Federal child support law not supporting jail time

I was told there was a child support law that came into effect Jan 1st that did not allow a person to be arrested for nonpayment of child support. Has anyone heard of this and if so can you tell me where I can look it up.

I have not yet run across this but if it's true, it's about time someone took it to issue and stood up for their constitutional rights. It's highly irregular that civil matters result in jail time, and it's highly irregular that while the police cannot do anything about such civil matters, the state can arbitrarily jail people who fall on hard times.

There is no such law. All Dead Beats should go to jail.

Is that where you are posting from? You seem like a deadbeat in the truest sense of the word. You are about as intelligent as a rock.

What "should be" in your puny minded world and what is are two totally different things.

Got burned by a man? Too bad. Go get a job and stop sponging off others.

[SamWittch]

Is Child Support considered " sponging off others?" as you said? If thats the case, why dont we tell babies when they are first born, "Hey kid, stop sponging off of me, go get a job!" I mean that makes total sense, right?

[santiagodmerric]

Is there such kind of law? I haven't heard it yet.

[grim509]

It's not a debt, nor a civil matter. It IS a criminal matter as it equates to child neglect. It's not different than the CP not buying groceries for the child.

It very much is a civil matter.

It only becomes "criminal" when the state gets involved and child support payments are not being paid to the state. When the state doesn't get its money, jail time can ensue. That is the only reason jail time comes into play. It's not because the person responsible for paying the child support is "neglecting" the child. It's because money is being non-forthcoming to the state. The state really could care less that the child isn't receiving the benefits from child support money. The state has its own fiduciary agenda.

There has never been a case where two people were in agreement on child support - with the state not involved in collecting any monies - where the child support payor was place in jail for failure to pay.

If one were to take the time to thoroughly research how the family law system - and state welfare systems - actually works and why jail time for failure to pay child support came into existence, there would be much less confusion and misinformation being propagated.

[SamWittch]

Originally Posted by Unregistered It very much is a civil matter. It only becomes "criminal" when the state gets involved and child support payments are not being paid to the state. When the state doesn't get its money, jail time can ensue. That is the only reason jail time comes into play. It's not because the person responsible for paying the child support is "neglecting" the child. It's because money is being non-forthcoming to the state. The state really could care less that the child isn't receiving the benefits from child support money. The state has its own fiduciary agenda. There has never been a case where two people were in agreement on child support - with the state not involved in collecting any monies - where the child support payor was place in jail for failure to pay. If one were to take the time to thoroughly research how the family law system - and state welfare systems - actually works and why jail time for failure to pay child support came into existence, there would be much less confusion and misinformation being propagated.

Actually, when my kids father decided to go to court, we both opted to handle it together on agreement from both of us. I got full custody, and agreed to no back support BEFORE we went to the hearing. They gave him a amount of what he should pay a month. He willingly agreed to it. 4 years later he has willingly not made 1 payment.

[grim509]

Originally Posted by Unregistered It very much is a civil matter. It only becomes "criminal" when the state gets involved and child support payments are not being paid to the state. When the state doesn't get its money, jail time can ensue. That is the only reason jail time comes into play. It's not because the person responsible for paying the child support is "neglecting" the child. It's because money is being non-forthcoming to the state. The state really could care less that the child isn't receiving the benefits from child support money. The state has its own fiduciary agenda. There has never been a case where two people were in agreement on child support - with the state not involved in collecting any monies - where the child support payor was place in jail for failure to pay. If one were to take the time to thoroughly research how the family law system - and state welfare systems - actually works and why jail time for failure to pay child support came into existence, there would be much less confusion and misinformation being propagated.

That is completely incorrect. Not every state collects the support money from the NCP to pay to the CP. Some states require the NCP to pay the CP directly. The state is only involved in setting the amount. If the NCP does not pay, they can still go to jail. New York, for example is one such state. The state does not get the money unless the CP requests the state do so (and the CP pays a fee for this service as well).