Change On Federal Benefits Payments Could Leave Child Support Debtors With No Income

[jberryhill]

77. You obviously have extremely limited experience....

Yes, being far from a court is a problem. However, most people do not get sued in faraway states when they have no job, no money, and no pot to piss in. They are typically not conducting activities which renders them subject to jurisdiction over them.

What you don't seem to understand with child support orders is that the issuing court system retains jurisdiction over the support order for the full term.

People move.

And, no, most courts do not allow you to modify a child support order without someone - either you or an attorney - physically appearing in that court.

I know a guy in Ontario who is, in all probability, going to go to jail next month. He hasn't had a steady job in about ten years, his kids have all grown up and moved away, but the State of California has used the relevant treaty to obtain enforcement of an arrearage from years ago in the Ontario court. The Ontario court has told him the only way he can get a modification is with the California court, the California court has told him he can't do it from Ontario, and he can't afford an attorney.

Would you like to fly him out to California, so he can leave the children from his second, and now deceased, wife to fend for themselves for a while in order to get the California order modified?