New York City Protest, Manhattan House of Detention, 125 White Street; 2 pm, Saturday July 21. Get off your computers, people, and be there!

strangersadvice · 2012-07-17T01:29:17+00:00

One would think that if one gets their hours cut or loses one's job, one's child support payment would be adjusted to reflect one's new income reality... and in theory the system is supposed to do just that.

However, in practice, even if you file for a Downward modification immediately, it takes months to get a Preliminary Hearing, and then months more to get a Court Date, and months further still for the Court to make a Decision. If the other side has any representation at all, they will Cross File for a Contempt Motion (that one has willfully withheld payment and violated the Child Support Order) and request incarceration. All the while Child Support is kept at it's original level.

At the end of the day, it becomes a high stakes gambit where one's own liberty is at stake, as well as the ability to visit with one's own child. Add to that the dirty lawyer tricks (repeated filings in multiple courts, etc.) and the possibility that one's financial records going back 3 to 5 years may not be fully intact... and you can see why many earnest innocent men get incarcerated (Note: this does happen to women, too, but because of the nature of the Child Custody System men seldom get custody of their children and when they do, their ex-spouses are seldom saddled with the level of payment that Fathers deal with... so, what I am saying is that I realize that was a gender biased statement, but it is not I who is gender biased, but the Child Custody System that is.)

Edit: Spelling and punctuation

strangersadvice · 2012-07-16T20:38:47+00:00

Let's light this up! Pass it on.

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