Child Support and Contempt: Jail Consequences and Legal Safeguard
Can you be legally arrested for failing to pay child support or is that unconstitutional? I’m Tulsa attorney James Wirth and that is the question that we received. So what they’re talking about is a debtor’s prison, essentially that there are laws indicating that you cannot be jailed simply because you cannot pay your bills. How does that apply to child support enforcement? How does that apply to a contempt proceeding where you’re violating a court order? Well, the rule is, that it comes down to willfulness.
In order to have a child support contempt, which in Tulsa County here we have a whole docket called the Rocket Docket. That’s all it is, is child support contempt. It’s on Fridays down here and they throw people in jail all the time. So if the question is, can they do that? The answer is they are doing it on a regular basis. So what makes that different from a debtor’s prison? Well, that word willfulness.
Proof of Willful Failure to Pay
In order to throw somebody in jail for violating a court order where they weren’t paying, that’s what their order to do is pay and they’re not paying and that’s the violation. Then the person pursuing that saying that it’s contempt has to demonstrate and prove to the court by, if we want jail time, clear and convincing evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a willful failure to pay, meaning that they had the ability to pay and chose not to.
If they didn’t have the ability to pay or you can’t prove they had the ability to pay, then you are knocked up against that constitutional violation where it’d be a debtor’s prison at that point. So can you be thrown in jail for failure to pay child support? Absolutely, but only if it’s established to sufficient proof to the court that it was a willful violation, meaning there was the ability to pay and the refusal to do so.
Consult with an Attorney
If you’re dealing with a circumstance like that, you’re gonna wanna talk to an attorney privately and confidentially about your specifics. To get that scheduled with an attorney at my office, you can go online to MakeLawEasy.com or call 918-879-1681 to arrange for a low-cost initial strategy session.
