When a parent does not pay child support, it can cause problems for the parents as well as the children. Some of the obvious legal complications include possible jail time as well as authorities seizing one’s assets in order to fulfill child support obligations. For children in Pennsylvania, failing to pay child support can cause children to lack the essential financial support needed to help raise them. However, in a rare situation, one man who had grown up with his father not paying child support found himself in a legal complication because of this as an adult.
The man had recently received a bill for unpaid child support that was owed by his father for more than $83,000. The letter that accompanied the bill stated that a lien was going to be put on his property unless he paid for the unpaid child support, which he was supposed to have received as a child. The man is the oldest of six siblings; however, after his father passed away, he became stuck with his father’s unpaid debt.
The lien on his home was placed by a local government agency designed to enforce unpaid child support debts. Since the father owned a portion of the equity in the man’s home, the agency automatically put a lien on the real estate property. The man had to deal with the local agency for over a year and still was not able to have the lien removed. He eventually alerted the local television news station, which began doing a story on the situation, resulting in the lien finally being removed.
This situation is an extreme example of legal complications that unpaid child support can cause in Pennsylvania or any other state. However, there are many other more common legal problems that could arise from failing to make support payments for one’s children. Those who are falling behind on child support payments may want to take legal action in the courts in order to possibly modify the monthly payments to a more manageable amount. This can help avoid serious penalties, including possible jail time.
Source: wwlp.com, “I-Team: Son billed for father’s unpaid child support”, Ryan Walsh, Oct. 1, 2014
