It some states it's rare for a person to be arrested for not paying child support. However, Texans should watch out because simply being delinquent on child support can mean serious business. The Cherokeean Herald reported that 20 parents in El Paso County were arrested earlier this week during a sweep, which focused on parents who are the subject of arrest warrants due to not paying their court-ordered child support.
The sweep kicked off at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday when Sheriff Richard Wiles dispatched six teams of law enforcement officers to arrest the deadbeat parents before they had a chance to leave their homes for the day. When a person is arrested in Texas for failing to pay child support and goes to jail, the bail bonds posted are paid to the custodial parents and children who are owed back child support.
If a non-custodial parent is having trouble making child support payments either because he or she is unemployed or because the parent earns a low-income, then the parent may be able to get help from the Non-custodial Parent (NCP) Choices Program in Texas.
The San Antonio Express reports that this program was implemented across the state of Texas in 2005 in hopes of helping low-income unemployed or underemployed noncustodial parents who are behind on their child support payments and whose children are current or former recipients of public assistance. The program is a collaborative effort of the attorney general's office and the Texas Workforce Commission.
Houstonians that owe money in child support should be happy that they don't reside in Bexar County. The San Antonio Express reports that parents in Bexar County are far more likely to go to jail for overdue child support than parents in the Lone Star state's four other largest urban counties.
According to figures from the Texas attorney general's office, there were 1,013 parents in Bexar County Jail for not paying child support. This is significantly more than the number of jailed deadbeat parents in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant or Travis counties combined. Only 631 parents across these four counties were jailed for not paying child support.
How much do parents pay for their little bundles of joy? The U.S Department of Agriculture has provided estimates of annual expenditures on children from birth through age 17, since 1960. Such information can help Texas family law attorneys and family court judges determine the amount of child support noncustodial parents should pay.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the cost of raising a child is getting higher, where a child born in 2009 will cost the parents an estimated $222,360 until he or she reaches adulthood. This is up less than 1 percent from the cost of raising a child born in 2008. However, the cost of raising a child rose 15 percent from 1960 to 2008 (which includes adjustments for inflation). The increases are largely due to the increasing costs of health care, child care, and education.
The most famous cardiologist in Houston has surprised Texan residents with legal troubles once again, only this time it's over delinquent child support payments and not the death of a pop star.
Associated Press reports that Dr. Conrad Murray, who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for the death of Michael Jackson, requested a court order in California that would have relieved him of his past due child support payments. However, Santa Clara County Superior Court Commissioners denied the doctor's request and said that he must still pay about $16,000 in back child support to the mother of his 12-year-old son.
How many bar owners in the Lone Star state are behind on child support payments? Apparently, there are enough evaders that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) feels the need to start cracking down on the issue.
A TABC press release states that the commission is now suspending the license to serve alcohol if the license holder is delinquent with child support payments. The Office of the Attorney General already works with other state agencies, besides TABC, to suspend professional licenses and driver's licenses of parents who owe child support. Yet some Texas family law attorneys may argue that this new regulation is going a little too far.
