Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
Inability to pay child support
What would qualify as inability to pay child support to avoid jail time? Father is behind over 2000 dollars. He has been given his final deliquency notice and has had his driver's license suspended. He frequently quits jobs and prefers to work part time. Could father use this to avoid jail time?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Inability to pay child support
The court would have to find that the father has the present ability to pay, and is willfully and intentionally failing to pay in order to send him to jail. The court would assign him a "purge" amount - meaning the amount he must pay to get out of jail.
Re: Inability to pay child support
I believe that an individual who is physically disabled and unable to work would have the ability to avoid incarceration for failure to pay child support if the individual had no other financial assets. The individual in your example would not likely avoid being found in Contempt of Court due to his failure to pay child support. He would be subject to a purge and incarceration.