Why do I keep thinking of Micheal Schiavo when I see this jerk’s name?
“Say, quadruple the normal child support, and when he doesn’t pay it, deny visitation/joint custody, and put his little butt in jail with his Mama.”
Sounds good, but I think most are going to be very disappointed with the outcome of this. Unfortunately, the courts are going to see his request as favorable...they’ll see it as a desire to be more involved in the child’s life, whether or not he’s visited or paid support on a regular basis.
A non-custodial parent would have to be very, very far behind on child support in order to be arrested and thrown in jail. Visitation is not denied for failure to pay. Even if he fell so far behind that he was thrown in jail, visitation isn’t always denied. There are custodial/joint custodial parents who are forced to take the child to a prison for visitation with non-custodial/joint custodial inmates, even murderers.
Also, if he wins joint custody and is able to secure visits with Tripp 50% of the time, he may be able to pay even less child support and sadly, will be given much more control over every aspect of Tripp’s life, since both parents pretty much have to discuss and agree on everything.