Chicago Attorney handling Failure to Pay Child Support
By: M. Scott Gordon
Although there has been a lot of press over the past few years about “deadbeats” who fail to
pay their child
support, the problem of unpaid child support continues in Chicago and the
surrounding counties. Fortunately, parents who are owed child support that has
not been paid have a variety of tools at their disposal to obtain the needed
support that is already owed.
The most common proceeding against a parent who fails to pay
their child support is a petition for rule to show cause. In this petition,
the parent who is owed support requests that the obligor show the court why he
or she should not be held in contempt for their failure to pay child support.
Assuming that the parent is unable to show any reason why they have not been
paying child support, our courts will generally enter an order of contempt. The
contempt of court can then be purged (removed) by the obligor making
accelerated child support payments. The court has the power to award attorney’s
fees and most courts are happy to oblige.
There are not many defenses for an obligor to defend against nonpayment
of child support. If an obligor became unemployed it was his or her obligation
to file a motion with the court to reduce their child support obligation until
they found new employment. Another common problem is where an obligor made cash
child support payments and there is no record of these payments. Since it is the
obligation of the parent who pays child support to prove that they have made
the payments, it is insufficient to argue that the payments were made in cash
(unless the other parent acknowledges that the payments were in fact made in
cash).
When a court orders an obligor to make payments on past due child
support, they will often order a large down payment on the balance due within a
short period of time and an accelerated payment schedule on the balance. For
many parents who are owed child support, this can be unsatisfactory and
frustrating. In some cases tens of thousands of dollars can be owed and a more
immediate payment of the total amount due is desired. Yet even if a court does
not order a complete immediate repayment on the total amount due, the parent
who is owed the obligation of support should make sure their attorney obtains a
judgment for any amounts that are to be repaid in the future. Attorneys have a
wide array of legal mechanisms at their disposal to enforce a judgment, and
these should be used.
What
about the parent who owes an obligation of support and is unemployed? Although
these can be difficult situations, It is often interesting to see how
unemployed persons manage to survive for months on end when are they allegedly
not working at any job.
The parent who is owed support should:
- Have the court order that the obligor maintain a job diary, and this should be reviewed meticulously at the next court date with the judge.
- Order the obligor to participate in a government sponsored job placement service.
- Have the parent complete a financial disclosure statement to be reviewed by the court and the attorneys involved.
Finally, an underused mechanism that we added to our statute allows the
court to suspend an obligor’s driver’s license if there is a child support
arrearage in excess of 90 days of support. We have found that this is a most
useful tactic, in that it tends to compel obligors to “work a little harder” to
find the money needed to pay off the child support arrears.
Contact an Attorney
If you are going through a divorce and need assistance negotiating for the custody of your child, or you are seeking representation in court, contact M. Scott Gordon & Associates at our Skokie office 847-329-0101 or our Chicago office 312-360-0250, and see how we can help you in this important aspect of your divorce.
