Posted on 09/12/2011 6:56:00 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen
It may not be a crime to be poor, but it can land you behind bars if you also are behind on your child-support payments.
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Thousands of so-called “deadbeat” parents are jailed each year in the U.S. after failing to pay court-ordered child support — the vast majority of them for withholding or hiding money out of spite or a feeling that they’ve been unfairly gouged by the courts.
But in what might seem like an un-American plot twist from a Charles Dickens’ novel, advocates for the poor say, some parents are wrongly being locked away without any regard for their ability to pay — sometimes without the benefit of legal representation.
Randy Miller, a 39-year-old Iraqi war vet, found himself in that situation in November, when a judge in Floyd County, Ga., sent him to jail for violating a court order to pay child support.
He said he was stunned when the judge rebuffed his argument that he had made regular payments for more than a decade before losing his job in July 2009 and had recently resumed working.
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(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
this doesn't even qualify as naive.
—I hope you never find yourself in such circumstances.—
I used to look at divorced people as second class citizens. Then it happened to me, without cause. She just didn’t like me any more. Fortunately my kids were old enough that I paid child support for only a few years - and maintenance since we had been married a couple of decades.
And I found out that somewere around 75% to 80% of divorces are brought on by the wife. And yes, the men basically get screwed in a way that only family court can do it.
It is extremely foolish for a young man in the US to marry a woman in the current legal environment. I’m sure she’s a real sweet girl, but people change. And these days it can ruin your life - for the REST of your life. This is especially true if you have single digit aged kids. I’ve seen WAY too much of it.
And we’re not talking wife beaters here. We’re talking ordinary flawed men married to flawed women, but the power these flawed women are given by the courts is absolutely criminal. It is also creating a permanent underclass of what should be a strong middle class and part of what is actually destroying our country.
Still, she was awarded custody of their only daughter and he was ordered to pay child support. The family courts are stocked with traditional family hating liberals, lesbians and dykes for judges. But I repeat myself.
Oh yeah, it’s a picnic for the women. sarc They get to care for the children, 24/7 while the men are out sowing their wild oats, not showing up for visits, trying to control the women by withholding what little child support does get awarded. Look buster, do you not realize that when the dad cuts out the women’s lifestyle goes to the dogs? Men can make a lot more money than women.
Oh, so then the men get the bright idea, “I’ll just take the children from her, then I won’t have to pay child support.” And the children then have no mother.
Men, it is not about YOU. It is about your children.
The Bitch State.
He also owes it all when he gets out. It can follow him the rest of his life.
So you think nothing extra-ordinary happens?
You should put a * next to your screenname, einstein.
You're being presumptuous. It's clear that "thinking" never entered the process.
Glad everything always worked out so perfectly for you, bub. “Planning” solves all eh?
This is a lie. Even the most mature are having a time finding jobs today. You are acting very self righteous.
This is an example of an out of control judicial system/Government creating criminals out of innocent people.
Odd how so many true criminals avoid jail due to over crowding, yet there seems to be room for these people.
This really makes me mad.
—THE SYSTEM DOESN’T WORK AND IS EVIL
NEVER GET CAUGHT UP IN IT. IT WILL KILL YOU.—
I repeat: A young man that gets married in the US in the current legal culture is taking a HUGE risk with his life. And it is almost a 50/50 proposition, Christian or not.
What saved me, other than the Lord himself, was that I was a professional and all my kids were in double digit age when it happened.
On a side note, I paid huge child support and maintenance (it was a long term marriage that she ended “without cause”) and although she dressed very nice, the kids were dressed from Goodwill except for what I ended up having to buy for them.
I sat in on family court prior to my court dates to get a feel for it. I was shocked by what I saw. I no longer respect the US. At all. I also believe this will be part of this country’s undoing.
meathead, eh? a clueless, myopic moron calling an unemployed veteran a "meathead?"
Nothing bellows like a fool.
While I’m no libertarian, I do agree that the best course is for the gubmint to stay out of divorce and child support issues.
Do not issue arbitrary visitation schedules. AND DO NOT order child support, nor enforce any orders demanding it be paid.
I guarantee you (based on history) there will be a lot less fewer divorces and broken homes.
But as we know... Liberals and big government democrats DO NOT WANT a stable secure family. Only when the Welfare Check is the head of the household is when total control of the plantaion is secured.
“a man’s enemies will be the members of his own house.”...”it would be better not to marry...”
There was no common sense on the bench as the judge then ruled that he was not allowed to leave the state to take a job so he could pay his child support until he was current with his child support.
In the end the ex wife gave him the money to get current so he wouldn't end up in jail and be even more behind.
The situation was totally ridiculous.
AMEN, AMEN and AMEN!!!
Horror stories like the one you posted are I would NEVER get married in the USA.
I have a close childhood friend who is married and who has told me he's gone up on his roof with the intend to throw himself off of it as an alternative to getting divorced and having a “judge” tell him how he will live the rest of his life. He hasn't done it yet because he doesn't want his children traumatized and stigmatized.
What do you say to a person that's at that point? “Don't worry pal, this is Massholechusetts, and you'll get a fair shake in court?”
FWIW, I'd advised him to disappear and flee to another country or claim he's turned gay and file for divorce.
You sound kinda like a monster. Either that or you didn’t read the article.
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