Man owes child support, child not his

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

You have to go through so many hoops - my ex is currently in contempt of at least 5 orders, owes me thousands - but it doesn't become a felony in Texas until they hit $10,000. It is - to say the least - frustrating.

Yep, my family is acquainted with this system, as well. You wouldn't believe how much someone can get away with. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, even. There are just so many cases of owed child support out there that the courts can't keep up, nevermind that if the person owing money moves to another state it's nearly impossible for the courts to find and keep on top of them. And family law prosecutors don't make the big bucks, so it's not like it's a job people are dying to do.

As for throwing them in jail, c'mon, our prisons don't have enough room for violent criminals...you expect them to put deadbeat dads away?

[SWTXBelle]

My sister has it even worse - her ex is out of state, so the state of Texas really can't be bothered.
In my experience, the judge will threaten jail, but then allow the deadbeat to set up a "payment system". Hey, my ex currently has 5 different "payment plans" in place - not that he's paying any of them . . .

[UGAalum94]

Does he see your kids and participate in their lives? Or is he completely gone?

One thing that I've never understood is why guys quit being fathers to their kids when they get divorced.

When they get extremely limited visitation even though there was no reason for it (I mean like abuse as a reason), and in cases where the mother seems to be spending a lot of the money on herself (www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1115283908919), I can kind of understand why they get frustrated with having to pay a lot of support.

But in cases where the dad leaves the family and then just seems to feel like it's okay to stop all support, I'm completely baffled.

I think that maybe we should go to a system when the father is required to specifically pay for certain kinds of support, like he's obligated to pay so much of the mortgage or rent directly to the bank or landlord. Or he's required to put so much money into a medical flexible spending account or college saving account. With clothing and food, it'd be harder.

But one of the reasons I think some losers default is that they think of the money going to the wife, and if they weren't paying it to the wife, maybe they'd be more likely to pay?

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

My sister has it even worse - her ex is out of state, so the state of Texas really can't be bothered.
In my experience, the judge will threaten jail, but then allow the deadbeat to set up a "payment system". Hey, my ex currently has 5 different "payment plans" in place - not that he's paying any of them . . .

The judges probably think that you want the money more than you want him in jail, so they keep him out and working. But since you aren't getting the money anyway, it seems like it's time.