With Child support doing the best you can is not good enough!

Greg Isaac, center, says he is doing his very best to pay his child support but is having trouble because of the bad economy and lack of jobs (he’s applied for over 50).

PROVIDENCE — One-by-one, day-after-day, the men sheepishly walk to the lectern in Family Court and answer questions about why they can’t possibly make their child-support payments. On a recent morning, Kervin Candelier fumbled through his pants pockets and pulled out a wrinkled receipt from Western Union that suggested he had paid $1,000 in June.

Candelier owed $6,900 in child support payments, and his former girlfriend, the mother of their two children, claimed that he only gave her $500 to pay for school clothes and supplies. He said that he’s doing his best, but he’s a barber and only makes about $230 a week.

“Every business is slow right now because of the economy,” he said.

Magistrate George N. DiMuro, acting on a recommendation from the state Office of Child Support Services, ordered the father to immediately pay a lump sum of $300 and begin paying her $70 a week through the court system. DiMuro tells him to make sure the payments are made through the court, so it’s recorded — not directly to the mother. “Otherwise, you’re going to get yourself in a world of trouble here,” DiMuro warned. There’s no better place to get an understanding of the state’s poor economy than Family Court — the place where divorce, custody, child support and other domestic crises are settled. According to the latest national economic data, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate of 13 percent is the third highest in the nation, trailing only Michigan and Nevada.

Over the course of two days, dozens of men were summoned to courtrooms on the fifth floor of the Garrahy Judicial Complex to answer questions about why they are not making their child-support payments. Many of them also were there to file “motions for relief,” in which they seek to have their payments reduced because they have joined the ranks of the jobless. Candelier stood out because he actually has a job.

DiMuro, the magistrate judge, has seen a surge in the motions for relief over the past eight months. He estimated that there has been a “30 to 40 percent” increase.

DiMuro said that he has been struck by how many of the unemployed fathers once had high-paying professional jobs. They don’t fit the stereotype of a deadbeat dad, someone always looking for ways to avoid supporting his kids.

“These are people who had real good jobs who were paying religiously and they lost their jobs,” DiMuro said. “They are almost embarrassed to be here.”

Based on what he hears and sees in Family Court, DiMuro thinks the state’s unemployment rate is closer to 20 percent.

The state expects the total in child support payments that are funneled through the court system to decline this year. In 2008, court collections totaled $84.5 million; collections through the first nine months of 2009 were at $56.3 million.

With no letup in the recession’s grip on Rhode Island’s economy, state officials do not expect a surge in payments in the final three months.

Anecdotal evidence in court supports their position. Gregory Issac, an unemployed concrete worker, was in court to answer complaints from two different women that he had failed to make child support payments. Issac told DiMuro that he had been to dozens of companies searching for work, but he has had no luck. Court records show that on Sept. 26 he made a $100 payment to the one mother who attended the hearing. .

“Are you satisfied?” DiMuro asked the mother.

“No, I’m not satisfied,” she said.

DiMuro, sensitive to Issac’s financial plight, ordered him to start paying the mother $25 a-week in child support. His case was continued to next month.

The Family Court and Office of Child Support Services try to work with the financially strapped fathers. Unless they have repeatedly refused to support their children, or attempted to conceal their assets, judges are reluctant to send fathers to the Adult Correctional Institutions.

Once jailed, a father not only loses his freedom, but he also loses the opportunity of being gainfully employed and making child support payments.

State figures show that the average child-support payment for a father on public assistance is $262 per month for each child; while the obligations for others is $362 per month.

Sharon A. Santilli, associate director of the state Office of Child Support Services, and Frank DiBiase, chief legal counsel, said that unemployed fathers have to contact the court as quickly as possible and file motions for relief. Too often, they said, the fathers wait several months, thinking that they will land another job so they can resume making payments.

Instead, the fathers fall deeper into debt and then face contempt orders for failing to make child support payments.

Santilli and DiBiase said staff tries to help them find work through the state Department of Labor & Training, and also encourages them to stay in touch with their children, even when they can’t pay. Staff can also find help with parenting skills and treatment for substance abuse.

“Fathers who are involved with their children are more likely to make child-support payments,” Santilli said. “We want to try to work with them.”

Tom Sizemore owes $58,000 in back child support?

Actor Tom Sizemore's ex filed a lawsuit last week according to' TMZ'. The lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court states Jinele Mc'Intire was owed more than $58,000 dollars in back support for the couples twin boys that were born in 2005.

Jinele makes her point very clear in the lawsuit stating " Tom Sizemore is a Dead Beat Dad".

Mc'Intire goes on to state due to the actors non-payments she's been forced to live with a friend while having the kids stay with her brother in Texas. She added 'Sizemore' has made no attempt to see them there". Jinele also claims Sizemore last saw the boys when he was filming "Sober House" a show that paid the actor $200,000then going on to film "Celebrity Rehab" which also paid another $200,000 dollars.

Mc'Intire also seeks health insurance and legal fees from Sizemore.

I see this crap everyday, you want to look at the worst case scenario saying the man is a deadbeat, but do we really know the whole story? This astronomical figure came from where? This was his girl friend and they were living together, so that makes it right to call the man a deadbeat? Hey lets face the facts he is a actor and if he is not working how can he make those large child support payments. Hey don't get me wrong, if he is a deadbeat lets place the shoe where it belongs, but before we go casting the first stone, lets look in the mirror first!

Samatha Burke cashes in on her celebrity baby

Jude Law knocked up 24-year-old Samantha Burke during filming of Sherlock Holmes. A paternity test was done to prove it was his. It’s been a month and I don’t think he’s visited his new daughter Sophia yet. But that doesn’t matter. Samantha doesn’t need Jude. She just needs HELLO! Magazine to pay her $300,000 for her illegitimate daughter and monthly child support from daddy. Score! Sigh, sometimes I wish I was born with a uterus. From NYDN:

But Burke and her baby certainly aren’t going to suffer. Celebrity family lawyer Raoul Felder says that the 24-year-old model’s windfall isn’t going to affect her ability to collect child support from Law.

“Child support is fundamentally based on the proportion of the mother’s earnings to the father’s. He makes so much more than she does, that this really won’t affect it. The only court Burke loses in is the one of good taste.”

Samantha should just paint a big green dollar sign on that kid. She’s pretty much the golden goose until he’s 18. I bet if you shake her real hard you can even hear the gold clinking around inside her. She should try it. I have a good feeling about this.

Michael Jackson doctor can not pay his child support bill

Conrad Murray, who allegedly administered the lethal dose of propofol that killed Michael Jackson, says he can't pay the $13,311.47 he owes in back child support for his 10-year-old son because of all the bad publicity he's gotten lately. It took an arrest warrant for him to come up with an excuse.

TMZ reports that Murray filed court documents a bench warrant was issued against him for bailing out on payments for his 10-year-old son, claiming:

As a result of the media coverage of Michael Jackson's death, combined with the deleterious effects of the current recession, [Murray] was simply unable to meet his obligations."

The documents also claim that Murray is "temporarily unable to maintain a practice or obtain employment because of the extensive media coverage related to the death of Michael Jackson."

It's always something.

When will Akon be served his child support papers?

Akon's baby mama is going to new lengths to reach him for unpaid child support. Sara Coleman, the mother of the singer/producer's youngest son, alleges that he has been dodging process servers for months, so she's blasting Akon with an ad in the Los Angeles Times in order to get his attention.

Ironically, the paparazzi recently had no problem catching up with the Sengal native at a New York airport, where he shared some advice for whoever can't seem to reach him. "I'm a celebrity," Akon said. "My schedule is on the Internet. You can go on my MySpace, it'll tell you where I'm at!"

Coleman, who initially wanted the child support matter to remain private, is now singing a different tune. Her lawyers allegedly went so far as to attempt to serve the award-winning artist at Michael Jackson's funeral, but to no avail.

Akon, on the other hand claims to not be hiding. "Akon has taken responsibility and has been extremely cooperative and proactive in handling this private matter," said his lawyer in a statement back in July. "Paternity was only established just over 30 days ago. Since the case was filed outside of Georgia jurisdiction, where he is a legal resident, Akon is currently in the process of engaging counsel in California and will continue to handle this matter in a timely manner."

There's no doubt Akon has more than enough dough to spread around. He raked in $20 million in 2008 due in part to his KonLive record label, which is home to pop princess Lady Gaga.

Akon I understand your effort to run, but lets keep it real you can not hide. The one thing that will happen is once that they establish that you are a money maker you need to continue being a money maker, for the Courts System really has no mercy for you if your income does not continue at the same rate that you are currently making it. Here is what blows me away the Court system will have the nerve to tell you to get a second job, as if that will help???

Casino Gambling Winnings Help Pay Child Support In Colorado

Colorado casinos are helping parents receive child support payments. A law has been put in effect this year, and over $600,000 in child support payments have been made because of the new law.

The law makes casinos do a computer check on any patron who wins more than $1,200 in jackpot winnings. Those computers turn up anyone who owes back child support. If that is found to be the case, the money is given to the state and not to the winner.

"This is a checks and balances system that should be in every state where there is casinos," says Annabelle Slaton, "There are many parents who are not paying child support but are instead using the money to gamble. This should not be allowed."

Colorado lawmakers agree with Slaton, which is why they put the law in place. State officials in Colorado take child support seriously. They have collected over $320 million in child support in the last year alone.

While that makes the money taken from casino jackpots look small, it is still over $600,000 that was given to parents that had previously been owed support. The law is working, and that has many parents in the state happy.

"To know that someone cannot go to a casino and spend money that should be going to their children is comforting," said Ben Balster, "These deadbeats not only should have their winnings taken, they should be in jail."

Keanu Reeves still battling with a woman from results of paternity test

Actor Keanu Reeves' battle with a woman who says Reeves is the father of her children will drag on: She is contesting the results of a paternity test. DNA tests have conclusively disproved Karen Sala's claims that Reeves is the biological father of at least one of her children, but Sala is again launching her bid for financial support. Reeves says he doesn't even know Sala, 46, who has asked for $150,000 per month in child support, retroactive from 1988, and $3 million a month in spousal support, effective from 2006.

Sportscaster Jim Nantz is in a messy divorce battle with his wife of 26 years

Jim Nantz, 50, who earns more than seven million dollars a year, is in divorce court to protect much of his fortune from wife of 26 years, Lorrie Nantz, the Connecticut Post reported.

Sitting on a makeshift stand before the court, Nantz grew teary as he testified, blaming the marriage's demise on his wife's lavish spending habits, as well as what he claimed was a lack of support for his career, the paper reported.

Nantz's wife, who is seeking alimony as well as more than $1.5 million-per-year in child support for the couple's 15-year-old daughter, Caroline, has stated that she wants to keep the family's six bedroom home in Westport, Conn. The family also owns a condominium at a ski resort in Utah, according to the Connecticut Post. Lorrie Nantz said that she wants to care for the child's daughter even though she has a full-time nanny.

While court papers merely say that the marriage broke down irretrievably, Nantz told Superior Court Judge Howard Owens that while he was traveling around the country for work, his wife stayed home and went on excessive shopping sprees, the paper reported.

In nine years, Lorrie Nantz spent close to $1 million at a high-end clothing and jewelry store in Westport, Conn., the Post reported.

Last month she bought a $12,000 necklace at the posh store, but when pressed on its description, she could not remember details.

"I think it has some sort of stone," Lorrie Nantz told the court, according to the Connecticut Post.

Testimony in the trial concluded Friday, and Judge Owens will determine how to split the couple's assets. In addition to a $3.9 yearly salary from CBS, Nantz also make $4 million a year in deferred compensation, including a deal he has with golf company Titleist.

While testifying, Nantz admitted to having a 29-year-old girlfriend. He said he met the woman while promoting a book he wrote about his father in May, 2008, the Connecticut Post reported. Nantz only began the extramarital affair, he claimed, because his marriage "died," years ago, the Connecticut Post quoted him as saying to the court.

Can I get child support if my husband is not the biological father

Can I get child support from my husband if he is not my child biological father? We have been together since I was 8 months pregnant with my son and his real father has never been in the picture. -Shantell



Family Attorney John Mayoue's Answer:

A custodial parent may only obtain child support from the biological or adoptive parent of a child. There is a growing trend in many states, however, under which a
party can claim that another person, not biologically related, has been in a parent-like relationship with a child and should therefore pay child support. It is called a psychological parent model. Under any scenario, Shantell could not receive child support from her husband unless and until she divorces him.

I agree totally with the ideal that if the parent has established that psychological parent model. Although I can not stand the fact that some men have been duped into thinking the child is his and it is not. He has done nothing for the child and the court punished the man with no remorse. My blood boils when their is a DNA done and the woman has been proved a liar and the court just says o-well. I think that a bill need to be written to stop this deception.

Once the law is in the books all this deception crap will stop with the quickness!

Man killed son and baby’s mom to avoid child support

SAN DIEGO – The father of a 10-month-old boy pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he killed the child and the child's mother in their San Diego apartment in July 2006.

Dennis Potts, 23, of Bonita, faces charges of murder and conspiracy to obstruct justice in what could become a death penalty case. His friend, 23-year-old Max Corn, also of Bonita, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a conspiracy charge.

Both men were arrested Wednesday in connection with the deaths of Tori Vienneau, 22, and her son, Dean Springstube, whose bodies were found July 26, 2006, in their apartment in the Southcrest neighborhood of San Diego. The victims were strangled.

If convicted, Corn faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek Potts' execution or life without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of murder. Such decisions are usually made after a preliminary hearing, when a judge decides whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

Potts and Corn appeared in San Diego Superior Court Thursday with their respective lawyers, who asked a judge to either set or reduce bail.

Judge David M. Szumowski ordered Potts to remain in custody without bail, noting the two victims in the case and the seriousness of the charges. The judge increased Corn's bail to $500,000 from $200,000.

Deputy District Attorney Per Hellstrom said in court that Potts and Vienneau had a “secret” relationship and she believed he was the father of her son. In spring 2006, she asked Potts to take a paternity test.

Potts agreed to use a mail-in test, but asked Corn to submit the DNA sample, the prosecutor said. When the results showed that Potts was not the baby's father, Vienneau suspected that something was wrong.

“She was concerned that Mr. Potts had faked or tampered with the DNA testing,” Hellstrom told the judge. “She didn't let the issue go.”

Thirteen days later, Vienneau and her son were killed.

Hellstrom said investigators recovered text messages exchanged between Potts and Vienneau the evening of the slaying and recovered Potts' data from a cell-phone tower near her apartment.

Outside the courtroom, Kerry Armstrong – Potts' lawyer – said the relationship between Potts and Vienneau was no secret and that Potts had known about the investigation for the past year and a half.

“He has been adamant from day one that he had nothing to do with these crimes,” Armstrong said.

The prosecutor would not comment on why it took more than a year for investigators to make an arrest.

“In due time, that will come out,” Hellstrom said after the hearing.

Vienneau's mother, Dayna Herroz, said it is satisfying to see Potts and Corn face criminal charges. She said the long wait has been “hell on Earth” for her and her family.

A Good Father - He's Just Unemployed

I just learned one of my young male neighbors, presently unemployed, was recently jailed and is now serving 11/29 for non-payment of child-support. I guess I'm one of the few ones who scratch my head and could never understand the benefits to the child or children and society as a whole for locking someone up for failure to pay child-support, especially if they're not in a position to pay due to job loss. With today's high unemployment rates, for sure there's going to be even more non-custodial parents falling behind in payments.

How does it benefit the child, society, the taxpayer, and even the individual arrested and jailed if he or she can't afford to pay?

Don't think I'm someone who hasn't been there, experienced that. I've been a divorced mom too, struggling to provide for two young children on my own. However, I knew at the time their father was not in a position to pay. Yes, we went without a lot. I missed important medical appointments so my daughter could study classical music from the time she was seven or eight years of age. I learned to make meals on ten dollars or less. Shop at Goodwill. My children wore their cousins' hand-me-downs.

But because of our struggles they learned to appreciate the little things and grew up to be well-rounded individuals. They're not flashy and still prefer to shop at resale shops and are great bargain hunters.

Getting back to my young neighbor - he's a good father who spent lots of time with his daughter, often keeping her for days or even weeks at a time. Now, she won't be seeing her father for another six months or so. Even out of work, he still did small things for her. He just wasn't able to keep up with regular child-support payments.

Who does it help to jail someone for non-payment of child-support or revoke their license? Whoever thought up those two as punishment must have really been asleep at the wheel.

I look at it this way, if the mother applied for or was receiving some kind of public assistance for the child, now you have two or more burdens on the taxpayer. One sitting and wasting away in jail, the child or children still going without. If the individual had some small job, even minimum wage, but still fell behind in payments, that job isn't going to be waiting on him or her six months later when they're released.

Not only that, with a lapse in employment or a prison or jail record, it becomes even more difficult for that person to find a job. And, with a jail or prison record, that individual's offspring can be affected later in life when applying for certain jobs that might require a security clearance, depending upon the level of security.

Then there's the revoked license issue, which just sets the person up for another chance of being arrested if they take a chance and drive without a license, which many will do at some point, creating a revolving door in the criminal justice system. Let's be honest, if the individual can't drive to a job because they've lost their driving privileges, how are they to get to work? Not everyone is lucky enough to have a 9-5 job, and buses don't run on a 24/7 schedule.

The "experts" really need to take time to think about these laws before they sign them into law. In the long term, they serve no one, and only create more problems than solutions. So, now we have another kid who at least had a father who came around and spent time with her, sitting and wasting away in prison for something that should never have been a crime in the first place. There's a difference between the inability VS the ability to pay.

Hopefully, the "experts" will rethink these laws that are really crippling American society and serve no true purpose, except for prison stockholders.

Rick Ross Ordered to Pay Child Support to Ex-Girlfriend

Rick Ross has been actively promoting the upcoming compilation album 'Custom & Cars & Cycles,' with his Triple C's crew, but the Miami rapper's personal issues are currently attracting more attention than his work. After being robbed of $60,000 worth of valuables following a June concert in Tennessee, Ross is now knee-deep in financial and legal disputes with his ex-girlfriend Tia Kemp.

Following months of public mudslinging, a judge ordered the rapper to pay temporary child support to Kemp, who is the mother of his son William Roberts III. Since their breakup, Kemp has openly expressed her discontent with Ross and his lax role as a father figure. Just as recently as last week, she tweeted about her son's birthday and called out Ross for being M.I.A. "Let's see if his lame ass father actually grows enough balls and at least calls to wish his son a happy birthday," Kemp wrote.

After their split, Kemp partnered up with Ross' rival, 50 Cent, appearing in G-Unit videos and releasing a tell-all book about her relationship with Ross, titled 'Tia's Diary: Deeper Than Rap,' under G-Unit Books back in May. And despite the judge's order that Ross must also cover her legal fees, Kemp will appear on two upcoming covers of Smooth magazine with 50 Cent to further publicize her vendetta against Ross. The provocative covers feature a barely dressed Kemp being photographed by 50 Cent, who appears as a guest editor for the issue.

The tension between Ross and Kemp has continued to build, but as part of the judge's child support ruling, Ross was also granted visitation rights to his son.

Jude Law refusing to see newborn baby until DNA tests prove paternity

LONDON - Hollywood film star Jude Law has refused to see a newborn baby, being claimed to be his daughter, until DNA tests prove the paternity of the child.

Model Sam Burke claims that her daughter Sophia, born in Florida on Tuesday, is the product of a fling with the 36-year-old actor.

Jude, however, was not present at the baby’s birth, and even refused to make the three-hour trip from New York, where he’s starring in Hamlet.

“Jude is still very cautious about Sam and Sophia. Until he is 100 per cent certain she is his daughter he is only communicating through lawyers,” the News of the World quoted one of the actor’s pals as saying.

“If he is the father he will meet his obligations to the child. He’s hoping for an early chance to establish that he is genuinely her dad,” the friend added.

Sam is said to have told people closer to her that Jude paid her for antenatal care and for the birth.

However, Jude’s friend said: “It was an act of kindness rather than an admission that he was the dad.”

The paper further reports that Sam’s representatives are negotiating a six-figure deal for pictures of the baby, but Jude’s lawyers have asked her not to talk to the media until they agree a financial package if the baby is confirmed as his.

Sam’s gran Delores accused Jude of taking advantage, saying: “She’s a lovely outgoing girl and he’s a lot older man, with three children from a failed marriage (to Sadie Frost). It breaks your heart.”

I am not surprised that he would not want to have anything to do with the baby before finding out if the child is his. I have found out that the Court system will blast you quickly with sense you established a bond with the child, then you have to maintain that relationship with the child!

Unfortunately the only one that suffers is the guy paying the child support. So men lets be sure, after we know, then we step up!!!

Child Support, get rich quick!.

Hello,
I am pissed off that the Child Support, allows the Judicial system to take advantage of men period! Hey don't get me wrong I have heard of issues of women paying child support but do they really get the TOUGH Love that men get when they go to court? The reality is no, hell no!

http://drinkthis.typepad.com/answer_this/kim_porter/index.html

http://www.legalzoom.com/articles/article_content/article13711.html

http://www.gnextinc.com/bbo/news/nydaily620.html

http://www.nobodysmiling.com/hiphop/news/86158.php
At one point in time Child Support was designed to protect the inocent Childern and the mothers. Now it is just a get rich scheme that 60% of the women of the World use to get that added TAX FREE income. I can not begin to imagine that Sean "Pdiddy Combs" pays $35,000 a month for one child. $410,000 thousand dollars a year. That is great for the mother, considering that the income does not even have to be claimed! The person that paid taxes on the income can not even get the benefit of writing it off on his or her taxes.. Now the reality does not haveThe ideal that I make 10 million a year and slept with a star entitles me to lay claim his money? Taking care of the child is one thing helping a mother hit the lottery is something all together different. She starts out with a Lincoln and after she has a baby she drives a Bentely, is that really fair?

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-06-23-50cent_N.htm

http://www.magic-city-news.com/Tony_Zizza/50_Cent_Just_Another_Child_Support_Victim8219.shtml
The ideal of paying child support is great, but what about the people that actually get caught in the system of Child Support in different States? I mean lets keep it real, making a cliam based on gross income is not fair to the man or his childern at home. Why you ask? you make $400 before taxes, after Uncle Sam gets his cut you actually made $320. notion that the dad has to
Ofcourse if married that is a different story I mean Michael Jordan paying
paying On the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division refused to hear Sean "Diddy" Combs' appeal of a lower-court decision ordering him to pay more than $19,000 a month in child-support payments, according to The Associated Press. In 2005, a judge initially set monthly support payments at $21,782, but later reduced the amount. That was after the Westchester Family Court ruled Diddy should pay $35,000 a month to ex-girlfriend Misa Hylton-Brim for the care of their now-12-year-old son, Justin. ...
Do these women hit the lottery or what?

bobbie brown.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17399817/
How much are the child support payments to this...?
Q. How much does Sean Combs pay Kim Porter in child support?A. An amount between $12,000-$35,000/mo.
The amount Sean "P.Diddy" Combs pays in child support for his two sons has been a hot topic at Answer this... since 2003 when Misa Hylton-Brim, Justin's mom, sued to get her child support payments increased from $5,000/mo. to $35,000/mo. Hylton-Brim's attorney claimed that the increased amount was on par with what Combs paid his other baby mama, Kim Porter, to support her son, Christian. The courts ultimately ordered Combs to pay Hylton-Brim $21,782/mo.
In 2001, Porter sued Combs to get her support increased from the court mandated $11,000/mo. The pair settled out of court and details of the settlement were not disclosed. I have unofficial reason to believe the amount is around $32,000.

The $25,000 per month in child support that 50 Cent pays to his son’s mother is not enough, says the boy’s mother, Shaniqua Tompkins. The rapper is “worth tens and tens of millions of dollars,” said her attorney, Raoul Felder. Tompkins and 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, are disputing in family court located in Central Islip, Long Island over their 10-year-old son, Marquise Jackson. With his G-Unit record label, clothing line, ring-tones and other business ventures, 50 Cent made an estimated $33 million in the past year, according to Forbes magazine.

Mother of x-Mayor Herenton’s is seeking a modification in child support

When longtime Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton retired in July, it cost a young boy his health insurance coverage, lawyers for the child's mother said.

A Juvenile Court petition filed Thursday by Claudine Marsh, mother of Michael Herenton, a boy the former mayor fathered out of wedlock in 2004, is asking Herenton to put half of the lump-sum pension he received from the city in a trust fund for the child, who turns 5 today.

Claudine Marsh with her son, Michael, in 2005. He turns 5 today and ''needs health insurance,'' attorneys say.

• Claudine Marsh's petition for modified child support

"We don't know what's going to happen in the mayor's future," attorney Patricia A. Woods said. "We don't know what's going to happen in little Michael's future. But we know that the little boy needs health insurance, and he needs it right now."

A Herenton representative said earlier Thursday that the former mayor wouldn't comment until he received the documents.

The complaint comes as Herenton prepares a run for a seat in Congress. The lawyers said Marsh realizes that some might see her legal action as a political ploy.

"There's no good time to do this to a man of his stature," Woods said.

Marsh is now living with her son in Cobb County, Ga., where she has relatives, and she's currently not working, Woods and fellow lawyer William W. Jones IV said.

The lawyers said in court documents that Marsh fears the child will receive none of the $506,845 Herenton got when he retired July 30 without a court order. The boy also relied on his father's health insurance through the city.

They seek an injunction to freeze the pension and an order that Herenton pay $250,000 into a trust fund for the child. They also ask that Herenton be held in contempt of court.

The lawyers said Herenton has been ordered to contribute $2,100 per month for the child, an amount they say is necessary to cover private school and other needs.

The court document filed Thursday says the November 2005 child-support agreement requires Herenton to prove that the child would receive a portion of his city pension. And it alleges that Herenton has understated his income by failing to disclose money from sources such as private real estate transactions and gifts.

The petition also says Herenton is supposed to take care of Michael 80 days per year but has never done so and that Marsh deserves extra compensation because of the former mayor's lack of involvement in the child's life. Woods said Herenton does see the child on occasion, but acts more like a friendly uncle than a concerned parent.

The court action refocuses attention on Herenton's unusual decision to forego a normal pension payout after serving as mayor for more than 17 years. He would have received $75,000 per year, surpassing the lump-sum amount within seven years.

There has been speculation that Herenton left office in midterm at age 69 to protect his pension. A federal grand jury has been investigating the mayor's business practices for months, but it's unclear if criminal prosecution would put the pension in jeopardy.

The story of Herenton's out-of-wedlock child came to light in 2005. He spoke about it at a press conference a day after The Commercial Appeal talked to Marsh, who was 31 and working as a security guard at the time she met Herenton, who was 64. The relationship ended after a few months.

Herenton, who is divorced and has three adult children, had already faced scrutiny for affairs with a principal and a teacher while he was Memphis City Schools superintendent years earlier.

I am pissed that Ms Marsh has the nerve to want more money. She gets $2,000 a month and still is not satisfied. She has the nerve to say that she wants half of his retirement money, what??? I ain't saying she is a gold digger but she is not messing with no broke guys. This is unbelievable, if they give her another penny more they are contributing to the obscenity of the games some women play... Stop the madness, and start cutting back on the amount of money that the women are getting and allot of these issues will stop yesterday.

Survey says" You are not the father!

ATLaNTA, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In 2003, The American Association of Blood Banks found that in almost 30 percent of the paternity tests conducted the man being tested is not the biological father. "This means millions of fathers may unknowingly be raising children who are not theirs biologically. When a man discovers the truth about the child's parentage, this can have a far-reaching emotional impact upon him, the child, and the families involved like John Edwards' situation," said Carnell Smith PfV, renowned paternity fraud expert and director of U.S. Citizens Against Paternity Fraud (http://www.PaternityFraud.com ). Smith said, "Surprisingly there has been no formal study of this - until now." Sharon Squires, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University-Dominguez Hills, and Carnell Smith PfV have joined forces to develop a new on-line survey, the first of its kind, which will examine the emotional, financial, legal, and social impact of paternity fraud on men. "We know very little formally about how men react to learning that they are not the biological father of a child they thought they had fathered," said Dr. Squires. "Men have few places to turn for help when they find themselves in this situation. With this survey we want to get a baseline understanding of this very important issue which has profound implications for society and for a child's right to know their identity." Frank Hatley is a paternity fraud victim, recently released from jail after serving about one year for owing back child support reimbursement for a child proven by DNA testing not to be his. Hatley is childless, according to a CNN report (8/11/09).http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/11/georgia.child.support/index.html Hatley's release was based upon use of the 2002 Georgia paternity fraud law. Carnell Smith was the driving force behind this law. Dr. Squires and Carnell Smith will join filmmaker Angelo Lobo for a special question and answer period after the showing of Lobo's documentary, "Support? System Down", http://www.SupportTheMovie.com ) showing in Atlanta, Georgia at the Peachtree Village International Film Festival at the Underground Atlanta Event Loft on September, 26, 2009, at 4 PM EST. "Mistakes and questionable practices of child support agencies are much more common than many people think," said Lobo. This is starting to be a common thing,

You can run but you can not hide

You can run from child support,

but you can not hide!

A MAN who changed his name to avoid paying child support has been fined £700 at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court.

Roebyn Tusk, 56, of Donhead St Andrew, was found guilty in his absence on Monday for failing to supply information to the Child Support Agency (CSA).

The CSA made several attempts to contact Tusk, who had changed his name from Robert Kerr to avoid paying child support for his three children.

The court heard from Wendy Mark, a compliance inspector who said Tusk has been evasive and denied having ever changed his name or having any children.

She contacted the DVLA, who confirmed that a man at the address they had for him had applied for a change of name on his driving licence from Robert Kerr to Roebyn Tusk.

She also obtained a copy of his marriage licence to his second wife, which showed his name as Roebyn Tusk but had his father as Kerr.

The magistrates found him guilty of failing to supply information to the CSA and ordered him to pay a fine of £700 and £515 costs.

Killing to avoid paying child support

MARIANNA — Prosecutors said Wednesday that child support was Wesley Williams’ motive in a 2005 quadruple murder, but the defense called the state’s argument “somewhat suspect.”

Williams, 25, is accused of killing Danielle Baker, 19, and three of her four children, Amad, 3, Amarion, 1, and Aaron, 3 weeks. Baker was shot to death inside her Cottondale Village apartment on March 17, 2005. The three boys suffocated after being bound with duct tape.

Williams, who fathered two of the boys, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse. He faces the death penalty if convicted as charged.

Testimony in the trial began Wednesday afternoon and continues today.

Prosecutor Larry Basford told jurors in his opening statement that Williams killed Baker and the children because he didn’t want to pay child support.

“He was angry at Danielle because she was messing in his business, and he didn’t want to have to pay child support,” Basford said.

He said to understand what happened the morning of March 17, 2005, jurors would have to look weeks and months before that date. Basford said Baker discovered that Williams, with whom she was having an on-again-off-again relationship, had impregnated another woman even though he was living with a girlfriend in Sneads. Basford said Williams got angry at Baker for calling his girlfriends and “stirring things up.”

“They have a heated conversation, and he threatens to whip her ass for messing in his business,” Basford said.

At the same time, he said, Baker had taken steps through the courts to get Williams to start paying $676 a month in child support.

Basford said the morning the killings were discovered, Sheriff Lou Roberts broke the news to Williams that his two sons had been killed. Basford said Williams turned away, put his face toward a wall and said, “No, no, no. He then composed himself and came back.”

Roberts “was surprised and amazed at the lack of emotion displayed by the defendant upon hearing that his two oldest sons have been killed,” Basford said.

Williams had been driving around the night of the killings with a friend, Donald Allen. The two had gone from Chattahoochee to Liberty County, where they spent some time with two girlfriends. When they left around 1 a.m., Williams’ cell phone records showed he called Baker nine times, many of them only a few seconds long as phone service cut off.

Basford said the last call was about 2:30 a.m., and it was recorded as coming through the cell tower at Marianna, which would put Williams in the area around the time of the killings. Williams denies being in Marianna at that time, and his girlfriend in Sneads said he was home with her before 3 a.m.

Allen originally told investigators that he did not see anything unusual in Williams’ behavior or his dealings with Baker that night. Basford said that a year later, Allen was arrested on a probation violation and told investigators then that Williams had confessed to him that he killed Baker because she tried to get his income tax refund.

Allen said he saw Williams with a gun at Williams’ apartment in Sneads. Basford said officers searched the yard and found a .38-caliber bullet, the same caliber used to kill Baker. The bullets could not be positively matched as coming from the same gun.

The last piece of evidence investigators found was a small limb hair on the duct tape used to bind one of the children; it was matched to Williams through mitochondrial DNA.



Defense

Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith said that same DNA would match 13 of every 1,000 blacks and all of Williams’ relatives on his mother’s side of the family. He said there also is no way of saying how that hair got on the tape, since Williams had been at the apartment a few weeks before.

Smith refuted Basford’s theories of Williams’ motives for the killings. He said both Williams and Baker had multiple sexual partners who they were both aware of. Smith said Baker talked to Williams’ current girlfriend an hour before she was killed, and it was common for them to converse.

“You’re not going to hear anything about Wesley Williams being one of those possessive, controlling types,” Smith said.

He said Baker was not seeking child support. She was on welfare, which was a far more consistent form of payment than the irregular child support payments she could expect from a person making minimum wage at a grocery story. Smith said at the time of the killings nothing had been filed seeking child support from Williams.

“That motive for the crime is somewhat suspect and it doesn’t really hold up,” Smith said.

In addition, he said, even if Williams was mad at Baker over the child support issue, it didn’t make any sense for him to kill the children, especially someone else’s child. Smith said if Baker died, the children and the welfare checks on their behalf would go to Williams.

He said the only reason Williams was charged was because Allen, in an effort to keep himself out of jail for the probation violation, lied to investigators about Williams killing Baker. Smith said it worked because even now, years after his arrest and a failed escape attempt with which he also is charged, Allen remains free.

Smith said the evidence in this case, including DNA, points to two other unidentified people committing this crime. He said the time of the killing can be ascertained by two people living next door to Baker at the time, who heard voices, water running and possibly a gunshot between 2:45 and 3:15 a.m.

“They heard Danielle Baker say, ‘Why are you doing this to us?’” Smith said.

He said the tape that was applied to the three children obviously was done by two different people; one did a meticulous job and the other was sloppy. Smith said no one knows why Baker’s daughter was spared. He said she was asleep under a bed at the time and the killers might not have known she was there.

“I expect that what you’re going to hear is that Wesley Williams is not an upstanding guy,” Smith said. “He’s not the most responsible guy in the world, but he’s certainly not a cold-blooded killer. I think what you’re going to get from the evidence is it’s not going to make a lot of sense and there’s certainly going to be reasonable doubt about Wesley Williams’ involvement in the homicides.”

Unemployment creates a problem with child support payments

The number of non-custodial parents receiving unemployment benefits is much higher than last fall with human services officials expecting numbers to rise again this winter.

There were 12 non-custodial parents out of 853 child support cases receiving unemployment benefits in September 2008. Eleven months later in August that number rose to 54 out of 846 child support cases.

The numbers peaked in March when 78 non-custodial parents out of 871 child support cases received unemployment benefits.

Wadena County Human Services Director Paul Sailer explained the significance of the numbers.

“We started to track this because we were curious how this might affect child support payments,” he told commissioners at Tuesday’s social services board meeting.

For example, a father with a job who was making $400 payments in child support a month can go to court and have that amount reduced if he loses his job and is on unemployment, Sailer said. That, in turn, affects the mother, who may then qualify for public assistance programs.

Sailer was not hopeful the numbers would improve in coming months.

“I think these numbers are going to bounce back right about to where they were last winter,” he said.

Amie Spartz, collections and accounting supervisor, said in a subsequent e-mail interview she cannot give a specific amount for the impact the unemployment rate has on child support payments. She does believe that the unemployment rate has affected the drop in collections recorded in the county.

In October through December 2008, social services disbursed $532,402 in child support payments, according to Spartz. There was an average of 32 obligors on unemployment during that time. In January through March the disbursement was down to $517,841 with an average of 72 obligors receiving unemployment. In April though June social services disbursed $605,790 with an average of 62 obligors receiving unemployment benefits.

Spartz believed the April through June payments were higher because that is a peak time for intercepting federal and state income tax refunds, she said.

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Policer arrested for not making child support payments

A Bosque Farms Police Officer has been arrested on a warrant for past-due child support, making him the second officer from the department arrested in as many weeks.

Bosque Farms Police Chief Joe Stidham said Officer John Valdez was arrested on a warrant for past due child support, and taken into custody in Albuquerque.

"He is on leave at this time," Stidham said.

He said the department is waiting to hear back from the village attorney on the case, and Valdez will remain on leave until they decide what the proper course of action is.

Stidham said no determination has been made on whether Valdez will be terminated from the department.

Valdez was stabbed earlier this summer as he was jogging on a Peralta ditchbank by an unknown assailant.

Another Bosque Farms Police officer also remained on leave Tuesday after an arrest last week. Paul Gomez was arrested earlier this month in Los Lunas and subsequently charged with DWI.

A criminal complaint filed in Los Lunas Magistrate Court states that a witness saw Gomez swerving across traffic lanes in the moments prior to the accident and that after Gomez exited his vehicle he "was shaking and acting weird."

The criminal complaint states witnesses said Gomez attempted to drive away from the crash but was stopped by bystanders, who placed themselves around his vehicle.

Gomez, a former Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy and former Los Lunas police officer, was also pulled over Sept. 22, 2008, after police received a call about a sheriff's department car driving erratically, Los Lunas police spokesman Charles Nuanes said.

Gomez was pulled over, but was not cited or charged, and his supervisors from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department came to Los Lunas to pick him up and have him drug-tested, said Bernalillo County Undersheriff Sam Baragiola said.

Stidham said Gomez was also on leave paid administrative leave.