Posted on 01/15/2007 1:49:04 PM PST by PercivalWalks
The television station shows three general laborers, three construction laborers, a landscaper, a salesman and two tradesmen, most of them Latino men with dour expressions on their faces. Are they the featured men in a report about hard times for blue-collar workers in the state of Texas? The hopefuls for a local job training program? No—they are Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s “Top 10 Most Wanted Child Support Evaders.”
The 10 men collectively owe nearly $700,000 in back child support. Not one appears to have an education, and the big wage earner in the group is a plumber. Abbott says he “singled out” these men because they “have the ability” to pay their child support but “refuse to do so.” One wonders what the financial condition of those not “singled out” is.
For the past month Abbott has been publicizing lists with the men’s photos and biographical information. The lists have been published or reported on in dozens of Texas media outlets.
Abbott recently proclaimed the list a success, after he arrested the landscaper--who owed $109,747--the salesman, and one of the construction laborers. The two highest-ranked evaders still on the lam are the welder, who owes $130,796, and one of the general laborers, who owes $94,107. Few, if any, are asking the obvious question—how did men of such humble means end up owing so much money?
While none on Abbott’s list would or should qualify for Father of the Year, the arrearages are likely created in large part because the child support system is mulishly impervious to the economic realities working people face, such as layoffs, wage cuts, unemployment, and work-related injuries. According to the Urban Institute, less than one in 20 non-custodial parents who suffers a substantial drop in income is able to get courts to reduce his or her child support payments.
Abbott’s office backhandedly acknowledges the difficulties men in these situations face, advising obligors “it is best to get a lawyer, if you can afford one, to handle your attempt to change the amount of child support you owe.” Yet how many unemployed blue-collar workers can afford to hire an attorney at $200 an hour or more to represent them in a child support case?
By federal law, child support orders cannot be retroactively modified, no matter how mistaken, misguided or ridiculous. Even men who fell behind on their child support because they had heart attacks, broken legs or cancer cannot have their arrearages eliminated. And much of the arrearages owed by Abbott’s “Top 10” accrued before 2002, when Texas charged obligors 12% interest, one of the highest interest rates in the country.
Also, under Texas law, an obligor who owes only three months of past-due child support can have his driver’s license or other professional licenses suspended, interfering with his ability make a living.
To be fair, Abbott’s “Top 10” list is not unusual. Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement data shows that two-thirds of those behind on child support nationwide earned poverty-level wages; less than four percent of the national child support debt is owed by those earning $40,000 or more a year.
In the past 18 months, “deadbeat parents” have been the targets of similar, highly-publicized law enforcement actions in Virginia, Kentucky, and Arizona. Virginia’s “Most Wanted” list was topped by a laborer, a carnival hired hand, and a construction worker, who collectively somehow owed over a quarter million dollars in child support. Kentucky’s list sported only one obligor with an education, and the most common designation for occupation was "laborer." Near the top of Arizona’s list was a maintenance man who owed $90,223, an unemployed man of no known occupation who owed $54,298, and, best of all, a roofer who owed $240,581.
While Abbott’s list no doubt contains a few bad actors, the larger problem lies not with non-custodial parents, but instead with the child support system. Arresting low-income parents is neither fair nor useful. What’s needed instead is an overhaul of the system, so that blue-collar workers aren't turned into criminals because they’ve failed to pay obligations which are beyond their reach.
This column first appeared in the Houston Chronicle (1/7/07).
Jeffery M. Leving is one of America's most prominent family law attorneys. He is the author of the new HarperCollins book Divorce Wars: A Field Guide to the Winning Tactics, Preemptive Strikes, and Top Maneuvers When Divorce Gets Ugly. His website is www.dadsrights.com.
Glenn Sacks' columns on men's and fathers' issues have appeared in dozens of America's largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his website at www.GlennSacks.com or via email at Glenn@GlennSacks.com.
This is waht debtors prison is for. Anyone not supporting his children is worthless.
You are one sick individual if that's really your stance.
They couldn't even afford a condom.
Sucks to be them...
Zieg Hiel!!
Government destroys everything in its path. It is truly an abomination.
Unfortunately children cost money to raise and that cost doesn't stop when you (weep, sob) lose your job. You can't tell a child to quit eating until Daddy finds another suitable job.
Pay it on time. Your child has to eat every day...not just when you decide to "catch up."
Boy, I must have hit a nerve. Guilty conscience?
BS. You have kids then be prepared to pay for them until they are grown. Why should the wife (or girlfriend) be left to work and care for the kids and the husband get off scott free? Answer: They shouldn't.
And what if dear old dad is in an intact family and he loses his job? Does he miraculously have money to support his family?
I agree. I also believe that single mothers should be held more accountable for the way child support dollars are spent, with similar civil and criminal penalties when that money is utilized for other than its intended purposes.
Boy, you must be an arrogant jerk. Narrow mind?
I agree, men need to support they're children but realistically, things happen whether you are in an intact family or not. There should be recourse for those who fall into extreme bad luck.
"Pay it on time"
Yassuh, I'll pay waterever Uncle Sugar tells me to, Massuh!
"a roofer who owed $240,581."
"Your child has to eat every day..."
Oh, PLEASE!!
Evidently they are eating about 12 meals a day 15 days a week if it takes a quarter of a million bucks to feed them.
Where in the hell do you expect a roofer to get a quarter of a million dollars?
You sick people are advocating making it a crime for men to have children outside their home and be poor.
What about the idea that when two people create a child that child becomes their number one priority until it is an adult. That means you support the child before you move out, get a girl or boy friend, a new spouse, additional kids, a red Corvette, hair plugs or breast implants, join a gym or pay for a dating service. If you have to sleep in a phone booth and flip burgers or shovel sh*t 18 hours a day to make it happen, so be it.
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