Behind on Child Support? Don't drop the Soap

I had a case in the 245th District Court of Harris County earlier this week and had an opportunity to watch Judge Kuntz handle her Contempt docket. I watched two cases and the result in each case was incarceration of the Defendant for failing to pay child support.

In the first case, a Defendant had already been held in contempt and committed to jail, but his original sentence had been probated which in effect gave him another chance to pay his child support and remain free. This is a common scenario in all family courts to give the Defendant a second chance. The only terms of the probation in this type of case is that the Defendant will pay his current child and medical support as due and pay back any child support arrearages on an exact schedule. If the Defendant doesn't adhere to the terms of the probation in these cases, the lawyer for the party owed the support simply files a Motion to Revoke the Suspension of Commitment. The only issue at that point is whether or not the terms of the probation have been met. In the case that I was watching the Defendant was current on child support at the time of the hearing although he had fallen behind the first month after he had gone on probation. He did not have a lawyer for the Motion to Revoke hearing and seemed fairly confident that he could convince the Judge that he shouldn't be incarcerated. It took about ten minutes for Judge Kuntz to take over the questioning from the Petitioner's lawyer. Under questioning from the Judge (strange but a common occurrence in this particular court) the Defendant admitted that he had been late on the initial payments due to the wage withholding order not yet being in effect. He demonstrated that he had subsequently caught up the payments. The Judge after hearing the admission of the lateness immediately committed the Defendant to Jail.

In the second case a pro se Defendant whom had already been incarcerated for approximately five months, had filed a motion from jail requesting early relief. He had a six month sentence and wanted to get out a month early in order to get back to work and try to put his life back together. His x-wife to whom he owed the back support did not appear for the hearing although her lawyer did appear. The Defendant stumbled through his Motion awkwardly like most people representing themselves. The judge took about ten minutes to deny his motion and have the bailiff take him back to jail.

I have handled both sides of child support enforcement cases for twenty years. There was a time when most of the Harris County Courts would not put in jail a child support obligor whom had a job and was trying to make payments. The Judges always felt that something is better than nothing and if we put the obligor in jail, he will lose his job and the obligee will get nothing for a long period of time. Similarly it is really unprecedented for a party to no show to a hearing yet still win the hearing. Normally the failure of a client to show up for a hearing is a slam dunk victory for the other side. The common denominator in both of these situations is the failure to pay child support. The Harris County Judges are showing no leniency in these cases at the current point in time.