There are plenty of cases in the court system in Lake County, Illinois regarding so called dead-beat parents who are behind on their child support payments or who refuse to pay them altogether. It can be a real problem for the parent to whom child support is owed. Many rely heavily on this money in order to provide the basic necessities their children need. It is no wonder then that the court system takes child support cases so seriously.
A somewhat unique and almost unheard of case regarding child support has been playing out in Texas recently. Despite having his child support paid in full, a father was sentenced to six months in jail. His lawyer feels like the man could not have gotten a worse result.
The problems started when the man says an administrative error at his work caused the wrong amount of child support to be withheld from his paycheck every week. As soon as he found out about the problem, he paid the $3,000 he owed. Yet he was still required to appear in court and ordered to pay his ex-wife’s attorney’s fees, an amount that added up to another $3,000.
The judge also said that because the man was not following the pick-up schedule prescribed by the courts, he would be required to spend 180 days behind bars. The man was flabbergasted at this, especially since his lawyer said they both had no knowledge of the schedule. He plans to appeal the decision and hopes to be able to avoid jail so he can continue to be there to provide for his children.
Source: Gawker, “Dad Sentenced to 6 Months Over Child Support Payments He Already Made,” Taylor Berman, Jan. 13, 2014