What Qualifies as a Deadbeat Dad?
The term ‘deadbeat dad’ is derived from a colloquial phrase that denotes a father who shirks a legal obligation. While the term is playful, in a legal sense the term has some negative connotations for someone who comes under that description. The phrase is defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as "[a] father who doesn’t pay child support. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 1996 there were 10.3 million custodial parents responsible for child support, and 70% (or 7.2 million) were mothers. Of these, 31.3% were owed no support; 30.4% owed support but had a court order; and 41.3% owed support but had no court order on their obligation to pay support."
The phrase ‘deadbeat dad’ refers to a father who fails to make child support payments as dictated by a judicial order . The term is not applicable to a father who does not pay child support because of genuine financial hardship or culpable inability to pay. There are even state laws that preclude prosecuting "deadbeat dads" for child support when the inability to pay child support results from no fault of the payor. The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement developed the Deadbeat Parent Punishment Act of 1998 which makes it a felony to willfully fail to pay child support while residing in a different state than the custodial parent. As defined, "[a] parent is a deadbeat parent if he or she owes past-due support for a child who is under age 18, and the amount of the past-due support equals or exceeds $5,000." Again, like other phrases that have recently permeated our language, the phrase ‘deadbeat dad,’ would not carry the negative connotations which are common in the world of antiquated family law.
Legal Repercussions for a Deadbeat Dad
The implications of being a deadbeat dad are severe. The legal system has several options to penalize parents who do not pay their child support. In most states, these include fines, jail time, and loss of custody or visitation rights.
Fines: Child support enforcement agencies can get court orders to have the delinquent parent’s wages garnished. Failure to pay child support is a violation of a court order and this means that the parent will have to pay upwards of $500 in fines.
Jail time: If a parent continues to owe past due payments, they may be sentenced to jail time. In most states, the court will try to advise the delinquent parent that their actions could lead to jail time, before they impose it. Once again, the goal is to protect the child, by ensuring that the custodial parent has the means to raise them. So, rather than throwing the non-custodial parent in jail for a short period of time and then releasing them, courts in many states will give the cited party the option to increase their payments so they can pay off their delinquent balance in a set amount of time. This gives parents a chance to repay the past due amount before being incarcerated.
Loss of custody or visitation rights: If a parent continues to do their share of parenting by not paying child support, they could lose their custodial or visitation rights altogether.
Child Support Statutes and Obligations
The legal obligations for child support are generally based on the amount of time that a child spends with the non-custodial parent and the income of that parent. Courts across the country use different methods to calculate child support, but the start-up calculation is generally the same: a basic needs formula for how much it costs to raise a child. Then, a formula is used to take into account the child’s particular situation and the parents’ particular incomes to come up with an amount that they believe each parent should contribute to that amount. Finally, a formula is used to determine each parent’s exact share of the support amount. For example, let’s say 1) that it costs $600 per month to raise a 4-year-old; 2) that dad earns $4,000 per month before taxes and mom $2,452; and 3) all custody arrangements are perfectly even. To start, the basic needs formula is used to determine that the total amount that is needed is $600 per month. Again, this number is based on general costs for raising a child.
Next, the needs of that $600 are "disguised" to determine who pays what. Using the above example, dad would pay $456 and mom would pay $144. These numbers are determined by each parent’s proportionate share of the combined amount of their incomes. Thus, dad pays $600 x (4,000/6,452) and mom pays $600 x (2,452/6,452).
The final step is also determined by the example that we gave above – an equal split of custody. Essentially, because dad pays a disproportional amount of the child support ($456 instead of his fair $400), an additional adjustment is made to calculate the parent’s respective shares. In this situation, dad pays $380 of mom’s $720 obligation and mom pays the reverse, i.e. mom pays $560 of dad’s $640.
What Do Courts Consider When Determining if Someone is a Deadbeat Dad?
Historically, the first step in determining whether someone is a deadbeat dad in the eyes of the court is an examination of his financial records. In some cases, a party will file a motion to compel the deadbeat dad to provide certain bank and financial records for the purposes of comparing those records with the financial records previously provided. In some cases, a deadbeat dad will submit bank records showing income that is substantially higher than reported gross income to other agencies for tax purposes. A deadbeat dad will sometimes report a much higher reported income due to receiving cash payments. Moreover, a party in an action to determine paternity may allege that the deadbeat dad has not fully disclosed his bank accounts and earnings. At the conclusion of the case, the court will issue child support guidelines.
These guidelines will then serve as a presumptive basis for determining child support. The amount under the child support guidelines will be the presumptive amount for a party to pay subject to exceptions. The exceptions may include circumstances that affect the parties’ finances. For instance, if there are extraordinary daily expenses due to medical issues, the court may deviate from the child support guidelines.
In addition to the above, a party may seek an enforcement order with regard to arrearages including medical expenses and/or daycare. In the present economy, courts have been increasingly lenient toward parties seeking downward modifications of existing support orders.
Common Arguments Used by Accused Non-Paying Fathers
Accused fathers may raise a number of defenses or justifications to claims of deadbeat dad, including:
Notifying the court of your unemployment A parent who has lost a job and is underemployed but not yet at the maximum support order level is well advised to notify the court in which his or her child support order is filed. This means, for example, that if you were laid off from your job, regardless of how long you have been employed, you may petition the court for a reduction. A modification can also be sought if your hours drop and you can no longer earn as much as you used to. The courts will consider how soon your position could potentially change. In the case of being laid off, how long would it take to be offered a similar position given your current relevant experience? Most children’s needs can be accommodated to correspond with you being out of work, but until you find that new job, paying bills with child support can be extremely difficult.
Sharing custody If you share custody of your child or children with the custodial parent, or if you spend at least three days per week with your child, you may be able to get your support reduced. The amount of time you spend with your child matters greatly to the judge who will be handling your support modification case. Your share of obligations should change with the amount of time your child spends in your care. For this reason , your visitation or partial custody schedule must be outlined in detail so the court can determine how knowledgeable this situation is and when the change in your obligation should start.
Parental alienation syndrome In some cases, the custodial parent has caused the child to sever all ties with the non-custodial parent, leading to refusal by the child to spend any time with him. Although the judge may consider this denial of visitation with the child, the judge will also have to consider what effect this has on the child when considering a support modification. If the court determines that the denying of the visitation is wrong, then the support modification may not be made.
Clarification of disability support You may have support that is tied to a specific benefit from the state or federal government. However, just because you receive a Social Security benefit does not mean that the amount received will not change. If you are receiving disability payments for the income you lost due to being away from work from a previous accident or illness, your payment may vary unexpectedly and without notice. The courts must balance the change in the amount of the benefit with the financial needs of the child.
Variations in Deadbeat Dad Statutes Among States
States vary in how they handle the issue of deadbeat dads. For example, Wisconsin has one of the highest per capita rates of families to go after parents for not paying child support. Instead of using the Department of Child and Families to go after fathers for non-payment, as most states do, they use the Department of Children and Families. Therefore, the state of Wisconsin might be considered tougher on deadbeat dads than the state of Florida that uses the Department of Revenue. Many states just stop your drivers license from being renewed until you pay what you owe, while Florida claims that if your license is suspended, you will not be able to register for school, hold a job, or even drive to visit your children. In Kentucky, too many people have complained that the Child Support Enforcement Agency is ineffective and not doing enough to collect child support from deadbeat dads, so the state is currently reviewing the system.
In Maine, it is a violation of criminal law if a parent makes less than 40% of what they owe for child support. Keeping this in mind, a dad who is out of work should still pay 40% of what he owes. If he refuses, it can be considered a class D crime and prosecuted. The problem with the law in Maine is that you still have to obtain a court order to make it effective. In Arkansas, you can be jailed for up to six months if you are a deadbeat dad. In Massachusetts, it is a Class A felony to be a deadbeat dad, which is a step below the death penalty. In Mississippi, the law states that if you have ever missed even a single child support payment, then you can be prosecuted as a deadbeat dad.
Options for Mothers of Non-Paying Deadbeat Dads
Although there may be a number of reasons as to why a father wasn’t able to provide the money promised in the custody agreement, such as a medical issue or loss of a job, it’s more common that it’s simply because he refuses to pay it. In the latter case, there are both state programs and other legal actions that a mother can take in order to force adequate child support payments from those who do not provide them voluntarily. The most direct way to recover child support payments from a deadbeat dad is by hiring a lawyer. Many law firms deal primarily in family law and can help you to litigate in order to get what you need for the raising of your child or children. This could include not only more aggressive legal action in order to force the payment of child support but also to insist upon an agreement for visitation rights or rehabilitation services if the other parent is convicted of a crime. One of the biggest problems with deadbeat dads, however, is that they may not possess any property whatsoever or earn enough income that can be looked towards for the recovery of child support . In these cases, you may be able to seek help through state assistance programs. Most states have some sort of initiative that can put pressure on a non-paying father in order to get him to pay child support. The court may order the investigation of the non-paying parent’s assets. The income of the deadbeat dad may also be garnished. In fact, in some states, an employer is required by law to deduct payments from his wages if federal or state tax money is owed to custodial and non-custodial parents. If the income of the father is simply not enough to make the child support payments that he owes, the state may offer a number of programs that can ensure that the child support is still being paid. If he continues to work for an acceptable wage, the state may cover the cost of the child care until he is able to pay it himself. Although this may seem unfair to some, it is often necessary in order to ensure that the child is allowed to live comfortably even if their parent is unwilling to do so.