Father arrested for not paying child support, because he was a hostage for 5 months

iKamex · 2018-09-19T14:34:46+00:00

Who the fuck thought "without regard for the physical capability" made any sense/was a good idea?!

innahbalance · 2018-09-19T14:41:14+00:00

"inability to pay is no excuse"

fuck you

BlueAmethyst · 2018-09-19T16:11:46+00:00

Relevant: Families and the war

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2002/nov/21/20021121-101931-4027r/

Deus-Cattus · 2018-09-19T21:50:11+00:00

This is partially why I'm never having a child.

vyklar · 2018-09-20T00:35:31+00:00

That's absolute bull.

Criket · 2018-09-20T10:49:45+00:00

The only way to win this game is not to play...

mugenowns · 2018-09-19T15:13:39+00:00

Someone wrote this. Someone literally sat down and wrote that being in a coma or a prisoner of war isn't an excuse. Wow

InformalCriticism · 2018-09-19T14:17:08+00:00

Who the fuck writes this inhumane garbage into law?

tenchineuro · 2018-09-19T13:31:30+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Amendment

This reinforces the approach that inability to pay is no excuse.

Notable cases

The Amendment has been a controversial law and has resulted in several notorious examples:

Bobby Sherrill, a Lockheed employee in Kuwait from North Carolina, was captured by Iraqis and spent nearly five months as an Iraqi hostage. Sherrill was arrested the night after his release for not paying $1,425 in child support while he was a hostage.[9][10][11][12]
Clarence Brandley, a Texas high school janitor, was wrongly convicted in 1980 of murder.[13] After spending many years in prison and on death row,[14] he was released in 1990 and he then sued the state of Texas for wrongful imprisonment in 1993.[15] The state then responded with a bill for nearly $50,000 in child support that had not been paid while in prison.[10][11] Dianna Thompson of The American Coalition of Fathers and Children told the Houston Chronicle that federal law makes it illegal for states to forgive child support payments regardless of circumstance.[16] Michael McCormick, of the American Coalition of Fathers and Children said, concerning child support payments, "I'm not aware of any state where it says a wrongly convicted individual is relieved of their obligation."[17] Despite paying child support every month since his release via wage garnishment, Brandley's child support total reached $73,000 in 2003, when a judge reduced his total to $22,000; however, this amount is still more than triple the $7,000 in back child support Brandley owed at the time of his arrest in 1980.[15] Recently, Brandley lost his job in the economic downturn in 2008; he has since lost his car and house as the child support bills and interest keep coming.[15]
Taron James, a U.S. Navy veteran from California, was forced to continue to pay child support until 2006, even after the child was demonstrated by DNA test in 2001 to be not his; James paid $12,000 in such payments.[18][19] A California District Court of Appeal eventually set aside the paternity judgment against James in 2006, but the same court denied James' request to have his child support payments reimbursed.[20]
Larry Souter was wrongly convicted of murder in 1992 and spent 13 years in prison[21] before being exonerated and released in 2005. Upon release, he was ordered to court to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt for failing to pay $38,000 in combined back child support, interest, and penalties.[21] Payments were not suspended for at least 3 years while he was in prison.[21] The interest and penalties accumulated while he was still in prison, and presumably unable to pay.
Geoffrey Fisher was taken to court in 2001 due to being delinquent on child support payments, and had his driver's license suspended.[22] Fisher pushed for custody, and a state-ordered paternity test determined he was not the biological father.[22] In January 2002 a judge determined he no longer had to pay child support, but the attorney general's office claimed that Fisher still owed $11,450, approximately 3 year's worth of back support payments from the time of the child's birth until the time of the paternity test.[22] State officials have stated that this is because Fisher failed to file a court motion to relieve himself of financial responsibility to the child, and that Fisher is thus regarded as the legal father and responsible for child support.[22]

Redditor005050 · 2018-09-19T15:29:11+00:00

The moral of the story: is you get capured by enemy trops stay there because when they releaae you there only one thing that awaits you. A warrant for your arrest

Long_D_Shlong · 2018-09-19T13:34:14+00:00

If you're a lawyer and you get a case like this, would you get in trouble for telling that person to fuck off?

Altkolsch · 2018-09-19T16:24:56+00:00

But yet my ex-wife can owe me $25k in arrears, has stable employment as a nurse, hasn’t paid in months and the judge says, “She’s trying.”

Good-Boi · 2018-09-19T14:19:45+00:00

So many laws are created without a shred of humanity put into them.

Invicturion · 2018-09-19T15:30:07+00:00

The whole "yes we know you arnt the father, so what?" attitude is just.....insane.

Invicturion · 2018-09-19T15:29:25+00:00

But dat patriarchy /s 😒

Archangel1313 · 2018-09-19T17:16:10+00:00

"Requires that the payment amounts be maintained without regard for the physical capability"

How's that work now?

Ultramegasaurus · 2018-09-19T15:21:00+00:00

Women who sexually abuse, hurt or even kill people, including children, often walk free. Meanwhile men who do not pay child support due to being a literal hostage or in a coma go to jail.

Seriously, this is institutional discrimination of the highest order. It's so glaringly obvious it would be a national, probably international, scandal if literally any other group of people (e.g. differentiated by race, religion or wealth) were treated the same way. And mainstream feminists still deny the MRM any reason for existing.

azazelcrowley · 2018-09-19T15:08:05+00:00

Three points:

Reveals the total lack of empathy or consideration for men and their situation put into the laws written with a gynocentric focus in mind
A blatant and obvious instance of injustice that would be headline news on all major stations if it occurred to a woman
Total lack of feminist outrage and activism over it.

The law demanding that child support be paid is explicit in that a total lack of empathy or concern for men's wellbeing and empathy is enshrined into it as it requires due amounts be paid without regard for physical or financial capability or the person face prison. This incident is not an oversight. It is directly mandated and intentional that the law operate this way, the law is operating as intended in this case and was designed to function this way, which means it wavers back and forth over the line between feminism induced gynocentrism lack of empathy, and outright malice against men. The Bradley ammendment also reveals that the common feminist lie that child support is for the needs of the child is false, and the system really is just the abuse, oppression, and exploitation of men, as It allows the other parent to waive the fee and forgive the debt.

It is a system set up to benefit women at the expense of men's health, livelihood, equality, and freedom.

The ammendment was also feminist in intent:

The amendment was intended to correct a perceived imbalance between the power of the obligee usually the mother and the obligor usually the father during subsequent child support disputes. It had been alleged that a significant number of men were running up large child support debts and then finding a sympathetic judge, often in another state, to erase them.

So this is another instance of feminist ideas being applied and causing atrocity and injustice. In this case, we have the added benefit of routine feminist gaslighting over the issue by pretending it's there to help the child, despite the ammendment they pushed for giving the power to waive the debt, and the ammendment noting that the parent is obligated to the other parent. This gaslighting is done to ignore and downplay the oppression of men in society that feminism has caused, but is merely the latest in a long line of abuses by feminists against men, in this case, spreading misinformation to make tackling misandry harder, and psychological abuse of men through gaslighting.

4thewrynn · 2018-09-19T21:05:13+00:00

Basically, this idiocy was caused by men that had the means to support their children but chose not to. So laws had to be made.

While I support child support in principle, the practice is way fucked up.

Case in point...me.

I am not the worlds most successful person, and have had an unusually unsuccessful life. The best job Ive ever had was lead installer for a granite coutertop company in 2007-08, where I made maybe 700 a week. The 2008 housing crunch brought that company down.

My ex wife and I have 3 kids together, all of them grown now.

The ex and I were constantly breaking up and getting back together, from 1991 to 2005, when we finally divorced for good. Early on, during one of the breakups, she filed for CS. At one point, during a time we were together, we noticed that I had been being billed for CS, even for the times we were together. She went to their office downtown to straighted this out, and was told not to worry about it, it was my problem.

Now, to my knowledge, generally, CS amount is supposed to be based on ability to pay, but it doesn't always work out that way.

According to the IRS, in my entire lifetime, I have only made a grand total of $144,000. My child support bill is ~$160k, including interest. And thats with me paying every month when I have been employed.

From now, until I die, I will basically make half a paycheck for any job I do.

I understand the sentiment of 'shoulda kept it in your pants' but I really think some sort of medium could be reached for people like me who have had less than stellar job titles over the years.

_KNZ_ · 2018-09-19T15:50:36+00:00

Welp. I was thinking of not having kids. This fucking seals it.

JewishAnomaly · 2018-09-19T16:50:40+00:00

What is with the absolute totalitarian obsession with child support?

Realworld · 2018-09-19T15:00:14+00:00

Get a vasectomy, don't get married. Figure our for yourself what you want with life and pursue it.

And that's the secret of happy life.

Jabronskyi · 2018-09-19T15:12:29+00:00

Obviously for feminists this is "empowerment"

thelandofdreams · 2018-09-19T17:41:17+00:00

In history class they tell you that slavery ended a long time ago. But it didn't. Read up on alimony in the united states if you don't believe it.

5th_Law_of_Robotics · 2018-09-19T20:18:20+00:00

This would be that male privilege we keep hearing about.

rooolng · 2018-09-19T14:36:31+00:00

Fuck Bradley! Who is this motherfucker? We should do everything possible to tarnish his legacy.

IComeBaringGifs · 2018-09-19T16:06:34+00:00

"inability to pay is no excuse"

seth1299 · 2018-09-19T16:06:02+00:00

This isn’t real, right?

This is satire, surely?

dixonnuts · 2018-09-19T15:18:21+00:00

What the fuck kind of shit is this?

theGUNshowPOOPhole · 2018-09-19T14:42:52+00:00

5 months

~ $1400

Damn, that's 1 month for me...

icecoldpopsicle · 2018-09-19T15:12:45+00:00

Don't breed these bitches. Live for yourself. Fuck whores, do drugs, watch porn and eat cake.

November87 · 2018-09-19T16:12:39+00:00

What the actual fuck

topsecreteltee · 2018-09-19T17:28:20+00:00

What is the source on this?

Electroverted · 2018-09-19T20:23:04+00:00

We also have laws against debtor prison, but many states don't give a shit and the federal government doesn't care about enforcing it.

perplexedm · 2018-09-19T14:51:30+00:00

Who is down voting this thread?

the2xstandard · 2018-09-19T17:38:59+00:00

Welcome home, deadbeat.

fyrie · 2018-09-19T16:20:47+00:00

Serious question... Is anyone or any group doing anything about men's rights issues like this? It seem all that happens in this sub is people get mad, complain, and then you never hear about it again. What actual actions are being taken to fight this?

ApertureBear · 2018-09-19T15:32:59+00:00

Can I get a date on this article?

WarOfNoise · 2018-09-19T19:39:38+00:00

FYI this sotry looks like it was from 1990 https://www.greensboro.com/ex-hostage-jailed-in-child-support-case/article_1fed687a-38e8-55c9-ab2f-411f82a525fa.html

BitSizeBitcoin · 2018-09-19T20:38:28+00:00

How do we repeal this shit?

Bigcats30 · 2018-09-19T21:32:59+00:00

This that land of the free again?

SocialCupcake · 2018-09-19T22:11:52+00:00

Dear Saddam, Please release your American father prisoner. Return him to the US so the state can lock him up.

P.S. you have an unjust country so we'll be invading you again soon.

GirthyAF · 2018-09-19T22:22:35+00:00

Who tf is this retarded

chugonthis · 2018-09-19T18:03:12+00:00

Oh that wife is a cunt, in most states hes only arrested if she pushes the issue as well

BlueOrange22 · 2018-09-19T18:53:25+00:00

payment amounts must be without regard for the physical capability

That's a perfect example of an MR issue any reasonable person would agree with if they only knew about it and looked at MR issues with an unbiased lens. There's absolutely no reasonable justification for it.

Bullyoncube · 2018-09-19T20:07:43+00:00

Lockheed Martin didn’t pay him while he was a hostage? Fuck them.

alrun · 2018-09-19T21:12:16+00:00

P.S. this case is from 2002.

TehHamburgler · 2018-09-19T22:04:20+00:00

This is what keeps me from having kids. My friend had a kid with his girlfriend, bought a house to live in with his girlfriend, they split like 75% or so of people do these days after the fact. He's absolutely lucky she hasn't wanted child support. I guarantee he can't afford the house the moment she did. And that's where they like us huh? Balls in a vice.

Tgunner192 · 2018-09-20T00:07:31+00:00

This is nauseating. Normally I try to post something relatively informative, sometimes tongue in cheek with a /s. On this, I can't. This absolutely makes me physically ill.

puppehplicity · 2018-09-20T03:45:50+00:00

Get. A. Vasectomy.

I am, for once in my life, glad that I have a trap card. (Literally, I am what used to be called a trap... as a transgender man I don't have a penis or testicles.)

If a woman tries to accuse me of fathering her child in hopes of getting child support money... she is obviously making a fraudulent claim because the laws of nature make that impossible.

alt170alt95alt170 · 2018-09-20T07:54:32+00:00

>payment amounts be maintained without regard for physical capability

Oh it's physically impossible for you to make this payment? Do it anyway. What stupid fuck thought up this genius law?

Dabbarabba · 2018-09-19T19:02:51+00:00

So yeah, we’re going to jail you while in a coma because you didn’t pay your child support. Just let that sink in for a moment.

TRKillShot · 2018-09-19T20:38:31+00:00

Yet another example of gov's good intentions going horribly wrong. Fucking ridiculous.

Joesy5 · 2018-09-19T19:35:59+00:00

My dad hasnt payed any child support for five years and we have even sued him for it but he can just simply not pay it it seems.

CDaKidd · 2018-09-19T21:47:40+00:00

Meanwhile my ex is more than $17,000 behind and they could care less. Smh

feared_rear_admiral · 2018-09-19T22:10:10+00:00

I think this would actually make me snap and start murdering people.

LibertyLover28 · 2018-09-19T23:35:28+00:00

Send father to jail for not being able to pay child support because they will be able to pay off the back support and the child support they rack up while they sit in jail. Makes perfect sense.

ZombieLolipop · 2018-09-19T17:49:32+00:00

I'm glad I'll never put someone through this. I can't imagine going through what you guys go through, if I fucking came out of a coma or being held hostage and ended up thrown into dept and losing everything because some bitch didn't use birth control I'd probably kill myself.

I'm told I have to, or I will have kids, even by men. Why would they want to go through this? Are people so brainwashed into following the life script?

Mythandros · 2018-09-19T18:23:29+00:00

This law is just idiotic beyond all reason or logic. It needs to be repealed.

All laws like this need to be repealed.

zahavera · 2018-09-19T21:23:41+00:00

This is terrible. That poor guy. He must have been traumatized and then thrown in jail with no time to rest. Can anyone provide a source to this.

proteios1 · 2018-09-20T00:22:59+00:00

its the usual progressive mindset...find the worst example of something. Project that bad example for the entire group. Act accordingly (which means they feel they have a right to ostracize, oppress and humiliate).

shadenbo · 2018-09-20T00:55:51+00:00

Makes me wonder how many Americans are still held overseas.

Shockblocked · 2018-09-20T02:48:06+00:00

This makes me angry

JackWolferino · 2018-09-20T03:27:26+00:00

In my country, you get fine if you get robbed and loose your ID card for not protecting your ID card enough.

Luchadorgreen · 2018-09-20T12:08:39+00:00

The Bradley Amendment is misandry. I don’t normally make statements that hyperbolic but come the fuck on. In 1986 especially, they knew who this would be affecting. It’s slavery.

bravemenrun · 2018-09-21T19:24:35+00:00

I did some research. This happend in 1990 and is only now making its rounds on the internet. Be careful about where you get your information from. Cheers.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19901216&slug=1109727 https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2002/nov/21/20021121-101931-4027r/

JoseJimeniz · 2018-09-19T23:39:25+00:00

Men should not be paying child support.

Everyone's taxes should be raised so we all pay for everyone's children.

Kabayev · 2018-09-20T01:01:17+00:00

I swear why is it so hard to

LINK THE FREAKING ARTICLE

WoodChucking · 2018-09-19T13:25:48+00:00

28 years ago...

Stop posting screen shots and go find the proper article about these things.

DarthCallidous · 2018-09-19T16:11:16+00:00

Are you fucking shitting me?

TheMythof_Feminism · 2018-09-20T05:12:02+00:00

Child support and alimony should be completely abolished.

They kind of made sense 100 years ago, but not today....

Cheese78902 · 2018-09-19T15:04:45+00:00

To those being overly critical of the Bradley amendment. My father owed much much more to my mother in child support and one of the most frustrating things was knowing whatever money he had went immediately to gambling and drinking and not a dime to actually paying child support. That amendment was the only thing that even gave us a smidgen of money from him because it allowed his paycheck to be garnished. However for someone to be put in jail because of the Bradley act when the inability to make a timely payment was very much out of his control is a disgusting application of it.

Edit: I don’t understand the mindset? I thought men’s rights was about equal expectations/treatment by law/society/individuals. Not that we were owed anything/ should not be responsible for our actions?

XNonameX · 2018-09-20T09:34:06+00:00

I'm most impressed with 5 months support only being $1400.

iBleedForMyDonut · 2018-09-20T10:13:33+00:00

Rockbottom503 · 2018-09-20T11:35:41+00:00

Shameful - this should be on the front page of every paper

heavym · 2018-09-20T12:00:40+00:00

Surely he was still getting paid the entire time.

Corvo9393 · 2018-09-20T15:37:54+00:00

Sad and pathetic US government. How does this law make any sense?

nddragoon · 2018-09-20T16:20:24+00:00

Oh you're dead? Well we don't care if you're physically capable of paying, we'll take the money out of your corpse and if it runs out we'll throw your dead body in jail!

jacksleepshere · 2018-09-20T19:58:03+00:00

This is so messed up it’s hilarious.

UltimateHarambe · 2018-09-22T21:46:23+00:00

Overly specific. Sure. I'll work on being much more vague from now on.

SnowyOfIceclan · 2018-09-25T10:30:44+00:00

This is just pure absurdity. Dude was a HOSTAGE and now he's being penalized for it?

fatcat411 · 2018-09-27T21:39:19+00:00

You people realize that not only was this story released in 1990, but Mr. Sherrill was released within 4 hours, and he paid the dues as soon as he could afterwards

Muffinconsumer · 2018-10-01T19:37:22+00:00

Man fucking dies Cop cuffs him “ I don’t want scum like you on these streets”

Ironwarrior29 · 2019-03-06T16:10:22+00:00

That should not be allowed

Western_Writing6689 · 2025-07-19T04:51:28+00:00

Remember that a group of “capable” adults looked at this and said “Yeah, let’s make him pay child support even though he went through a traumatic experience.”

Jesus this world is effed up. Literally anyone before the 2000’s would be stupendously dissapointed by where we are at right now.

theauggieboy_gamer · 2026-03-04T21:21:38+00:00

Omg the worst part is that this is an amendment. The only way to remove an amendment is with another amendment, wow we really are fucked aren’t we.

ItsPandatory · 2018-09-19T19:32:01+00:00

This happened in 1990 and he was in jail for 2.5 hours. The judge acknowledged it was ridiculous and helped him remedy the situation as soon as possible.

This is an issue of type 1 and type 2 errors. No law is going to be perfect, so there are going to be errors in one direction or the other. Either men or their children are going to have to suffer the consequence of the error. The slight (unavoidable) bias in the law here caused an innocent man to spend 2.5 hours in jail. This is unfortunate but not catastrophic. This case is so extraordinary its not shocking that the law didn't cover it well.

I am very concerned with the gendered inequity in legal outcomes but I do not think this specific example is one to get worked up over. Included link is to a contemporaneous 1990 article.

https://www.greensboro.com/ex-hostage-jailed-in-child-support-case/article_1fed687a-38e8-55c9-ab2f-411f82a525fa.html

Edit: removed link to type 1/2 error explanation because of the helpful bot.

Tyaisurm · 2018-09-19T18:57:07+00:00

Umm... What!?

JonathanMKing88 · 2018-09-19T20:13:04+00:00

It's a shame this is so common.../s

Man_with_lions_head · 2018-09-20T01:59:17+00:00

It sucks....but....why do men even get married and have children in the first place???

I've never been married or had kids, because a LONG time ago, like early 1970s, it was still fucking the guys over like this. I determined never to get married or have children, and didn't.

This is not a new thing. It's been this way for 50 years now, where the guy gets fucked.

So, if you're arrested for not paying child support, the original decision, that everything stems from, is the decision to have a wife and/or kids. So men really bring it onto themselves.

None of this is new.

I knew it when I was 12 or 13 in the early 70s. Nothing has changed.

Don't get married or have kids, men. It's a bad deal, and there is no benefit for the man.

kiblick · 2018-09-19T18:35:04+00:00

This is an extreme example and isn't cited correctly. The problem actually boils down to. . Was he's employer still paying him, providing legal representation during he's capture and so on. Modifying child support isn't that hard if your circumstances change. The court, I'm assuming didn't know of he's circumstances when they issued the warrant (the state (legislative branch) just files paperwork based on what their computer says, and once that judicial warrant is issued, the executive branch, the police, follow the courts order to fulfill the law. This comes down to crap employer and poor government structure. The same could've happened to a woman.

Themightysavage · 2018-09-19T16:53:29+00:00

Anyone have a link to the full article?

SC2_BUSINESSMAN · 2018-09-19T21:07:44+00:00

Bro I remember hearing this story like 20 years ago lol

Alarid · 2018-09-19T21:08:39+00:00

Source?

chisleu · 2018-09-19T22:42:36+00:00

He should have been paid for those 5 months...

MalstrumVG · 2018-09-19T18:40:30+00:00

What the fuck? My dad didn't pay child support for 12 years and the cops didn't do shit.

Infrah · 2018-09-20T04:02:39+00:00

This is a fake article. From Facebook.

DLDude · 2018-09-19T19:22:50+00:00

Anyone that didn't actually want to do the research should know the a judge released him within 3hrs without bond so that he could pay back the money owed. this is a non-story

FreshHotTakes · 2018-09-19T16:54:32+00:00

lol, this is not how it works.

snooberdoober · 2018-09-19T15:30:10+00:00

The kids are people too. They deserve to be housed and fed regardless of what the dad is doing. It is too bad the law does not have any common sense, but I am sure that it results in more kids getting fed than hostage dads getting screwed.

Father arrested for not paying child support, because he was a hostage for 5 months

Comments

Notable cases

EX-HOSTAGE JAILED IN CHILD SUPPORT CASE

Title	Father arrested for not paying child support, because he was a hostage for 5 months
Author	TheAndredal
Upvotes	6299
Comments	698
Date	September 19, 2018 1:13 PM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/9h51g6/father_arrested_for_not_paying_child_support/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/father-arrested-for-not-paying-child-support.893777 https://theredarchive.com/post/893777