Parties divorced. Husband ordered to pay child support. He stopped paying support. The wife filed a petition to hold him in contempt. Husband said that he had been depressed and quit his job. He did not care about anything. The Trial Court did not find him to be in contempt. Wife appealed.
Substantial economic reverses do happen. But, these changes must not have happened because of your actions. Otherwise, you can’t just say you have no money for child support.
You must show that you lost your job for reasons out of your control. You must show good faith to the court. This was a voluntary end to employment. He wasn’t fired. He wasn’t laid off. Husband just quit.
Husband says he could not pay support after he quit. He has to show the court how much money he has received since the order was made. He must show that he paid expenses that he had to pay. He had to show these expenses were more important than child support payments.
The Appellate Court did not accept the Husband’s arguments. He said that he quit because of his depression. But, he did not seek medical care. He said that he had firearms he could have sold. But, he did not want to get rid of the guns. They were more important to him than paying child support.
Husband made decisions about how to spend any money that he had. But, he just did not think he had to pay child support. He thought he could just go to court and try to stop the child support order.
The Appellate Court said that the Husband was definitely in contempt of the Court. It sent the case back to the Trial Court to resolve the rest of the case. The husband was not off the hook for child support.
In re the MARRIAGE OF CHENOWETH, 134 Ill.App.3d 1015.
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