My sons father was court ordered to pay child support when we split and my son was 5 months old. My child is now 3 and he owes me $12,000 in back child support. Ive talked to him about it and he tells me he's not really working at the time, but I know he works with his father and gets paid under the table. Hes got enough money to go to the bars and get new clothes dogs and tattoos but never seems to have money for his child support. I've been to the court and we had a show cause hearing for the child support which he never showed up for, the put a warrant out for his arrest and 2 weeks later he was picked up and went to jail his bond was only $1000. How can I get my money. Im a single mom and I go to school full time and its hard to work and go to school and take care of him.

You may not ever get your money. Virginia is very reluctant to put fathers in jail for an extended period because they aren't working while they are in there. I have heard of cases where fathers were sentenced to jail time three or four times and have paid multiple purge bonds to avoid the sentence. The bottom line is, unless Virginia has some vested interest in the case (like repaying public assistance that they have paid to you), they can be very lazy about support. If he continues to work "under the table" there is no verifiable income to garnish and no tax returns to intercept. They can suspend his D.L. but unless he drives for a living, that often does no good. Unless he owns property that they can attach a lien to, you may be out of luck. If he chooses to continue to evade the system, there just isn't a lot that can be done.

You may not ever get your money. Virginia is very reluctant to put fathers in jail for an extended period of time because they aren't working while they are in there. I have heard of cases where fathers were sentenced to jail time three or four times and have paid multiple purge bonds to avoid the sentence. The bottom line is, unless Virginia has some vested interest in the case (like repaying public assistance that they have paid to you), they can be very lazy about support. If he continues to work "under the table" there is no verifiable income to garnish and no tax returns to intercept. They can suspend his D.L., but unless he drives for a living, that often does no good. Unless he owns property that they can attach a lien to, you may be out of luck. If he chooses to continue to evade the system, there just isn't a lot that can be done.

How do you know the OP is in Virginia?

Ummm... because I am being super special and blending this question into another I have just answered.

LOL, I understand where you are coming from, but this is a global website and the laws that apply in virginia may not apply in California, or the UK for that matter.

Just to clarify, (again since I blended this question with another one that was specifically about Virginia when I answered) you can extrapolate this to most other states. Depending on your particular locality, they may have additional means of pursuing child support but generally the methods are income withholding, liens on real property or bank accounts, tax refund interception, and jail (usually with a purge bond to avoid serving the sentence and to get a payment into the pocket of the custodial parent).

I know... I really just combined two and forgot which one I was answering.. they were very similar.

Just to clarify, (again since I blended this question with another one that was specifically about Virginia when I answered) you can extrapolate this to most other states. Depending on your particular locality, they may have additional means of pursuing child support but generally the methods are income withholding, liens on real property or bank accounts, tax refund interception, and jail (usually with a purge bond to avoid serving the sentence and to get a payment into the pocket of the custodial parent).

Since this is the law section we don't "blend" the law for anyone. Please don't attempt that here.

Please review all of the comments that express that this was an accident.

kcomissiong Feb 23, 2011 08:00 am
I know... I really just combined two and forgot which one I was answering.. they were very similar.

And, I'm also sorry if that was snappy. It's a pre-coffee morning