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Arrest Warrant for non-payment of child support

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daeckerle

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I am in the state of Florida. I am 13,000 behind in child support and a warrant has been issued for my arrest. I am a recovering alcoholic and have let the child support arrearages build up. I really want to do the responsible thing and start to pay. I have been trying to find steady employment and a cheap place to live. Is there anyway to resolve the issue without spending time in jail which will only make things worse.
 


cyjeff

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I am in the state of Florida. I am 13,000 behind in child support and a warrant has been issued for my arrest. I am a recovering alcoholic and have let the child support arrearages build up. I really want to do the responsible thing and start to pay. I have been trying to find steady employment and a cheap place to live. Is there anyway to resolve the issue without spending time in jail which will only make things worse.
Not to be blunt... but how can you being imprisoned make it worse?

Are you going to be paying less than the zero you are paying now? Are you hoping that your promises of future payment are worth something?

To get to this stage, you haven't paid a dime in, what, a decade or so? Why would ANYONE believe you now.... especially when you are finally being held to the fire?

Heck, judges will think you will promise anything and everything now that your butt is in a vise...and all the promises will be forgotten the minute the heat is off.
 

daeckerle

Junior Member
Being in prison or once I get out will make it harder to get a job. No it hasn't been 10 years - about 4 - I have paid off and on. As I said in my earlier posting - not a great excuse but I have been in recovery for the past few years trying to stay sober and get my act together.

Do you know anything about the law or are you just online to vent?
 

small business

Junior Member
Hate to tell you this but debtors prison is alive and well thanks to the family court system. When you marry, you have married your wife, the State of Florida (or whichever state you live in) a Judge, and two or more lawyers. You will pay dearly to all of them whether you are sick or well and there will be little or no mercy upon you. You will likely be imprisoned. Its not just about supporting your children, its about the attorneys fees, court costs, child services fees, etc, etc, etc. Nothing against attorneys but thats the way our adversarial, winner take all legal system works and thats why cyjeff has the attitude he has. He is probably a family court attorney and has that "dead beat dad" attitude towards anyone who cant pay. It doesnt sound like you are a dead beat dad but a dead broke dad like me.

I love my children more than I love myself, yet I have been jailed twice for missing a SINGLE payment. I had the good fortune of having my wife marry a police officer and they are both vindictive. They were living in my former $400K home and I lived with my mother when I got ill and got behind on my payments.

Good luck to you brother.
 
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Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Being in prison or once I get out will make it harder to get a job. No it hasn't been 10 years - about 4 - I have paid off and on. As I said in my earlier posting - not a great excuse but I have been in recovery for the past few years trying to stay sober and get my act together.

Do you know anything about the law or are you just online to vent?
Here is the thing -- YOU could have worked during the time you didn't pay but you chose to drink. YOU owe the money. You have violated a court order. It won't make it harder for you to find a job if you are in jail for failing to follow a court order. No harder than you being an alcoholic already has made it. And the court will NOT buy your excuses.
 

cyjeff

Senior Member
Being in prison or once I get out will make it harder to get a job. No it hasn't been 10 years - about 4 - I have paid off and on. As I said in my earlier posting - not a great excuse but I have been in recovery for the past few years trying to stay sober and get my act together.
But, during the "past few years" when you were staying sober, how much did you send?

How regularly?

Do you know anything about the law or are you just online to vent?
Yes to both.

I will admit to a rather low tolerance for a man that doesn't care for his own children and finally "gets sober and God" the moment jail time pops up.

NOW you are concerned about getting a job. NOW you are going to start regularly paying. NOW you are promising to fix everything broken.

The time for promises has past. Remember, the people you are making these promises to have already heard you make them before. They won't believe you either.

Enjoy prison.
 

Gracie3787

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I am in the state of Florida. I am 13,000 behind in child support and a warrant has been issued for my arrest. I am a recovering alcoholic and have let the child support arrearages build up. I really want to do the responsible thing and start to pay. I have been trying to find steady employment and a cheap place to live. Is there anyway to resolve the issue without spending time in jail which will only make things worse.
Is the Dept of Revenue CS enforcement enforcing your case?

If they are, contact them. They will assist you in setting up a payment agreement. Because your arrerage is large, you will still have to go to court, so be prepared to pay a purge, which is going to be at least $1,300.00 or more.

If the DOR CSE is not enforcing your case, you only have one choice, turn yourself in and go to court. The Judge will still order a purge.
 

Gracie3787

Senior Member
What is the Dept of Revenue Child Support Enforcement? How is it different?

Thanks for the information.
The DOR CSE is the state agency that enforces collections of CS orders.

You should have recieved letter(s) from them concerning your case, IF they know your address. Check any letters for the name of the caseworker to contact.

If you never recieved anything, because they do not know your address, you can find the local number for them in your phone book.
 

Gracie3787

Senior Member
Thanks. How will contacting the case worker or the local office prevent my arrest? Isn't it beyond that point?
From my first post:

Is the Dept of Revenue CS enforcement enforcing your case?

If they are, contact them. They will assist you in setting up a payment agreement. Because your arrerage is large, you will still have to go to court, so be prepared to pay a purge, which is going to be at least $1,300.00 or more.

If the DOR CSE is not enforcing your case, you only have one choice, turn yourself in and go to court. The Judge will still order a purge.
 

Drake01

Member
We live in such a logical soceity. The good people of Flordia will now get to pay to house this guy, provide him 24 hour a day supervision, heat, power, water, three meals a day, recreation, and all the medical care he could ever want to the tune of about $110 daily. Of course none of this will actually collect any of this money, most people don't find their fortune in prison as it were. Then when released the guy will be less employable than he already was and will be driven into the underground economy for fear of returning to jail. Jails aren't great places if you are a criminal, hell on earth if you aren't adapt to living in that world. But someone gets to feel good because we put someone in jail, so I suppose we should woohoo and pat ourselves on the back. Nietzsche had it right, "distrust those in whom the instinct to punish is strong."

As for advice, you might want to see if you can get some help from a lawyer. The economy might be your salvation from jail. As the budget situation gets worse for states they may be inclined to avoid putting someone in jail for a civil matter.
 

cyjeff

Senior Member
As for advice, you might want to see if you can get some help from a lawyer. The economy might be your salvation from jail. As the budget situation gets worse for states they may be inclined to avoid putting someone in jail for a civil matter.
You cannot be put in prison for a civil matter.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
We live in such a logical soceity. The good people of Flordia will now get to pay to house this guy, provide him 24 hour a day supervision, heat, power, water, three meals a day, recreation, and all the medical care he could ever want to the tune of about $110 daily. Of course none of this will actually collect any of this money, most people don't find their fortune in prison as it were. Then when released the guy will be less employable than he already was and will be driven into the underground economy for fear of returning to jail. Jails aren't great places if you are a criminal, hell on earth if you aren't adapt to living in that world. But someone gets to feel good because we put someone in jail, so I suppose we should woohoo and pat ourselves on the back. Nietzsche had it right, "distrust those in whom the instinct to punish is strong."

As for advice, you might want to see if you can get some help from a lawyer. The economy might be your salvation from jail. As the budget situation gets worse for states they may be inclined to avoid putting someone in jail for a civil matter.

CONTEMPT is NOT a civil matter. It is criminal.
 

Gracie3787

Senior Member
We live in such a logical soceity. The good people of Flordia will now get to pay to house this guy, provide him 24 hour a day supervision, heat, power, water, three meals a day, recreation, and all the medical care he could ever want to the tune of about $110 daily. Of course none of this will actually collect any of this money, most people don't find their fortune in prison as it were. Then when released the guy will be less employable than he already was and will be driven into the underground economy for fear of returning to jail. Jails aren't great places if you are a criminal, hell on earth if you aren't adapt to living in that world. But someone gets to feel good because we put someone in jail, so I suppose we should woohoo and pat ourselves on the back. Nietzsche had it right, "distrust those in whom the instinct to punish is strong."

As for advice, you might want to see if you can get some help from a lawyer. The economy might be your salvation from jail. As the budget situation gets worse for states they may be inclined to avoid putting someone in jail for a civil matter.
IF the OP takes my advice, and contacts the DOR to make arrangements, and pays as much as he can up front, he most likely will not go to jail.

Both the CSE agency's and the courts' main goal is the actual collection of CS arrearages, not punishment as many believe. The only time that a NCP is jailed is when they are not willing to make any effort at all. If they are willing to make a real effort, the Judge will typically make a finding of contempt, with a small purge, and lecture the NCP sending he/she home.
 

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