heard of [or experienced] the draconian bureaucrats at the taxpayer funded Georgia Office of Child Support Enforcement. http://ocse.dhr.georgia.gov/portal/site/DHS-OCSE/

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Some of y’all are really in need of some long & good, belly-thumping, gut-busting D!CK…

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The economy is bad for custodial parents also. I was laid off in 2009, worked contract jobs after that and ended up being unemployed half of last year. The needs of my children (1 of which is struggling in elementary and needs tutors and another a senior in high school) did not change in that time. I borrowed, took 401k withdrawals and ran up credit cards. I have no sympathy for parents who can’t pay due to income loss, the needs of the children still have to be met and it requires sacrifice and a willingness to go above and beyond.

3 pages of comments about child support and very few mention the needs of the kids… Selfish and sad.

And for those of you (ncp’s) who pay adequate support, and are concerned that the child’s needs aren’t being met.. Ask the court for custody.

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A good start would be for girls/women to stop spreading their legs without considering the possible consequences. Once they’ve happily allowed themselves to get knocked up and become mommies they somehow become ‘victims’.

And…Georgia’s no-fault divorce laws only make it worse. Either party can just walk away for any reason and stick the other one with the kids.

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In the U.S., if you owe taxes to the IRS or a state government, here is what they typically do:

attach (and take) all the money in your bank accounts, investment accounts, and any other assets they can find and take except for your retirement accounts.

How is it fitting that this “special” category of debt, the nobly labeled “child support” cannot be collected in this way?

Easy. Because it is the risk of excessive support awards and jail time which keeps the corrupt legal profession employed as fathers are compelled to pay “protection” money to these gangsters.

Follow the money trail folks. Who profits by this scam? Lawyers, state governments, and a bloated judiciary.

This is absolutely NOT about children’s well being. It is about lawyers’ greed.

Stop and think.

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@GaBlue and @Aquagirl – Man it must be great to be in a relationship with someone where that relationship never changes or the partner never changes for the bad. Way too many times one partner or the other changes for whatever reason. It could be the dad or the mom, doesn’t matter but the relationship doesn’t work any more. People break up and unfortunately many times there are children involved. Too many times the non-custodial parent gets screwed on support. I understand the need to have standard guidelines but there is too little opportunity to vary when there are true needs. I would bet that for every situation you can cite where there is a true deadbeat parent, I can cite a parent trying their best but due to circumstances beyond their control they are now considered deadbeat.

@dean – there are so many factual errors in your post that I have to conclude that your got really, really bad representation if you had any at all. Try looking up the Ga statues – you might be surprised!

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Gerald:

As a custodial parent, I am definitely under threat if I do not provide for my children… i could lose my children to their father if I’m unable to provide for them and he is or to the “system” if neither of us were able to. For me, knowing that I had brought children into the world and was not providing for them would be worse than going to jail.

Please explain why a NCP can’t alter his lifestyle (sell his home, move in with relatives etc) so that he can pay his support? or are you assuming that all non-financial supporting parents live a minimalist lifestyle? In many situations when a ncp’s income is reduced and they can’t pay the full amount they stop paying support all together and that’s how they end up in situations where they are arrested. You have to be in serious arrears before they start taking serious enforcement action. In my situation, I had not received support in over a year before the ncp was threatened with jail unless he coughed up $1000. And since that $1000 was produced, no additional support has been received in months.

I didn’t state my opinion before on rather a non support paying parent belongs in jail because every situation is different and I choose not to lump all ncp’s in the same basket. I believe that if you are spending time with your children and helping on a regular basis financially, you should not be thrown in jail for lack of support. But if you are a deadbeat dead (meaning you don’t spend time with your kids or help financially on a regular basis) than jail just might be in order just for you to take supporting your children seriously.

You are giving CP’s a lot more control in the situation than we actually have. Once a order is entered, we can not simply make a phone call or send a letter and ask for the support order to be reduced. There are procedures in place for NCP’s to request a reduction.

For the record, I have not bashed my ex in either of my posts..

And is Gerald your real name? You sound just like a deadbeat (see my definition above) dad I know.

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