Child Support and Deadbeat Dads
March 11th, 2009If you’re court-ordered to pay child support and you don’t, what happens? I get that question a lot from potential clients who call and wants a way out of child support. If they have a legitimate reason for paying lower child support, I will help them and take them as a client. Many people however, just simply don’t want to pay child support. It is against my conscience and better judgment to take those clients – and I don’t.
So if you don’t pay child support for a little while, either the other parent will bring a Contempt action against you and force you to pay child support or if you’re paying to the Department of Revenue directly, they will file an action against you. Your child support will still accrue and you will be in arrears. If after several contempt actions, you still do not pay, they can garnish your wages. If you somehow get a job under the table or leave the state to avoid child support, the court has the power to issue an arrest warrant for your arrest. It is a crime to avoid payment of child support.
Case in point, recently 2 of Massachusett’s most wanted for failure to pay child support was found. One owed $200,000 and the other owed close to $189,00. What awaits them now? They will get convicted and go to prison AND they will have to pay the child support plus interest.
[2 of Mass. child support’s ’10 Most Wanted’ found]
[Lagos arraigned in child support case]
Not to defend deadbeat dads or anything, but the bottom line is that if a dad doesn’t want to pay child support then (most of the time) he’ll get away with it.
You’re right. Sometimes it’s very hard to collect but you have to be persistent.
Be persistent should be the first advice. Never assume that the child support enforcement agency is ever going to do anything about your case – aside from watch the arrears pile up & provide documentation. If you want enforcement, not just collection, you should enforce the order as much on your own as possible. As the recipient of the crap end of the stick, custodial parents not receiving child support ARE THEIR OWN ADVOCATE. Most deadbeats take advantage of that. I believe, if after a certain time period, the states would pick up the child support bill that the deadbeat isn’t paying (without waiting for the struggling custodial parent to end up on TANF) MAYBE enforcement would be a bit more of a concern for the authorities.
MAYBE the children of these cases wouldn’t be suffering across the country.
What about the Dads that want to pay their child support, but are still denied their right to drive. I have been going through a nightmare of child support issues that never end. They
took my drivers license, even though I was making payments when I could. To me, this is one of the stupidest things I can imagine doing to help somebody make their payments. I have completely covered the arrears on my case, but they still will not reinstate my license without a lump sum payment, because of the 4500.00 dollars in interest I supposedly owe. Now, I am going to get fined or jail time, since I got caught driving on a suspended license, again. I kept telling the child support enforcement that I had to drive to be able to make my payments, but they say that is not
their problem. I also have been involved in a double jeapardy thing with the two agencies handling my case. I paid one state the lump sum payment to reinstate my license, but the other state said I have to pay them one, too. Why am I being punished twice for the same case. One state says that I do not owe the interest to the other state, but the other state keeps sending me the bills and I am legally obligated to pay it. It makes me not have any respect for the system of laws in the United
States, since I am a criminal for trying to do the right thing. I have been calling everybody I can think of to find a way out of this matter, but nobody seems to care if an innocent man is condemned to a life of misery.
THese laws are pathetic. So if a dad does not pay you have to file contempt “a couple of times”. That is crazy. The court system, Department of Revenue and everyone else involved are pathetic and need to be completely revamped. Contempt these days mean nothing, believe me I have witnessed this tragedy time and time again. Lawyers and judges (who are ex-lawyers themselves) make it so that the only way anything gets done is through other lawyers costing the innocent victim thousands. The only people who make out on the deal are the lawyers.
What about us dads who try to work within the system? Try to get a legitimate reduction in child support due to losing your job and and you will told that a court date is 6 months to a year away. Miss a payment and go to jail within 2 weeks, with the judge telling you to ask your parents for a loan.
What a great state Massachusetts is, making dads pay till age 23!
Michael, if you miss one payment, you will not be going to jail. That simply does not happen. If you cannot pay and you ask the court for a modification, they will not send you to jail during the pendency of the modification.
My husband is about 12 payments behind (that’s 24 weeks worth) This year he has only pd me 4 payments. He says business is slow, which i believe. But he also has a new wife & 2 new kids. she doesn’t work! So all his money is going to supporting a new house, 2 cars, 2 more kids & a lazy wife that doesn’t work. ugh. I don’t want to garnish wages. Should I just push for a payment plan?
If I have a court ordered child support and the DOR has been taking payments out of his check and he leaves that job to hide from payment will the MASS. DOR still pay the court ordered amount?
No. Either you or the DOR has to track him down to pay.
My father was and still is a deadbeat Dad. He moved to FLA to avoid support payments and has or had a lein on his home from Mass DOR. I know this only because the loser had the audacity to ask me to lie to DOR for him and help him get it removed. Fat chance! But my question is, is there any way that I can find out what the status of this lien is? This news came as quite a surprise to my 1/2 siblings and they are concerned for their mother who has been taking care of this ailing deadbeat for years now. I know he never could come up with the money to pay it off on his own because he has been collecting disabilty thru the VA for years. BTW I am 47 and my mother had been deceased for 13 years, so this should be a warning to all you people who don’t want to support your kids. MA DOR can wait forever!
Thank you for your time.
SG
“they will not send you to jail during the pendency of the modification” Of course not. They wait until the hearing, deny your modification and jail you right then. That way they don’t have to come looking for you.
I have a friend who is owed about $60k in child support by her ex. Over the years he has worked under the table almost exclusively (some of it legal some of it in “sales”, if you get my drift), occasionally with a small portion paid as part-time wages by his unscrupulous employer. He has since remarried, is currently paying a mortgage, drives an expensive Harley, takes vacations, and flaunts his money in front of the kids in order to make his ex-wife look bad. He keeps all of his possessions in the new wife’s name so as to hide his income. She was unable to work for many years thanks to two of her kids being mentally challenged. He keeps filing for unemployment extensions and gets them, which the state garnishes. I have to assume that this pitiful version of “not” avoiding his payments is the only reason that they haven’t held him in contempt, taken his license, etc. I guess my question is, is there *any* way of dragging him into the light? The DOR has been next to useless, and one judge even LOWERED his payments when she went to court to address his lack of payment. All he had to do was cry that he wasn’t earning that much any more, show his “part-time” stubs, and laugh in her face as they walked out of court. The guy is a total scumbag, to the point that she was once in a shelter with her three kids while he was helping to blow through his new wife’s $1m trust fund (that’s no typo), and it seems that no matter what happens he manages to avoid any penalties and keep her reliant on his whims. It’s sickening, and I’m hoping to find a practical way for her to regain a little control in her life. Any recommendations would be helpful!!!
My husband is ordered to pay child support in Mass and he and I reside in NH. His ex is a welfare and SSDI Guru and knows how to work the system. Her 19 year old son, who is overweight, unmotivated, refuses to get a drivers license or a job and lives with mom. She has gotten caught stealing cable from her neighbors….Now, because of this child’s lack of desire is considered not emancipated, my husband is required to continue child support. Ex has even had son go through 8 hrs of psycho eval that we paid for. At the court hearing, he was miraculously cured. My husbad lost his job in May, and has not paid child support in some time…so we got the threat of his license revocation (the most idiotic thing a State can do). That’s right, take his license away so he cannot look for a job….He just got served today for his contempt hearing….he has tried several times to be heard by the actual judge, but keeps getting brushed off and deals with the mediator. I feel that some good men get taken for a ride in the State of Mass. In NH, a child is automatically emancipated at 18 and unless the custodial parent brings action against the other parent, child support ceases. I am a mother of my own two children and think NH is more in line with the times….Mass just seems to encourage young people to be lazy!!!
My brother went to court with $1800 and the ex wife had a lawyer with her this time and said they wanted $3000 or nothing. They would not let him call anyone to get more money and would not even hear him, they jailed him for 60 days. And he has to pay her lawyer expenses on top of it all. My brother loves his girls and is not a dead beat dad, he does as much as he can for them. His ex is re-married, has a new car her husband has a new truck, they own a house and they post on Facebook that they are going out partying at least twice a week! My brother is self employed and struggling like everyone else to pay his obligations. He lives at a friends or on my couch and does the best he can. After 60 days of jail, he came home yesterday & is a mess, he has no money, lost his business rental space and just wants to die. All over money, not enough money for the ex. I am a mother of 4 who did have a dead beat ex who didnt care about his kids and never paid anything, so I know what its like, but his ex is not hurting at all by what I can see and there should be some other punishment in this econmy rather than wasting time in the hell hole jail cell with murders, rapists, etc. I want $3,000 not $1,800, give me a break! It’s all about money. My nieces were a wreck while their father was in jail and now we dont know how he is going to catch up. He only owes twelve thousand dollars. Massachusetts needs to evaluate each case & give people a break. 60 days in jail, what did that accomplish?
If you look at 2006 census data, about 80% of single house holds with kids are females. This means the court system is VERY BIASED on giving custody. Even if every case was done individually, it should be about, statistically 60/40.
Now, that being said, dads are given VISITATION. Well, that is what you give criminals.
Dads that do not pay are hounded. In ohio, it is 30 days in jail for being 3 months behind. It is almost automatic. You then lost your job. WAIT. When you get out of jail, you got 30 days to catch up. In PA, if you take a lesser job, your child support does not GO DOWN.
In Ohio, child support is about 40% of the dads income, taken directly from pay checks.
Personally, I have come to the conclusion, that if you are behind in child support, bank robbery might be an option. Because, you are going to be poor and starving for years. It cost $60 a day to jail you, and in Ohio, and they are closing jails.
PERSONALLY, i suggest making the marriage work, divorce sucks, and make an effort.
Many times it is the employer who won’t garnish the wages of an employee. Below is an article alleging even the world famous author John Gray (Mars Venus) refuses to garnish his CEO’s wages for child support.
(eWebWire.com) January 29, 2010 — WORLD WIDE WEB, January 29, 2010 (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) — Nevada ranks 54th in its rate of child support collection. They have consistently ranked near the bottom of the nation in payment collections. To say their child support enforcement system is broken is not accurate. It’s beyond abysmal. Nevada also hugged the bottom of state rankings in establishing paternity for children in support cases, obtaining court orders for support payments and running cost-effective collections and enforcement programs.
Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, called Nevada’s national standings for child support collection “pathetic.” Children in the state are not receiving the money they are entitled to by court order, Buckley said, which means they may be deprived of things as basic as medical care and shelter. “It is frustrating for all the custodial parents, we are worse than Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”
One mother has spoken out claiming that Nevada ranks so low because they only target African- Americans and Latinos. Ms Collins a single mom of three feels many of these fathers are out of work and unable to pay so any enforcement measures are useless. In her case the father of her three children is a white male, gainfully employed in an Executive Position, owns a sprawling 2 acre ranch in Las Vegas and drives a Bentley. In spite of this Ms. Collins claims that the Nevada District Attorney has made little effort to collect not only the current child support but the $22,794.12 in arrears the father of her children owes. Ms Collins further added that Nevada does not pursue white offenders and goes out of their way to keep white deadbeat dads out of jail.
Nevada has a number of tools to collect child support arrears. Bank accounts can be levied to collect past due support, wages can be garnished, property can be levied even a notice of the delinquency could be filed with the IRS who would divert any income tax refund to the DA to apply to the debt. Nevada can also suspend a driver’s license due to unpaid child support or even suspend an occupational license if a parent owes child support.
In spite of this Ms Collins claims none of these enforcement methods are used to collect child support for her children. “I have a court ordered wage assignment but it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.” The father of her three children Richard Bernstein is the CEO and President of Mars Venus Coaching. Ms Collins added that although Mr. Bernstein testified in a Los Angeles court that the company is owned by John Gray the world famous author of “Men are from Mars Women are from Venus” the DA refuses to take any action against Mr. Gray for failing to honor a court ordered wage assignment. Ms. Collins believes Nevada has done nothing because Mr. Bernstein along with Mr. Gray are both white.
Ms Collins pointed out that the Nevada DA went after Dr. Conrad Murray (Michael Jackson’s personal physician) with a vengeance claiming that he’d shown a pattern of failing to abide by child support orders. At the time Dr. Murray owed just $13,311.47 for missed child support payments. Ms Collins believes if Dr. Murray was white it would be no different from the father of her children and further stated “They only pursued him because he is African American. I am owed over $22,000.00 in back child support, Mr. Bernstein was previously convicted in a Los Angeles court for failing to pay child support that definitely shows a pattern but because he is white it puts him above the law in Nevada. Ms Collins also added my children deserve better they are entitled to the same rights as everyone else regardless of the color of their skin. If their father worked for a company owned by a minority the DA would definitely pursue that company to make sure that they honored a wage assignment for child support.
Ms Collins conveyed that she provided the Nevada District Attorney with copies of press releases for Mars Venus Coaching posted all over the internet listing Mr. Bernstein’s name as being responsible for selling franchises in China, Poland, Nevada and Arizona in just six weeks. In spite of this Ms Collins said her children failed to receive a penny in court ordered child support during that period.
This may very well be the reason Nevada consistently ranks near the bottom of the nation in payment collection. Last year the state collected about 52 percent of the payments owed. The national average is about 61 percent. A Nevada state task force is looking at ways to improve the collection of delinquent child support payments after a legislative audit found deficiencies. A good start might be looking into why Nevada is not pursuing white deadbeat parents that are gainfully employed, have assets and show a pattern of failing to pay support after being convicted.
On July 27, 2010 the famous author John Gray will be arraigned on criminal charges at the Los Angeles Superior Court for failing to honor a court ordered wage assignment for Richard Bernstein the CEO of his company Mars Venus Coaching.
Mr. Bernstein has already been arraigned and is awaiting trial in Los Angeles. The Nevada District Attorney has also filed criminal charges against Mr. Bernstein.
Richard Bernstein was previously convicted for failing to pay court ordered child support and was sentenced to probation and community service.
His three children are owed well over a year in child support payments.
John Gray and Richard Bernstein sell franchises and provide training in business, family, and life coaching.
What if the deadbeat dad is an attorney?
I am owed well over 20k in a child support judgment, and close to 10k since the last time we went in September 09, and there’s more, but it’s very depressing to add up what he is supposed to pay when it is simply not enforced.
The deadbeat has not paid in years, and this is a man with an engineering degree and a law degree.
He told me he would let it lapse and work under the table, and not pay me anything, and hasn’t in years.
http://massbbo.org/bbolookup.php?sl=Mcdonough&sf=barry&sc=&soundex=&hit=1
Sure, I got a judgment for over 20k, and he was ordered to pay support yet again, but two years later (after the 20k judgment) and he isn’t paying so much as a penny.
The DOR in Massachusetts has not collected anything.
As another poster commented, a deadbeat dad who doesn’t want to pay child support won’t, and there are no repercussions.
Lawyers are a big part of the problem and judges and the system in general that allows unscrupulous people to destroy others. Who the hell wants to get married when it’s only $65 to get married but 10′s of thousands of dollars to lawyers and the system when you go through divorce. It’s been an absolute hell. My family would have a lot better off if the government was kept out of it because of the corrupts lawerys and judges. The end result of governments involvement. Polarization. Father put out of a job because they took everything from his check. The system can’t repay the time that’s been lost with my kids. The system when you really know it like I do (forced to) is against families and all it wants is money. The Federal government should stop paying states to garnish. Like one lady at the court DOR window told me, we have a quota to meet else we’d lose out jobs. They garnish people without looking at the facts first. There needs to be greater awareness of what’s happening in the courts of Massachuesetts which enables the destruction of families.
What if there is no child support order ? My wife and I separated in april of 2005. I waited for months for a summons to court for a child support order,no summons ever came. In that time I continued to pay the mortgage on the home in which she and my children live. Four months ago, after continued delays by my wife in the divorce process I stopped paying the mortgage and instead gave her checks for the amount of child support by the guidlines which is less than the mortgage so that she would have to make up the diference (about $200.). She never cashed the checks and I can prove they were recieved.This was an attempt to force her to cooperate with the process. She is now taking me to court trying to get an order to make me pay the entire mortgage and arears that are the direct result of her greed. Any response on this mater would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tony
Tony, you are going to have to get a divorce attorney to finalize the divorce asap. Dragging it out simply makes the accounting more complicated. In the meantime, save every single check you make out to her or for her benefit.
in ky its like pulling teeth to get a deadbeat locked up for non payment of child support.they dont do anything to them as far as i can tell.they threaten them but dont follow thru.thats why there are so many deadbeats,if they dont pay nothing happens.so guess what,they dont pay…my daughters deadbeat ex-husband quit his job so he didnt have to pay,he was dumb enough to believe that would get him out of the obligation to pay.not that the child support agency has done anything to make him pay anyway.thank god my daughter met and married a wonderful man who loves these children dearly and wants to adopt them.he is the only father they have ever known.their sperm donor has never made any attemt to be in their lives,he couldnt be bothered.i think every deadbeat should be locked up and have their license taken away,they wont pay so why shouldnt they sit in jail.they deserve it.
I’ve been to court 9 times this year with my ex, who is more than 10k in arrears. He has been found in contempt 3 times this year alone and he still refuses to help support his children -leaving it entirely upon me.
The reason he doesn’t pay is because there is absolutely NO reason for him to pay. The Judge never does anything about it!!
Right now, he is in contempt of the contempt of the contempt…that’s right! THREE CONTEMPT ORDERS THIS YEAR ALONE. Yet, he’s not facing jail time. He lost his license and big deal – he still drives and tells me DOR can’t do anything about it! LOL Seriously!
If this is the type of parent he strives to be, then so be it. I know I am doing everything I can to give my children an excellent, secure upbringing. Shame on him for being a deadbeat. Thankfully – he is the only one who has to look at himself in the mirror every day.
Karma baby – it WILL come back around.
If you can’t pay due to loss of job, etc., that is one thing. If you REFUSE to pay even though you have the means to do so, that is quite another and you SHOULD be in jail for it. That’s just my two cents!
i had an affair while married, the person got pregnant & had our daughter, and has gotten a court order for child support. my wife is filing for divorce. once the divorce is finalized, can i then incorporate the new child support payments for my other kids into the ma child support worksheet?
Well the place to go is Florida if you want to avoid paying child support, the whole state is one big deadbeat dad,My ex moved to Florida remarried His wife bought a 2 million dollar home CASH!!! they both drive porshes, All in her name. He stands in front of the judge and says he has no work at all for 2 years. He does not have to work . I have an agreement he made me sign stating he would not take me back to court for 5 years within the year he took me back even though he was trying to get me not to touch their money, The judge made me go threw a 2 year trial at a cost of 20 thousand dollars He only owed me 15 thousand. He payed his lawyer 12 thousand and still did not just pay me. I have waited 6 months for a judgement on the case!!! I just tried to have him served for contempt for not paying the new court ordered amount but he refused service, He just did not answer his gated home for the sherriffs. What a world . Oh he sees his children 1s a year and he wants that to be in Florida with him on xmas thats wright take the best day of the year i do all the work and the judge thinks this is fair.
i have been divorce for five years the judge ordered my ex to pay 187.00 every week the first year in a half he refused to pay then this year he took me to court to get it reduced the judge reduced it even though he is working the same job he had when we divorced but he told the judge he is now only making 350.00 a week the judge reduced it but it pretty much stayed the sae payment 187.00 he was 27.000 behind a hhundred to the back and the rest to current last payments were 18 days apart and now he is over a week late on this payment is there anything i can do he hardly ever seesthe girls and when he does its for a half hour andhe brings them home upset and in tears
If I am receiving C/Support payments through MA DOR, what happens if I move to FL ?
Also My x owes 20k ia back support, do I take him to court in FL or MA ?
“Not to defend deadbeat dads or anything, but the bottom line is that if a dad doesn’t want to pay child support then (most of the time) he’ll get away with it.”
Well I am doing something wrong, because I was a month late once and they came after me like flies on sh**, like I had just done something horrific.
my ex husband has stopped paying child support he claims to have “lost his job” which in reality he works for his parents and would only get payed to cover his child support. he is CEO of one of his dads corporations, what can i do and how long is the process?
My ex and I are in a battle for child support. I have 2 children and his arrears is now very close to 60k. To make matters worse his current order is only 80 per month for 2 kids. It use to be 75 per week for one but he had it lowered to the incarceration rate because he is a frequent flyer in the jail. I filed contempt charges on my own because dor was doing nothing. They put liens on thins he doesnt even have. He owns no property has no licenses or bank accounts… What kind of punishment is taking away what a person doesnt have??? I finally got him into court on the contempt charge and right before we went up to see the judge he saw another man get arrested for owing less than him and decided he wasnt going back to jail. He said he was going to the bathroom and never came back. So now there is a capias warrent issued. The local police have run his name through the system almost weekly doing warrent checks and nothing comes up because unfortunatly the capias is a civil warrent not a criminal one
so now i am working with the sheriffs office to find him because unfortunatly my ex is technically homeless and doesnt have an address. He stays with friends most of the time. He works 2 under the tae jobs making more money than i do and pays nothing for his children yet he always seems to have money for cigarettes drugs and alcohol… I struggle daily to pay my bills while he seems to be living it up and partying… He even gets about 200 a month in food stamps for just himself which he sells for cash… I just dont get it 
My husband has 3 children from another marriage. When he first was divorced he had a great job and their agreement was for him to pay $3000 per month. He was let go from his position and was on unemployment for over a year. We had the monthly amount lowered to a little less than half of the original. He has been unemployed for about 2 years. Our house is being foreclosed on and we are about to go live with my parents. We are behind on the child support payments as well. His ex-wife is threatening to take him to court and have them garnish my wages. I want to know if that is possible. Does Massachusetts allow this. We aren’t trying to avoid paying her, but we just don’t have the money….I don’t even have the money to pay for heating oil!
Please! There are deadbeat moms every bit as uncaring as the “dad” bashed above… especially having money for partying (booze, drugs, etc.)
DEADBEAT PARENT. Stop assuming Dads walk out on little kids.
I meant stop assuming it is ONLY Dads walking out on little kids. Do assume that the MA courts do a lot of sword rattling, but the deadbeat Mom has nothing to worry about – just tell the judge she’s doing another rehab and then go off with the next new BF she’s picked-up at an AA meeting. No follow-up. And the deadbeat learns how to scam the system quickly — and does so.
My husband is on probation for child support. He became behind when he was unemployed. His arrears are 3000 dollars. In August they put him on probation. He started working at a temp service in June and was converted to full time in sept. When he got converted to the company they did not start taking his child support out right away. He missed like a months worth of payment. When they did start taking it out he has paid faithfully since then. He is even out of work right now for medical reasons but we are still making the payments. He has to go to court on feb 2 for that one month lapse. Domestic Relations is pushing for jail time. Will they put him in jail for missing that one months worth of payment? We live in PA.