I went thru an insane divorce.

I am a self-employed artist since 1999 in a very unique sculpture niche. My average projects sell for around $5,000-$15,000. However the year following my divorce i got a once-in-a-lifetime client who ordered a $1,000,000 commission. I grew my business, hired more employees, it was a very amazing experience.

In my state the family courts assign your child support based upon your maximum income. This is to prevent someone from quitting a high-paying job to work at a lower paying job to reduce payments.

Well the year following that massive project, ex took me back to court to raise support payments based upon that much higher priced order. She also pushed for lots of restrictions on me that basically made it impossible to remain in business at that level, so i had to layoff all my employees one-by-one as i had to keep downsizing to comply with the restrictions.

Trying to keep up with support payments based on an impossible level of income quickly drained all savings, credit, resources etc. I had to stop paying for pretty much anything other than bare minimum to exist. Stopped paying taxes too, literally not possible to pay them when child support already exceed my income.

After 6 years they finally slightly reduced my payments, but it was still based upon an unrealistic level of income.

So now i am probably around half million in debt combined of past-due child support, taxes, loans, credit etc.

Also, this was never a situation of the children not having enough resources. She comes from rich family, just recently built a brand new mini-mansion, go on frequent vacations etc. Meanwhile my house is dilapidated and everything else in my life is falling apart from not having funds for upkeep. So her court actions were motivated from wanting to 'win' by crushing me rather than actually needing to receive the money. She considers this an accomplishment. I've talked with lots of single parents who truly do need their support payments, and no one else has ever bragged about dismantling their ex's business.

Feels like an impossible situation. I would literally need to do millions of dollars worth of projects just to get back to a net worth of zero. I daily worry about being jailed. I work as much as i can but feels like a loosing battle. Mental toll has been extreme.

Any suggestions?