Penalties for Not Paying Child Support

Many parents do not pay their court ordered child support after a divorce. This creates hardship and difficulty for the parent that has custody of the parents the majority of the time. In addition to problems for the parent, the children may suffer as well. They may be deprived of various necessities because the parent that has custody cannot afford everything on his or her salary alone.

If a parent does not pay child support, that parent can be thrown in jail for up to six months for not paying. The legal basis for this sentence is “contempt of court.” Contempt of court is used because the parent is ignoring an explicit order made by the family court judge. By not obeying the judge’s orders, the parent is in contempt. Contempt of court is a legal term that means a person is not following a court order.

During a contempt of court proceeding, an individual has the right to be represented by an attorney. If two conditions are satisfied, an attorney can be provided for the non-paying parent free of charge. The two conditions are:

• That the non-paying parent can prove that his or her income is very low or non-existent and
• The contempt of court hearing result could be a jail sentence

In some cases, Texas law allows a non-paying parent to be imprisoned for a specific amount of time and/or pay a fine. This situation arises when an individual is criminally prosecuted and imprisoned for nonpayment of child support. Non-payment of child support is a felony crime in the state of Texas.

Contact an Austin Family Lawyer

If your former spouse is not paying child support and you would like to learn more about your legal options, contact the Austin family lawyers of Slater, Kennon & Pugh Ltd.LLP at 512-472-0432.