Pardon the title of this article. SCOTUS to decide whether a father with no money to pay his child support can have a lawyer after serving A YEAR in jail.

Hamuel · 2011-03-23T16:46:46+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Aavagadrro · 2011-03-23T20:29:42+00:00

Disabled veterans have a problem with this, some states wont accept he is disabled and will still want the pound of flesh. If he cant get Social Security Disability, then he has to hand over part of his $2000 a month the government gives as a subsistence to his ex. If it is $1000 that doesnt leave much for him to live on, and its not like he can go out and get a job. It is often quite difficult for a veteran to get both, because the VA and SS have different criteria to satisfy to get disability.

To top it off, if the vet gets thrown in jail due to not paying, they lower his monthly subsistence to $100. That makes it impossible for him to pay enough to get out.

Now they want to decide if we can get lawyers.

Well never get married if you ever plan on serving in the military. Never have kids if you plan on serving, because if she fucks someone on your base and divorces you, you are hung for it. If you get fucked up with the wars we have, they dont care, you still have to pay the bitch.

Ask how I know.

Ma99ie · 2011-03-23T17:30:22+00:00

It is horrifiying that a court can throw an indigent man away for lacking the resources to pay child support, and preach to him that he has the keys to his own cell. This also puts the lie to the argumet made by women's advocates, particularly in paternity misattribution cases, that the system helps "keep families together."

chavelah · 2011-03-23T18:56:05+00:00

I love it when my state makes the news for stuff like this. At least this time nobody's fucking the same horse twice.

rantgrrl · 2011-03-23T20:21:19+00:00

Debtors prison

Guilty until proven innocent

Pious anti-sex attitudes

Shaming men who don't do "their role"

Congratulations feminists. You've almost successfully returned us to Victorian era England.

luciansolaris · 2011-03-23T17:43:32+00:00

Better yet, make it a requirement that a jury hears cases of contempt before punishment. Contempt of Court is a loophole in our justice system!

NiceGuysSTFU · 2011-03-24T01:39:28+00:00

Heard this on NPR this morning...I don't think the salon article or the title of this submission are accurate from what I understand.

As I understand it, one is not entitled to a public defender in civil cases (IANAL and am likely wrong, as usual)...and family court is technically civil? But it seems to actually exist in some sort of mystery zone outside of civil or criminal. At least that has been my experience in it.

BolshevikMuppet · 2011-03-25T08:26:27+00:00

Ooookay.

I'm going to actually throw down some law here, I hope no one minds.

He did not go to jail for a failure to pay, he went to jail for contempt. What's the difference?

To go to jail for contempt, you must have willfully disobeyed an order from the court. It's a civil penalty, and can be removed whenever the person ceases to be in contempt. If he had proved his failure to pay was because he didn't have the money, he would not have gone to jail (the judge concluded he was being "willful" about it). The question is whether he should have been afforded representation in a hearing about whether his failure to pay was "crap, I don't have the money" or "meh, screw this".

I know it's popular to treat this as "OMG, poor guys who just can't pay are being rounded up", but that's not the law. If a man does his best and can't pay, he should not be in jail (which is why I believe there should be representation); but this is not simply him being thrown in jail because he couldn't pay.

chavelah · 2011-03-23T23:39:46+00:00

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2011-03-24T15:50:14+00:00

Shit like this and the TSA are why I'm never moving to America. Thanks for the heads up guys! (I was actually considering moving before)

2011-03-24T19:27:40+00:00

I've seen a trend slowly emerging in America. I wonder if, in my lifetime, being poor will actually be criminalized.

kragshot · 2011-03-23T23:05:06+00:00

When I see women similarly jailed for this kind of "contempt," then I'll be convinced that this isn't just thinly-veiled bullshit.

Title	Pardon the title of this article. SCOTUS to decide whether a father with no money to pay his child support can have a lawyer after serving A YEAR in jail.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	66
Comments	50
Date	March 23, 2011 4:20 PM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/g9sny/pardon_the_title_of_this_article_scotus_to_decide/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/pardon-the-title-of-this-article-scotus-to-decide.1041808 https://theredarchive.com/post/1041808

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