General legal information furnished as a service of Fort Lauderdale / West Palm Beach family law attorney Janet Langjahr
Many custodial parents struggle to raise their children with inadequate child support, whether due to the noncustodial parent’s inability to pay, consistently, in full, or his or her unwillingness to pay, consistently, in full.
The noncustodial parent should, of course, pay in full and on time.
But deviations run across a broad spectrum, from never paying at all to being mostly compliant with legal obligations, except in times of rare hardship.
Florida has the dubious distinction of being home to a noncustodial parent allegedly at the far non-compliant end of the spectrum.
This so-called deadbeat dad reportedly owes $651,000, all in child support.
He has been held in contempt, for willful non-compliance with court orders, seven different times over the last fifteen years.
He was tossed in jail, on misdemeanor charges, for short stretches, a couple of times along the way. Each time, friends supposedly bailed him out with their own money.
The custodial parent’s civil remedies having been exhausted with no success in recovering the debt, a felony criminal prosecution is now pending. A first in this part of Florida.
Oh, the deadbeat dad is said to have turned down a generous offer to settle for $200,000.
Felony prosecution: a shot heard round the … state? Similarly struggling custodial parents around the state can only hope so.
Read more in this WFTV 9 news article: Deputies Catch Father Who Owes $651,000 In Child Support.
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