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Despite the impact of COVID-19, we are open and continuing to meet the needs of our existing clients and new clients without interruption or change in the quality of our services. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any concerns, questions or requests for information about your matter. At this time we are offering appointments via telephonic and/or video conferencing.
To help out during these trying times we are offering Free Consultations. Click here to Schedule a Consultation.

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Why don’t people pay child support? 

Jul 19, 2022 | Child Support

Failure to pay child support is a big issue in the United States. Some reports claim that about 30% of these payments never get made at all. They also say that fewer than 50% of the monthly payments are fully paid. Someone may still make an attempt to partially pay, but they don’t pay the same amount that they owe more than half the time.

The main reason that people give when asked why people don’t pay child support is simply that they don’t have the money. But this isn’t the case. For instance, there was a situation where a famous singer owed $161,000 in child support that didn’t go paid. This is someone who had made millions of dollars and they still didn’t pay the amount that they owed.

You and your spouse may be fairly wealthy, but that doesn’t mean that your spouse is going to pay child support properly. But if it’s not a lack of cash, what is it?

Other potential reasons

Each case is unique, of course, but below are a few potential reasons why people may fail to pay:

  • Your spouse thinks that the money isn’t going to the child.
  • Your spouse is angry about being ordered to pay and doesn’t want to.
  • There is still personal conflict between the two of you and so they refuse to pay.
  • They are refusing to pay to try to get you to change your mind about a decision or custody time.

Regardless of the reason, rest assured that your spouse is not legally allowed to refuse to pay money that they have been ordered by the court to pay. If they are failing to do so, for any reason, make sure you know what legal options you have.